Anyone work in a GP surgery / blood lab? Reassurance please!

[Ariba]

Putting this in Scotsnet cause it may be Scotland specific how this is done.

My teen DS has been getting frequent nosebleeds for a while, now they seem to be happening every day. He is also a bit tired and pale.

He went to the GP on Tuesday (31st Dec) who did a blood test.

I am really worrying about this, when I looked it up, came up possible leukaemia. I know you shouldn't look it up but I am really worried about him. He's yawning already after sleeping all night and already had a nosebleed this morning.

Phoned surgery this morning and they said results are not back yet from the lab. I'm up to high doe. Is it a good sign the results are not back yet? Do the labs work over the New Year period, or are things slower? If anything wrong with platelets, would the GP have the results by now?

I know no one can give a definitive answer, but would maybe help to know how these things work, especially over bank holidays.

Thanks xx

If the lab had seen blood results that looked like leukaemia, and in a child at that, they would have moved heaven and earth to have you contacted. If the GP is closed, it can be passed to the GP out of hours service. But that's mostly adults, in a child we'd probably get a call in paediatrics to sort it out.

I’m not in Scotland OP but just to try and set your mind at rest, teenage DS had similar this time last year. Multiple nosebleeds a week that sometimes took a long while to stop/often waking in the night covered in blood etc. it was pretty nasty and scary at times.

He had a vessel close to the surface inside his nose (I think, his dad took him to the referral appointment). They cauterised it and it’s not been an issue since.

@Ariba fingers crossed for you all is well. We had a spate of nosebleeds on and off. He had one big one and the doc gave us the heavy hint that if we went to an and e it would be cauterised and it was. The on duty doctor said he couldn't see anything but got an ENT lady down who saw a problem and cauterised. About 3 months later it started again and not long after he was diagnosed coeliac and I can't help but wonder if this was a sign
I'm sure he's fine. Most nosebleeds are not of concern is what I was told

@RoamingGnome The GP did not examine him. They did do a blood test at the appointment though and take his weight.

@beauborino I am glad your DS is fine now. I'm hoping it's the same. He's had nosebleeds for years, but it was like once a month or less, not every day like recently. He also has blood bruising under his skin recently from where his bags rub against his skin.

@nattiee I don't know if they did a clotting test, but I think it was a full blood count. I don't actually know because DS went in himself to the surgery. I am presuming it was full blood count.

@Lobstercrisps I did check if Scotland has a similar app, but it seems not.

@OliveThe0therReindeer Yes I have had good care from NHS before also, GP surgery seems ok. I am praying for good news.

@sparkleystuff Yeah the symptoms are really concerning me. Also he bruises quite easily, like school bag straps, a new one came up tonight and he's not even been in school for weeks. On the other hand he is still out and about with friends he isn't extremely tired, but it is still very worrying what is going on with that and increased nosebleeds to the point of small ones daily and some larger ones and yawning a lot, napping after school at times.

@lifeisacat I am sorry to hear your DH has leukaemia. I have been seen some symptoms and I'm freaking out. I hope your DH is doing well xx

@nocoolnamesleft I'm praying it is nothing or something non serious. Thank you and I hope that the fact the bloods were taken on 31st and I have not heard anything, and GP did not have them at 11am this morning, means that it is not that. I was reassuring myself that he does not seem 'very ill' at all, but I saw that chronic forms of leukaemia don't always show severely for a long time though. I'm not sure how abnormal the bloods would show for this, and if only 'slightly' or 'moderately' abnormal, they'd be classed as urgent enough to contact me out of hours?

He has -

Nosebleeds - has had for many years, used to be once a month or so, now every day sometimes multiple times a day, mostly small bleeds, sometimes bigger bleeds like once a week.

Easy marking or bruising on skin, like if something rubs on him, ie school bag. He has little blood marks all over his face and back from squeezing spots. Have noticed for about a year, getting worse. Today he went out with friends and has little blood spots under one arm, from a bag or gym equipment rubbing.

Tiredness again for about a year. Not too bad but he does yawn a lot and at least twice a week goes for a nap after school or yawning after going out for a few hours.

Says he feels dizzy standing up at times.

Pale skin.

Sounds like a full blood count is the right test to do. Hope you get a normal result back soon. If it is normal, may be worth requesting a referral to ENT, as he may have a vessel that needs cauterising. In the meantime, has your GP tried an antiseptic cream up his nose? Sometimes nose bleeds can be triggered by a staph infection up there.

@nocoolnamesleft Do you know if the chronic more slow forms of leukaemia, would show up only a mildly abnormal result, which could be other things? or would they generally show up the same severely abnormal blood result of the more aggressive forms, that would have the labs calling me early?? I cannot find this info anywhere.

For sure he has always had nosebleeds sometimes - strange to me since I have had 2 in my whole life once when my sister bashed into my head! and once when I started the pill - my older daughter used to get them at weather changes along with DS but grew out of it, but I am still worried recently. Because DS is getting them every single day now, and he bruises so easily like with squeezing his spots leaves red blood blotches, school bags same - bruises on shoulders, yawns a lot, very pale, sleeps after school some days. I guess I am concerned about the more chronic and slow forms of leukaemia. I'm honestly not an overly anxious person, I've put it down to his being prone to nosebleeds and growing etc for ages, but past couple weeks it has been every day and I am concerned at this point.

Yes he does have chronic impetigo up his nose for years, has had naseptin cream and a cream beginning with M before, when it's been inflamed, sometimes his glands go up because of it. Has been treated even with oral antibiotics but comes back. I am really praying it is just this! Most of the bleeds are not that heavy say like a tablespoon, but it's happening daily sometimes twice, when it was rarer before. About once a week now (used to be once every couple of months) it will be more of a 'proper' nosebleed and drip out for around 10-15 mins.

Leukaemia in kids strongly tends not to be the slower forms. The slower forms are mostly in the elderly. If he had leukaemia sufficiently to be giving him bruising and nose bleeds, it would show up on his FBC.

Ds suffered awful heavy and extremely frequent nosebleeds as a young/mid teen. He used to be so exhausted he fainted all over the place. The cause was allergies which we didn't realise he had- they presented as exhaustion, greyness, lethargy and brain fog. They weakened the blood vessels in his nose as a result of breathing in allergens all the time causing heavy nosebleeds. He has had his nose cauterized 5 times ( no big deal at all) and has permanent antihistamines. He's now a huge adult man and no longer suffers the bosebleeds.

As a side note, blood s here take a couple of weeks to come back to us if they are normal. The gp has rung family members on the rare ones occasion they've been abnormal

Sorry to hear you’re going through this. My 8 year old son has something called ITP - an auto immune condition which causes low
platelets. They believe it was triggered by glandular fever. He has regular nose bleeds and bruises easily which we have to monitor regularly.
Hopefully all your son’s results will be clear and they can treat the nosebleeds.

My DS also had fairly frequent nosebleeds, and he's had migraines and tiredness in the past. He had several tests, scans etc and everything came back clear. It's easy to worry when you put symptoms together (and obviously you're doing the right thing by getting him checked out) but they're not necessarily linked. My son's nosebleeds are due to thin membranes in the nose, his migraines were stress related and the GP said he will likely grow out of them (he did), and the tiredness was totally normal, he's growing fast and needs lots of sleep, like all teens. They are all easing up now he's a bit older (17). Hope the tests come back clear and put your mind at rest x

No sorry. Life threatening as in could be fatal within 24h will be phoned through immediately. Life threatening as in haematology cancers wouldn't necessarily be phoned through, sorry