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Blood Tests for 31 Year Old Autistic Man

  • 04-07-2019 2:35pm
    #1
    Lux23
    Registered Users Posts: 7,134 ✭✭✭


    My brother is profoundly autistic, he’s 31 and recently he’s been very lethargic and the doctors suspect that he may have a thyroid problem. The problem is it’s almost impossible to get his bloods done, he fights you and even when sedated a team of carers and nurses can’t get at him.

    Would anyone know of service in Dublin that might be better able to deal with it? I should add that he’s also very hard to sedate as he has epilepsy and he seems to be immune to anything but a general anaesthetic.


Comments

  • #2
    CiDeRmAn
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 34,526 CMod ✭✭✭✭CiDeRmAn


    Lux23 wrote: »
    My brother is profoundly autistic, he’s 31 and recently he’s been very lethargic and the doctors suspect that he may have a thyroid problem. The problem is it’s almost impossible to get his bloods done, he fights you and even when sedated a team of carers and nurses can’t get at him.

    Would anyone know of service in Dublin that might be better able to deal with it? I should add that he’s also very hard to sedate as he has epilepsy and he seems to be immune to anything but a general anaesthetic.

    If bloods are too hard to take in a normal clinic, it's unlikely it'll be any easier elsewhere, especially if the individual is refusing treatment.
    A GP might be unwilling to start a course of treatment without the blood result, but they can also test with a urine test that might be easier for him to comply with.


  • #3
    frash
    Registered Users Posts: 2,563 ✭✭✭frash


    Is he a heavy sleeper?
    If so would some kind of night nurse service work?


  • #4
    CiDeRmAn
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 34,526 CMod ✭✭✭✭CiDeRmAn


    Without the consent of the person, assuming the person has capacity, no GP or nurse is going to take bloods from an adult who has declined.


  • #5
    Foweva Awone
    Registered Users Posts: 1,740 ✭✭✭Foweva Awone


    Going on my own experience ... I was very symptomatic of low thyroid several months back, I'd my bloods done a few times at the GP but, because it was only borderline low, they didn't put me on medication for it.

    I ended up in hospital for a few weeks for an unrelated condition, I was still extremely lethargic etc. They checked my bloods again and the thyroid was still only borderline low, however because I had all the symptoms of hypothyroidism they put me on medication for it. The way the doctor in hospital explained it to me was that the medication is only increasing the levels of the thyroid hormone which is already in your system anyways, basically it might help me and even if it didn't it wouldn't harm me. So it was worth trying in her opinion.

    It's made a huge difference to me, I definitely needed to be on it.

    So what I'm thinking is, would it be worth chatting with the doctor to see would they try him on the meds based on his symptoms, since getting a blood sample would be so difficult in his case?


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