To wish my GP practice had told me about this upward trend earlier?

[polarband]

I have used a blood pressure medication to treat migraines for several years now. As a result I need to go for blood tests and a BP check every 6 months as my BP tends to be low on this medication. The blood tests are mainly to check my kidneys but they do other checks as well, after each test I just call and they tell me everything's fine and I go again in another 6 months.

This time after my check I got called back in to speak to the doctor and was told I have high cholesterol and prediabetes. I asked him what could have caused the problem so suddenly and he said it hadn't been sudden and that if he looked at my blood test results over the past 6 years he could see that my cholesterol and blood glucose levels had been creeping up but its only now just crossed over into clinical diagnosis. I am fit, a healthy weight, a non smoking, non drinking, active woman with ideal blood pressure who eats a healthy whole food diet so when I was told my results were normal I thought that meant I was healthy not that things were getting worse.

I'm not mad that it's happened because these things do happen of course, I'm 50 now and there is type 2 diabetes in my family but I just wish they had told me earlier when this upward trend was noticed and I could have made some changes to prevent getting to this level. My GP just said they don't treat at anything below clinical diagnosis level and anything below that is in the healthy range and therefore normal.

Is it so unreasonable to think that they should flag up something like this to patients?

FFS - there is no NHS app in Scotland!

And "walha"? Is that a Chester draws version of voilà!

That's not what was being discussed.

Have you ever used it? Do you know how to use it perhaps that should be the question. If you know how to use it then it is a fantastic tool for interpreting medical results.

Yes and yes. And I wouldn't trust it for something as important as my health. Garbage in, garbage out.

If your lifestyle is as you describe in your post, there isn't much you could do in terms of change to prevent these changes from happening. Sometimes this isn't preventable - there's a big genetic component as well as lifestyle factors involved, and it sounds like you've got the lifestyle bit covered, which only leaves genetics, and there's nothing you can do about that.

I had a recent health check (I'm 46) and they talked to me quite a bit about cholesterol and it is extremely common for bad cholesterol to rise in peri/menopause. They look at both the good cholestero (HDL)l and bad cholesterol (LDL) and the ratio between the two. My bad cholesterol was a bit over on the high side but my good cholesterol was also high (this is good) which meant the ratio was in the acceptable range. So it might be worth finding out more to see if over all you are still OK. But also very common at this stage of life for it to be creeping up. Diet and apparently also exercise plays a part in controlling this xx

I wouldn't expect a GP to notice anything out of trend as they are just looking for any flags that are out of the range. But now you are aware it's something you can keep a track of (if they even give you the full results) but look at HDL/LDL and the ratio between the 2 xx

I am fit, a healthy weight, a non smoking, non drinking, active woman with ideal blood pressure who eats a healthy whole food diet so when I was told my results were normal I thought that meant I was healthy not that things were getting worse.

So if you d known about the upward trend, exactly what lifestyle and diet changes, would you have made to prevent it getting worse?

I guessed that but I was looking for a reaction clarification from them. 😀

I completely understand your frustration. I have regular blood tests for some medication and an annual one for Diabetes as I had Gestational Diabetes.

They used to send me a letter with the annual results, but GP is now trying to do everything online but not uploading results (annoyingly, there is a section for this but nothing in it!). I've had to ring up and been told everything was normal, but I have dipped into pre-diabetes before, so like you would prefer to be given more details.

My blood test for medication used to be through the hospital, and they always came through on the app. Since the care has transfered to my GP, I haven't had one result through!

It is not the responsibility of the admin staff to be tracking changes in results if I have to ring up, but I do think that if we had better access to it then we could be aware of what is going on!

Edit to add - I am in UK, we do everything online now (including booking appointments), but I can't see results

Yes, I’m sure that’s true.
on the other hand, it would position you much better for asking a GP (if he or she is not very forthcoming with information) questions and having a helpful discussion.

