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?

I'm 57 & in Scotland and when I asked my GP laughed in my face (literally)
I just discovered I have Hypertension (sent home from A&E with BP of 197/115 with advice 'double your BP meds, keep a diary, contact your GP in 7 days' & Hyperlipidemia (ref to Lipid clinic - family history of FH - but it's months to wait so take a statin meantime - I've been 'started' on 60mg the highest dose)

Sorry, OP not trying to 'elevenerife' on your thread. But its struck a nerve (clearly!). You have my sympathies.

It could well have been creeping up but still be in normal range, so you will have been told it’s normal because it was. If they’ve always said normal, rather than satisfactory, then it was normal.
Its normal until it isn’t, and it’s getting older that also increases your Qrisk score, your risk of CVD.

@Hellohelga you get an NHS health check between the ages of 40-74 IF you don’t already have certain conditions, and not on certain medications that you are monitored for, which op was.

My DH has had BP issues for year, despite being on 2 medications for it he has been hospitalised twice over the past 10 years.
We finally found out last week that one of his kidneys has died and he will have to have it removed,one of the tubes had a kink in it and The Consultant merrily told him that if it had been picked up 5 or more years ago they could have fixed it .
So now he will have to live with 1 kidney, perfectly ok to do but annoying that it could have been prevented.
The NHS is great in emergencies but not always for diagnosis and/or prevention. Becasuse there is Hypertension in DH family it was always assumed his issue was genetic so they didn't look any further

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@siliconcover Thank you for posting this, just goes to show how different the culture is up here and something that needs to change. I don't know about you but while complaining and making nuisance of yourself to get the results sound good and well I have no interest in creating an antagonistic relationship with my GP practice! I agree with you it is exhausting and we are trying to do the right thing!

You're not wrong, OP, things could be done better if there was more focus on prevention than treatment. Unfortunately, no one looks at a patient's history holistically, they only identify patterns retrospectively once an issue has been found.

The app isn't a thing in Wales either. Extremely frustrating!

I'm in the same situation as you with BP meds for migraine, and also re the cholesterol (not pre diabetes) and mine has been creeping up but staying below the level for any treatment for several years. My GP surgery has told me this each time, and I have had an opportunity to try and reduce it by means of diet. Sadly it's not worked, and it is still higher than they would like, but not needing medication. I would also be pretty annoyed if I'd not been told about for the last few years, so can understand your frustration. I would be especially annoyed if I found I was pre diabetic, as this is easier to treat by dietary changes. I have friends who know they are pre diabetic and have managed to reverse this with diet alone. I think it is bad practice on behalf of your GP and would be inclined to raise it formally with them as a suggestion for dealing with others in the same position in the future. I'm not sure I'd raise a complaint as such, because that can negatively affect your relationship with the practice - but it may be that you feel strongly enough that you want to do this. Hopefully you can get it sorted without too much hassle.

@FluffyMcFluffFace Thanks for that post, yes its a similar situation and you are right that it was good to at least have this flagged up. I am hopeful I can reverse the prediabetes and hopefully reduce the cholesterol. I don't really want to make a formal complaint but I will perhaps mention it or write a letter as a suggestion.

We are being let down by our GP practices IMHO.

I can see my test results on Systmone, but did not think to look and expected the GP would be in touch if there was anything untoward from the occasional blood tests I have had over the years. Too naive and trusting!

Earlier this year my GP out of the blue announced to me that I have stage 3 kidney disease, but somehow no one had mentioned to me that I ever had stage 1 or stage 2, when I perhaps would have been able to take action to slow or stop the progression. I am not medically trained, and don’t know how to interpret blood test results but looking back at previous blood test results, the trend was evident. I feel let down by my GP practice over this.

The older blood test results show reference ranges, which I think might give me a fighting chance of realising there was a problem. But this information is not on the results of more recent tests. It just seems unhelpful.

The NHS is a heap of crap. Replace the whole thing.

@Bunpea I'm really sorry to hear that and wish that hadn't been the case for you. More proactive information would be helpful for many of us.

@Harassedevictee Thank you it is very kind of you to post all this advice, it is much appreciated.

