Advice on Medical advice

tunney

Right so I've been feeling sh!t and no energy for quite some time and its time I accepted I need professional help. I have my suspicions but thats not relevant.

What I am wondering is what is relevant to tell the Doctor (new Doctor), if you have an idea of your usual blood values is this relevant to tell? Especially if they are on the high side(or above) the nominal ranges? How much information is too much? We all have a good idea of our Hct, Hgb, RHR and other metrics as you get to know them over the years but is the information we've learnt about ourselves from athletics and athletic testing relevant in amedical context?

Also how to you express that having no energy doesn't mean not being able to do anything just not being able to do what you used to be able to do? You can still get to work, cycle there, the odd run/swim etc but no real energy?

EC1000

tunney wrote: »

What I am wondering is what is relevant to tell the Doctor (new Doctor), if you have an idea of your usual blood values is this relevant to tell? Especially if they are on the high side(or above) the nominal ranges? How much information is too much? We all have a good idea of our Hct, Hgb, RHR and other metrics as you get to know them over the years but is the information we've learnt about ourselves from athletics and athletic testing relevant in amedical context?

To give any sort of accurate diagnosis, a (good) doctor needs to know what is "normal" for you in good times in order to diagnose what is wrong at this moment in time. Therefore, as much detail as possible is surely the way to go?

MaroonTam

In my experience with some GPs, if you go in with a good idea what the problem might be, and start to give information on those facts, the GP can all too readily agree with your self diagnosis rather than look too deeply.

Now that is probably more a commentary on the GPs I have seen....

littlebug

Tunney just tell them everything. Write it down before you go in (ie your normal levels and history, previous results etc). Start by saying that you are an athlete so that everything after that is taken in that context. They will probably still do all their own tests regardless of what tests have been done before. If the doctor doesn't appear to take you seriously ie looks at it in terms of whats normal in the general population rather than normal for you then go to a different doctor. Finding a GP who is him/ herself involved in sports or who deals with athletes might be worthwhile.

Wally Runs

Not to give advcie (as such) but when I was low I went to the place in Santry (Sport Injury Clinic) rather than my GP. It cut out a lot of the 'well you need to rest' stuff, give up exercise for awhile etc. It was a bit more than a GP visit but I got a whole hours consult and the follow up treatment was all done on site. Much of it was covered by the VHI.

Patrick_K

I'd agree with Wally here. Just be careful about the GP you go to. I was in a similar situation last year and went to a couple of GPs without a lot of joy. Sometimes it's just too general and they just give you a once over to check HR, BP, temperature etc when it's probably a blood test you need. A GP with sports specific training or at least knowledge/interest in sport is what you want for sure.
Best of luck with it,
PK

Kissy Lips

no advice for you BUT... if you ever get your energy back be sure to create the thread "how I got my energy back", I would be very interested in that. I was worn out from running by June this year so I changed to the gym, weights & cycling 2-3 times a week (18 miles at a time). Came back to running in September and had huge reserves of energy...more than ever before.

tunney

Patrick_K wrote: »

I'd agree with Wally here. Just be careful about the GP you go to. I was in a similar situation last year and went to a couple of GPs without a lot of joy. Sometimes it's just too general and they just give you a once over to check HR, BP, temperature etc when it's probably a blood test you need. A GP with sports specific training or at least knowledge/interest in sport is what you want for sure.
Best of luck with it,
PK

Cheers - I'm changing doctors as we "need a family doctor". I've a feeling I won't get any joy from this one but hey, gotta start somewhere.

pgibbo

tunney wrote: »

Cheers - I'm changing doctors as we "need a family doctor". I've a feeling I won't get any joy from this one but hey, gotta start somewhere.

No advice to offer as I rarely go to the doctor. I probably should change that and get the odd checkup.

Best of luck and hopefully you get sorted sooner rather than later.

robinph

As other said I'd advise to tell them everything, but as we are not like the normal customers of GP's you have to keep in your mind that they may not be paying attention to what you actually said.

If they don't seem to be taking into account that "normal" for you is going and running for X miles every day and they end up telling you that you are fine seeing as you manage to walk up and down the stairs unaided and that running 100 miles a day is not normal...then go see someone else, and I'd probably be wanting my €50 back as well.

With my not normal'ness I actually mostly avoided Irish GP's anyway, but the other health professionals did seem to take the unusual activities into account whenever speaking with them.

Ryder

would echo the advice about santry. The problems may cause this in the general pop may not be relevant for you, so would expect that a standard gp will look for the common in your case. A sports specific doctor should also look for the common but will use their expertise to tailor the investigations to you. As a child (baby) owner i can symathise with constantlyy low energy levels!

sideswipe

A cousin of mine who was/is a very good swimmer and tri-athlete used his own gp and a more specialized clinic, had loads of checks done just to see if there was any improvements or things to watch out for, had loads of standard and some non-standard tests done- one of witch showed up a rare (but not serious) genetic blood anomaly/disorder, these results were then shared with his own gp which ended up causing him to be refused life assurance on a mortgage with his wife. He now regrets not using a different name and address for the non-esential tests, some times it doesn't pay to be honest.