I bet some GPs lurv this though. Tough. Informed patients will no longer be quite as ignorant or easy to brush off as they used to be.

The prediabetes level IS when your glucose level becomes cause for concern. It's not inevitable that it will becomefull blown diabetes. This is exactly the time to take action.

I have more frequent blood tests for a toxic medication. It is only when levels of a particular test hit a specific threshold that they look at previous results to determine a trend and a course of action. Hope this helps.

I agree OP-it would have been beneficial to be in charge of your own health and know the results of your blood tests.
I’m in Scotland and my GP surgery prints off my blood results without any issue. However I would be prepared to strongly defend my right to know my own blood tests results if they refused me.
It pisses me off so much that NHS Scotland can’t just adapt the app available in NHS England-as usual the SNP has to make everything here ‘more Scottishy’ and meantime we lose out!

Don't forget that age, too, is a big component in these changes.

On the strength of my raised HbA1c and cholesterol levels, my GP referred me to a scheme run by Liva-Health, funded by the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme. I have just completed their 9-month programme, largely successsfully, although the programme materials and support were largely cr*p.

I asked for my recent cholesterol levels at a face to face checkup yesterday (booked in to discuss my high cholesterol that was picked up accidentally) and they told me they couldn't access that part of the system so I had to book and see a GP!

I was offered yesterday's appointment as I received a call from the surgery recently to tell me my cholesterol was severely high and they wanted to start me immediately on a high dose of statin.

I was hoping to find out more about my cholesterol levels and why they might be like this/ how you manage it but the nurse I seen had absolutely no idea why I was there or that I was even on statins! She was only told to check my weight, height and take some bloods.

I'm really not looking forward to the Monday morning hunger games scenario, to call for an appointment and actually find out what on earth is actually going on with my health.

Like you, we have no online systems or appointment's, results etc. It's all very much still stuck in the dark ages and I'm in a major Scottish city.

If you don't laugh you will cry. I feel your pain OP.

Scottishy 😂😂😂. Ours will have to be bilingual welshy if it ever turns up.

I think we need an app to block all the posters on here that keep telling her to check the app! 🤣🙈

I too, live in Scotland and ask the practice for a printout of my blood results whenever I travel - so if I need to consult a doctor while I'm away, they know my baseline. The receptionist usually says that they have to ask the doctor first, but I have never been turned down. BTW, the printout shows the last 3 test samples and is a full print of all the tests they do (or don't) for each sample they take.

Doctor was entirely correct and there’s no evidence anything you would have done would have changed any outcome. I mean imagine if your blood pressure had been trending in one direction, they wouldn’t have treated you until it reached certain trigger levels.

FWIW, I have high cholesterol but have always eaten a low fat diet. I’ve been on statins for 15 years which control it, and the dosage has been increased whenever it gets too high.

I got told at my last blood test that they thought I had a (non serious) genetic disorder which impacts my blood iron levels, I was really surprised as I have regular blood tests because or anaemia, the doctor said you can see it in the results for the last 20 years, I can’t believe no one said anything?

When these results are available on the NHS app you could have checked yourself, so you could have known anytime. I always look at my test results.

Surely you're at the wind up?

Did you know you can ask your GP for a copy of your medical records? You can have it all, or specify something particular ie blood pressure. They are obligated to provide them and usually charge £10 fee. YANBU your GP should have told you. I similarly have to go see the nurse for an MOT and she always tells me if my tests change, in any direction. Its not about whether they decide to treat it, its about you being informed about your own health. If it were me, I would complain.

When I asked for this I was told I would need to complete an SAR and wait for several months, at which point I would be allowed to come into the practice and sit with someone who would access what I requested on the computer. I wasn’t able to get any kind of download or printout, and I would have to be specific in what I was asking for at the time.

That is wrong, you can have a copy for yourself. I completed and SAR and recieved printed copy of everything the first time, and a CD of scanned documents the second time. This is information about you, they cant prevent you from having it.