I think this is the warning flag you were wanting rather than a chance missed - you aren't ill yet and are very much in the "make changes," zone rather than the unhealthy zone. You sound very capable and healthy and will be able to get this back down now you know.

It does seem that different people get different levels of information about tests from their GP. This is a screenshot from systmonline for some blood tests and the links you see give more information, for example the first link there is this one: https://labtestsonline.org.uk/tests/albumin

It doesn't seem like everyone in England gets that, never mind in Scotland.

Honestly OP, just get the app!

I’m sorry people can’t read. YANBU. Unfortunately, doctors aren’t expected to prevent ill-health even where there are clear warning signs.

I went to the GP when I began gaining weight for no apparent reason. They said I was still healthy so not to worry, I went again when I was overweight, they said I’m not that far off normal so not to worry. Then I had other symptoms and all of them were apparently caused by me being obese.

Eventually, I went private and they found the problem. I got treatment and the weight fell off again. Turns out, a fair few of my symptoms were caused by nothing to do with my weight and once I was back to a healthy weight, they were treated and I’m fine again.

There needs to be a bigger focus on helping people stay healthy!

I don’t think the OP can get the app, she’s said that a few times. She’s in Scotland.

Yes. I know. That’s why I said “I’m sorry people can’t read. YANBU”.

Your levels were in normal range - as your results wouldn’t be flagged

The "someone" who has to do something is YOU. Once you have the NHS App (in ENGLAND & etc. as pointed out countless times already in this thread), you apply to your GP Practice to have access to your Medical Records. Where we are, you need to set up an account with an intermediary online system called PatientAccess, which involves a bit of security clearance activity with your surgery. Other areas may use different systems but the principles should be similar. You should be able to start this process on your Practice web-site, or ask for details at your local Pharmacy. PatientAccess in itself gives you access to various aspects of your Medical Record, in our case history back through nearly 20 years of test results, clinical meetings, allergies, medications, viewing - not making, unfortunately- appointments etc. Once this is done, the NHS App connection is fairly straightforward, and if you have any Hospital records, limited connection to these happens behind the scenes, all done via your NHS Number. I've had Blood Sugar and Cholesterol issues in the past year, and when this was flagged up last Summer, I was immediately able to look-up test result histories and spot trends within ostensibly "Normal" data. I even identified a time of my life when I was addicted to Snickers bars!

I know I've had to argue this point on here. It's been delayed again and again.

Shit, sorry, clearly I can’t read either 🤣.
I thought it was you saying it 🥴.

Those asking about the legume diet that I think brought my cholesterol from 6.8 down to 4.5 - I always have lots of tins on hand but also boil up a vat of canellini beans or chickpeas every few days and have them in the fridge. I throw them into everything. I also have a lot of puy lentil salads - boil a load of them up and throw in whatever cooked veg or salad veg, cheese, seeds, etc I have lying around. Have jars of roast artichoke or peppers to chuck in. Or just a straight up tuna and canellini bean salad with some red onion. I stopped eating bread and now always have a salad instead of a sandwich for lunch. They're quite portable too if you're on the go. Evenings do a lot of dhals, curries, bean soups or stews, etc. It helps my DP is vegan and has raised cholesterol (despite a BMI of 19) so he's on board with as much legume as possible. There are lots of recipes here: https://boldbeanco.com/blogs/beanspo-recipes?srsltid=AfmBOoqRSmmuzqyjVQVbR08SX_nt8MNwRc2nkuABVnFN4_BnDgt7z21l

I wasn't trying to get my cholesterol down, I was told it was high because I have thyroid disease and so I thought diet wouldn't affect it. But I was wrong! My goal was to get at least 30g of fibre in every day as I've been having colorectal issues but the lower cholesterol has been a nice bonus. Having watched this video it seems a high fibre diet IS a cholesterol reduction diet https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CDhLdT_VFU0

I eat a lot of healthy fats - olive oil, full fat dairy, nuts, seeds, tahini, avocados, etc, but pretty much nothing with added sugar anymore as it irritates my colon. I eat overnight oats with dates, tahini, berries and nuts for breakfast every morning, as it's good to have one high fibre meal ticked off easily every day without having to plan or think about it.

@Fibrous Great advice, also username checks out!