RacoonQueen

My GP was very good when I got sick back in February. I got the bloods, swabs and the like done. He knows how active I am and actually did listen when I was going through my symptoms. I'd definitely tell the doc about your usual blood values etc anything that helps.

That being said, he told me I'd be ok to run a marathon a week after I was seeing him. He was wrong. :rolleyes:

kingQuez

I've no experience of having blood tests or anything like that, so aside from HR don't know what's normal for me, but I suspect I'd try find a GP with a sports medcine background and unload all the information I have about what's 'normal' on them.

I swopped GP last year when my regular one was on holidays. Afterwards I discovered the new guy is a member of the 'Irish Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine', I've no idea in practice if that makes him any better than the next guy but it can't hurt..

jailhouse_dave

I cant recommend Dr. Pat Duggan in the carysfort clinic highly enough. He specialises in sports and is fairly high up in GAA doctor circles (incld being the Dublin senior team doctor). Right its a bit of a trip to blackrock but you are not looking for the run of the mill advice (like most sedentary people). Been through a lot of doctors but this guy really sorted out my breathing problems.

jayok77

jailhouse_dave wrote: »

I cant recommend Dr. Pat Duggan in the carysfort clinic highly enough. He specialises in sports and is fairly high up in GAA doctor circles (incld being the Dublin senior team doctor). Right its a bit of a trip to blackrock but you are not looking for the run of the mill advice (like most sedentary people). Been through a lot of doctors but this guy really sorted out my breathing problems.

In the process of getting bloods done with Dr. Duggan for the first time. Will let you know how I find him.

I knew this already as it was a reason I was going to see him but he says he cannot stress enough how your resting heart rate is THE best indicator on how our body is feeling and reacting. He also said out of the sports patients he sees, runners are probably the only sports people who regularly monitor their heart rate. BTW anything over 8/10 beats a minute than usual for RHR is a sign that something is amiss (e.g. hard workout and not recovered yet, sick, virus etc).

tunney

jayok77 wrote: »

I knew this already as it was a reason I was going to see him but he says he cannot stress enough how your resting heart rate is THE best indicator on how our body is feeling and reacting. He also said out of the sports patients he sees, runners are probably the only sports people who regularly monitor their heart rate. BTW anything over 8/10 beats a minute than usual for RHR is a sign that something is amiss (e.g. hard workout and not recovered yet, sick, virus etc).

I'd agree - if it was 10-15 years ago

RHR is an indicator. Very very crude and very slow to pick up problems.
Orthostatic response is less crude and a quicker way to pick up issues.
However I believe heart rate variablity is the best way to identify any issues - illnesss, inadaquate recovery, lack of sleep, hangover

pgibbo

tunney wrote: »

I'd agree - if it was 10-15 years ago

RHR is an indicator. Very very crude and very slow to pick up problems.
Orthostatic response is less crude and a quicker way to pick up issues.
However I believe heart rate variablity is the best way to identify any issues - illnesss, inadaquate recovery, lack of sleep, hangover

In lay man terms, what is orthostatic response and how does Joe Soap monitor it? I did a quick google but am none the wiser. Cheers

tunney

pgibbo wrote: »

In lay man terms, what is orthostatic response and how does Joe Soap monitor it? I did a quick google but am none the wiser. Cheers

"Orthostatic heart rate is the difference between the heart rates at supine rest and at standing position. For example, if the average heart rate in a lying position is 56 and at standing 80, the orthostatic heart rate is 24 bpm"

pgibbo

Found this link after. Maybe my search criteria were incorrect earlier.

jayok77

tunney wrote: »

I'd agree - if it was 10-15 years ago

RHR is an indicator. Very very crude and very slow to pick up problems.
Orthostatic response is less crude and a quicker way to pick up issues.
However I believe heart rate variablity is the best way to identify any issues - illnesss, inadaquate recovery, lack of sleep, hangover

When my RHR went from 42 to 60 in the space of a day I think it was plain obvious something was wrong!

TheRoadRunner

tunney wrote: »

"Orthostatic heart rate is the difference between the heart rates at supine rest and at standing position. For example, if the average heart rate in a lying position is 56 and at standing 80, the orthostatic heart rate is 24 bpm"

I will be shocked if your GP knows or cares about any of this stuff. Wasting your time giving a family GP any of this info.

tunney

jayok77 wrote: »

When my RHR went from 42 to 60 in the space of a day I think it was plain obvious something was wrong!

Yes - but that was my point - RHR tells you when something has gone wrong, HRV can tell you when you are on the road to something going wrong.

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

I will be shocked if your GP knows or cares about any of this stuff. Wasting your time giving a family GP any of this info.

No, this sort of information wasn't quite what I was asking about. RHR would be relevant I think to say but HRV definitely not.

In the end the additional information did help with the potential diagnosis.