To think this needs A&E

[paniclife]

My dad is 60 - he has mental health issues and can be quite head strong.

This evening he phoned me and said yesterday that the doctors surgery phoned him and said he needed to go to the surgery immediately, he refused and they insisted, still he refused. So they told him he has alarmingly high potassium levels and they needed to do another blood test to check they were correct. He said he would book an appointment next week.

I asked him why he never phoned me yesterday and I'd have taken him down, he said because he feels fine!!

However, I was with him Thursday and he complained about having diarrhoea for the past three weeks, numbness in his hands and arms and he complained and I witnessed him getting shortness of breath when walking a short distance (not usual for him).

I said I think I should take him to a and e but once again refused and is saying he will book an appointment on Monday! I don't believe him and am now very worried.

Should I make him go to a and e? Is this imminently life threatening? I'm thinking not if he's had diarrhoea for last three weeks meaning he's had high potassium at least since then.

Im just really worried and not sure what to do. Any advice in this?

Hyperkalemia can cause diarrhoea

Yes

Luckily I have consent to his medical records so doctor will phone me

At hospital now with him finally

This must be so stressful for you.
I wonder why he phoned you to tell you his blood results if he didn't intend to get medical help? He must have known you wouldn't be able to ignore something this serious.

So pleased he’s agreed to go to the hospital with you. Hopefully it is a sample error and not a critical issue with his bloods but he’s in the right place to get answers and hopefully he will agree to whatever treatment he’s prescribed if it is necessary xx

Thank goodness he has agreed to go to the hospital, good luck

How did he get on at the hospital @paniclife? I hope you’re not still waiting (though, with the crisis the NHS is dealing with, it wouldn’t surprise me)

I feel so silly now, but his potassium was absolutely normal and he had an ecg and chest X-ray - all normal. He has a broken rib from a fall he didn't tell me about but he is fine! I am really relieved and feel like tonight might be the first proper sleep since Saturday (was feeling sick to my stomach about it all). They're concerned about his breathlessness so they want him back for a Lung test and heart scan but no concerns. He actually thanked me for making him go as I think he was relieved himself. Sorry for wasting folks time here and thanks for all your kind and helpful messages.

Well, that's a relief.

You haven't wasted anyone's time, you did the best you could with the facts you had.

Glad it turned out not to be a genuinely high result - and that your dad was grateful for the push to getting h checked out - hopefully, in future, he won’t be so resistant to getting things checked over!!

Also, it wasn’t you overreacting - remember this all stemmed from the GP telling him to get to A&E following the abnormal result!!