If it's not one thing...

[missyfern]

My Dad came off his bike whilst cycling to hospital to have his thyroid checked. He has a 10min gap in his memory so has no idea how he came off his bike - he was on a cycle path so at least we know there wasn't a car involved. The doctors think he had a heart attack because he is overweight. I think that's unlikely as his blood pressure has always

Comments

[illusive_shelle]

Best fasted, but not compulsory! Blood sugar should be quite tightly controlled, between 4-8mmol/l in the blood. An abnormally high figure would point to that straight away. You can also do a fructosamine test - essentially if the blood sugar is high for a prolonged period of time, it causes changes in one of the proteins circulating. A high fructosamine result occurs from long term high glucose, not just after a meal.

Typical signs would be eating a lot, losing weight, drinking more and peeing a lot. Also a diabetic ketoacidotic coma would be very unlikely to self-resolve and him feel fine afterwards, which it sounds like (for some definitions of fine mind you).

For reference, the heart blood test is looking for cardiac specific troponin. High levels indicate lots of damage to heart cells, so a likely heart cause.

[missyfern]

Cool, that's really interesting :)

The nurse suggested it cos he has been suffering a dry mouth at night. He's always tried to drink 2-3l a day so wasn't really sure if he was peeing a lot (i asked). He's gaining weight, though, despite all the diets his GP and my step-mum have had him on - this is why he was having his thyroid checked.

Meh, i'm sure he'll be fine, but it's nice to know the tests and stuff they're likely to be doing.