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?

Does your GP have an app you can use to request appointments/order prescriptions etc? My GP doesn't use the NHS app and I can access blood results via their app easily.

Really? I never had that.

From what I've been told, they recently changed and broght down the thresholds of what is considered 'normal'. This is so that more people will get told earlier on the they have fallen into the 'risk' category. So if this has only just happened to you, you will only just be borderline in the new lower risk category.

You should obviously still take it seriously, as it's been brought down so that people will get an earlier warning that their health may be at risk. If your health is otherwise good then you will have plenty you can do to keep it that way, which is great news 👍

I can totally understand your annyance tho, I agree that we should all be told our results so that we know where we are, which reminds me that my GP didn't tell me my blood pressure last time I saw him!

I don’t know where you live, OP, but my understanding is that the NHS app is available to everyone who is registered with a GP in England and the Isle of Man, so perhaps you’re in another part of the country? As a previous poster said, you can access all your test results on the NHS app, with very detailed information on normal ranges etc., so I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect the GP to flag up if some of your results are rising before they get to the point where they are causing concern. I can see my cholesterol results going back to 2005 on the app. But in the days before the app was available, I don’t think I ever had a blood or urine test when I didn’t ring the surgery for the results. I know you’ve said thst you get fobbed off, and that was often the case when I called for results, but I was always insistent and no-one ever refused to tell me my readings.

@YorkshireGoddess They have a website where their should be functionality to do various things like reorder prescriptions, make appointments and so on but in reality the only part that works is the repeat prescription request. I think many doctors still have concerns about making medical records available online and so while they have the option to not have them available they don't. Same goes for appointments they prefer to have allocations decided by a person which may be for the best of course.

@Growlybear83 I'm not in England and the app is not available here, we do not yet have an app at all. Also as other have said even on the NHS app for those that have it not all test results are listed in detail but where I am in Scotland it doesn't exist and so I'm in the dark unless a doctor flags it up to me or they start giving out detailed test results on request.

Yeah you’re supposed to have a health check every five years from the age of 40. I have been invited for (both) of mine but I know other friends of a similar age who’ve never heard of it. They do a few blood tests and measure height, weight, and then ask a lot of questions about your booze intake and physical exertion. Then give you a cardiovascular risk score.

call and ask for one if you want it, and you get booked in with a nurse.

@polarband
our website is exactly the same, in Scotland too. The standard tests carried out at 50 in England aren’t offered routinely.

If you already eat healthily and exercise what would you have done differently if you had known?

Levels creeping up is quite normal and no immediate cause for concern; sometimes they gradually go down. It's now that you need to address 1. your cholesterol level, which may not be very high, and remembering everyone's goes up a bit as they age. I've had mine go up slightly and then down. 2. prediabetes. Prediabetes is not, as you know, diabetes but it's a warning.

I'm sure you do eat healthily but it's time to be a little more stringent with diet; add some things, take away others, little or no alcohol and drink plenty of water. There are plenty of suggestions online. I'm sure you'll be fine.

Ask for copies of your blood results, take your blood pressure at home, re-evaluate the need for your migraine medication. I used to have migraines and they disappeared after the menopause.

Good luck.

@polarbandWhen you set up the NHS app, you have to ask your surgery to give you access to all test results, letters etc. But I’ve only had the app for the last five years or so, and before then, I always contacted the surgery to get my results without fail. Some of the admin staff weren’t helpful, but they always gave me the information I wanted in the end.

Also as other have said even on the NHS app for those that have it not all test results are listed in detail

Just to flag this up, you need to ask your GP for full access to your record. Just drop them an email. I now have all test results, some from several years back, and all the historical trends. Its really good, as OP says, for monitoring trends.

I was also pissed off as it showed that my kidneys have been pretty crap for a while, function decreasing for years in fact, and no-one flagged it up until it went below a certain number, and I'm suddenly in CKD territory..... well thanks.

Think it depends on your PCT.

Even small changes can make a difference I believe. I could have added more fibre or even used certain supplements to help or if I knew my HDL I could have added in more healthy fats if that was low. I could have used a CGM to see what was going on with my blood glucose and if any foods I eat regularly were affecting me worse than I'd thought.

It does sound great but again we don't have the app available here.

No, not unreasonable at all. It's disturbing that the practice can't distinguish between thresholds to initiate treatment and results that might indicate a need for lifestyle changes. Just because they don't need to do anything, that doesn't necessarily mean you don't.
I have all my test results on the NHS app. I'd assumed this was the same for everyone, but my brother (who has a serious life-limiting condition) doesn't have results on his.
I know there's a risk of people over-reacting to results that aren't really concerning, but we're never going to move from a National Illness Service (what we have now) to a National Health Service (which we've never had) unless patients are informed and involved.

OP are you menopausal, at this wonderful time in life all these blood tests also go to crap as our Eostrogen declines. Lucky us.

@LBFseBrom Yes I understand that its normal for these things to get worse as we age. I already don't drink alcohol, never have I only drink tea and water. My diet is good I could add in more beans, pulses and fibre and add a supplement. No obvious issues with my diet for Blood glucose but I will get a CGM for two weeks and see what various foods I eat often are doing to my levels and perhaps alter my activity levels and increase strength training to see if that helps. I do monitor my blood pressure at home it has always been on the low side and there is a medication I use for migraine that makes that worse so I need to watch that. I am glad I have a chance to sort it out now.

Honestly making more dietary changes probably wouldn’t make much difference at all. If everything was still in normal range then no action was needed.

Well you dont accept that, I dont, I ask for it to be emailed and now I have the NHS app (although many test results and outcomes are often missing so its not foolproof), if the results are on there I check them with a fine tooth comb and compare them with advice on Dr Google.

If they're not on the app I aks them to email it to me

Yes, we should all get medical degrees to make sure that we're fully informed, lord knows why the HEALTH SERVICE would be useful.

I've had helpful advice from some professionals who've scanned my previous records.

When I was pregnant, I was always retested for BP, first result would be just over the referral threshold, the second just under. Gave me duff advice based on the lower reading. Developed into pre-eclampsia.

Depending on individuals to interpret results will just widen health inequalities.

Ive never had this

But they were normal. Why would they inform you there was a problem when there wasnt one before now

If you want straight forward advice on dealing with the pre diabetes take a look at the Public Health Collaboration website or YouTube channel. The PHC is a UK based charity with the goal of saving the NHS, sometimes from itself. They put all the conference speakers and talks on YOuTube, and the talks by Dr Unwin, a UK GP, are really informative.

Best of luck and best wishes.

I can understand your frustration, OP, but as a GP myself I can say hand on heart there just isn’t time in the day to review every patient’s normal-range blood results and compare them with previous tests. It would be a massive increase in workload, which is already unsustainable in most practices.

I’m in ROI where GP services are somewhat less strained than in the UK; I still go into work for several (unpaid) hours every weekend just to keep on top of paperwork. There is zero capacity for extra workload in the current system.