To assume it’s going to be bad news

[Lwg87]

I have been suffering with dizziness, nausea and fatigue recently. It got a lot worse in the last 2 weeks. Had blood taken at the surgery on Wednesday and rang for results today. The receptionist said one lot had come back fine and the others had a note on them to make an appointment to see the doctor. Does that mean there is something really wrong? I’ve never had this before after a blood test and won’t find out until a doctor can ring me on Tuesday. It’s going to be a long weekend and not just because it’s a bank holiday!

It wont be anything urgent otherwise they act very quickly. It will just be something routine like you need iron or slight issue with thyroid or something
Dont panic.

Don’t panic. It’s probably a vitamin deficiency. Mine was.

If it were serious they would have you in there and then ime. Usually if they ask you to make an appointment it's some kind of deficiency or infection. Or possibly you're pregnant.

Ditto, and please do try not to panic! All it means is that the doctor wants to talk to you in person. I’ve had this a number of times with various test results over the years and have never had anything seriously wrong with me

Not at all. Just may need further discussion or medication. Could be anything. I used to be a GP receptionist and we were very limited on the actual info we could give out. Anything that required any further information other than 'normal' really had to come from GP or practice nurse

Of course you will worry but you know the likelihood is that it is something treatable and manageable. Those are the symptoms of so many things!

If it was very serious and urgent I imagine they wouldn't leave you even this long but I obviously don't know and it will be stressful. I remember having to wait 2 weeks for the results of a biopsy on a mole. It was agony! It's human nature to assume the worst but statistically it is far more likely to be something fairly minor.

Don't worry OP if it was really bad news the doc would ring you immediately and certainly wouldn't be waiting for you to make an appointment some time next week. Perhaps you're a bit anaemic and need iron tablets/under active thyroid or something like that? It definitely won't be anything serious.

Our receptionist would never give results over the phone and either tell me results are back and to come in to see doctor, or she might put me through to the doctor if he's available to talk on phone. Try not to worry. Those symptoms could easily be something like low iron. Or any chance you could be pregnant, menopausal?

Doubtful it's something extremely serious. You could have low iron, low potassium, vitamin deficiencies, a hundred different very treatable conditions. Life is too short to worry needlessly. Rest up and enjoy your weekend.

Yeah, just had this with my daughters ear infection swabs - wouldn’t tell me over the phone, had to see the doctor .... just to tell her to keep taking the antibiotics!

If it was urgent they’d have called you in straight away, it’ll probably be iron or vitamins you need :)

I agree with those above, if it was urgent they would call you straight in. When I had abnormal bloods it turned out to be hypothyroid.

Don't panic, if really really serious the hospital would have phoned for you to get in urgently. It happened to me, it was deep vein thrombosis, I said is that all, I thought I'd got lung cancer or similar

If it was something awful you'd have been called immediately and you'd be in hospital by now. I bet you're anemic and will need iron supplements, very worst end of the scale will be a thyroid issue which can be treated with medication.

My GP always wants to see me after blood tests regardless of the results. It used to panic me but now I know it's just how he likes to manage me as a patient! Like others have said, if it was really serious you would have heard from the actual doctor by now.

I sympathise with the anxiety of waiting though, I was waiting on some results for my youngest and when I called the receptionist just said the doctor had tried to call me 5 times she couldn't tell me anything else but said the Doctor was scheduled to call back next week. I was freaking out - why had the doctor tried to call so many times? I ended up calling back and got a different receptionist who clearly took pity on the slightly crazed panicked mother and read out all the notes (it was Friday afternoon and the Doctor had gone home). Basically said it was fine but keep an eye on it and come back if it poses a cosmetic issue. I still feel grateful to that receptionist for saving me a madly panicked weekend.

The doctor would have phoned you as soon as the results came in if it had been anything remotely worth worrying about.

When my goddaughter was diagnosed with leukaemia, the gp came at my friend's house to give blood result and send them to hospital.
When my blood came back abnormal and I had to book an appointment, it was just to tell me my iron was low and to buy a supplement .

So, don't worry, it could be vit D, or your cholesterol is slightly too high, things like that.

I agree with all the PP’s, if anything untoward had shown up the Dr wouldn’t leave you, they’d get you in right away. It will be an iron or another vitamin deficiency.

Please try not to worry, easier said than done I know

The doctor would have phoned if it was anything serious, mine did once as soon as the results came in. They don’t leave bad news until after a bank holiday, they act on it ASAP.

I had this once and was so worried. When the doctor called they said I had low iron and elevated levels of a liver enzyme, which worried me initially until they checked my prescriptions and one of the medications I was temporarily on would commonly raise it. They asked me to come back in 2 months to retest and when I did all was fine.

So in all probability, it's likely something small that just needs to be relayed to you by a medical professional.

Agree that this sound routine. When my dads blood results came back with some concerning levels, the gp rang herself and asked him to go to the hospital immediately. It was pmts life threatening but it was serious.

You’ll be fine😊

Yeah it'll be b12 or something like I had. Fear not. (Take a pregnancy test too)

I have blood tests every few months and even if something is just slightly amiss the receptionist won’t/can’t say what and I have to speak to a GP. I’ve had vit D low, Sodium a bit low, Potassium marginally high - all nothing to worry about - but to cover themselves,the receptionists aren’t allowed to give any result even slightly out of kilter, to the patient directly I reckon.

I had this. They sent me to a hematologist whose practice focused on cancers of the blood. I was terrified. She started methodically going over my labs and I had to interrupt her and say she just needed to tell me if I was dying because the anticipation meant I couldn’t focus on those details. Turns out I needed to take an iron pill every day.

No. It’ll be a deficiency. Basic bloods can’t tell anything serious anyway.