GPs. vitamins

[fiftyone]

are GPs just negligent! Ones I know don't automatically test vitamins,minerals etc. even as you get older. They don't always link one disorder with another either.....eg. I've been on PPIs and metformin for years. I READ these can mitigate against absorption of certain vitamins. You'd think my GP would know this. So why wasn't my GP regularly checking my vitamin levels? NEGLIGENT!!

[TiggerMe Ambassador]

Yep, you find the attitude is "don't go looking for other things to treat" even if they did test it's only when you are deficient they might act 😕

But then they hand out Levothyroxine and don't check if we can convert it 🫤

Wellness isn't their remit just barely keeping us alive is the aim!

[soppysokes]

I did once query this with GP and was told in 7 year medical degree only 6 hours was dedicated to vits/minerals etc. Other than that very basic stuff it was down to them to further their knowledge themselves if they had the interest.

[humanbean in reply to soppysokes]

Wow, that is depressing!

[tattybogle]

i think it just depends on GP ... i've never had b12 / ferritin / folate / iron panel tested by GP's in my whole life .. despite fatigue being a frequent reason for visiting them over the years since being not very well on levo since 2003... several different GP's over the years .... which seems pretty negligent to me., especially since one of them recently had the gall to write " i believe we have done all we can for her fatigue"... i just seem to get FBC, full blood count done , must have had dozens of them

but my daughter has just had b12/ ferritin /folate tested without asking , for symptoms which presented like '? hyperthyroid'...thyroid was ok... B12 was deficient . Same surgery to me , with new GP who seems good so far.

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to tattybogle]

Interesting isn't it, if you present as a 50+ male you get the full workup in your 'wellness review' but I've rarely met women who get more than FBC, HBA1C, cholesterol and maybe a liver panel even on one of their 'wellness check ups' never mind checking any hormone levels 🫤

[fiftyone in reply to TiggerMe]

well, I never knew how much preferential treatment blokes get.

[elaar in reply to fiftyone]

They don't, and the people that keep suggesting it takes place are unable to provide any actual evidence/statistics to back it up. It simply fits in with their narrative.

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to elaar]

Purely on personal experience and feedback from other women who have been surprised by their men's encounters with a GP, many people on here too! So you could call it life experience narrative? But then being male you have a different viewpoint?

I literally had the conversation yesterday with a friend (60ish) who broke both ankles tripping up a curb 2 years ago with no follow up, hasn't been offered HRT, has just been told she has osteoporosis and yet to receive any call up for a wellness check though 2 years older than her 'well' husband who has just received the full works!🤷‍♀️

[Jazzw in reply to elaar]

You want evidence? Here you go.

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articl...

[tattybogle in reply to TiggerMe]

i wouldn't know

( trying to find out any blood results from the 50+ male in this house is like trying to get blood out of a stone ...... lol)

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to tattybogle]

Ah yes, they rarely show any interest as head in the sand is preferable... you do have to lead them through the online access bit..... for some utterly unknown reason mine recently turned down the aortic scan 🤷‍♀️

[tattybogle in reply to TiggerMe]

'lead them' ...lol , mine would need a cattle prod ~ sent him to get a printout, took him 3 mths to do it ,,wrong results,,,, now wont go back. ......'u can lead a horse to water , but u can't make it drink'

[Obsdian in reply to TiggerMe]

I didn't even sign up for my wellness check as I was sure it would accomplish nothing

[Obsdian]

I find my GP won't decide to test anything that was previously found to be anywhere within range. They'd not even be testing my thyroid more than once a year of O wasn't showing them Medichecks results.

[AngelRain]

Under the ICB in which I live, the GP says they don't test ferritin unless haemoglobin is deficient, they assume everyone is deficient in vitamin D and advise everyone to take a supplement, and as for B12 and folate, if they were 'all right' (ie within range somewhere) last time, they won't be tested again.

Not helpful.