{"id":34,"date":"2023-10-18T15:22:32","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T14:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/wceds\/?page_id=34"},"modified":"2025-01-23T17:35:35","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T17:35:35","slug":"physical-health-monitoring","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/wceds\/professionals\/physical-health-monitoring\/","title":{"rendered":"Physical health monitoring"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We ask that physical monitoring and management is completed by the GP. We will write to the GP with personalised requests for each patient.<\/p>\n<p>The types of physical health monitoring we may ask for are detailed below.<\/p>\n<p>We are happy to liaise with GPs regarding any results.<\/p>\n<h2>Blood Tests<\/h2>\n<p>The blood tests we recommend include FBC, U+Es, LFTs and bone profile. Results of concern that we often see in low weight patients include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Low Hb, WCC (low platelets of more concern)<\/li>\n<li>Low glucose<\/li>\n<li>Low potassium (due to purging)<\/li>\n<li>Low sodium (due to fluid overload)<\/li>\n<li>Low albumin, protein, creatinine<\/li>\n<li>High LFTs (more concerning, can rise rapidly)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Frequency for underweight patients<\/h2>\n<p>We recommend:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Weekly<\/strong> blood monitoring when a patient\u2019s BMI is below 15.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fortnightly <\/strong>blood tests when a patient\u2019s BMI is between 15 and 17. This can be reduced if weight is being restored and there are no abnormalities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Monthly<\/strong> blood tests when a patient\u2019s BMI is between 17 and 18.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Blood tests can be stopped if the results are within the normal range for three months.<\/p>\n<p>Patients with a stable BMI above 18 do not need routine blood tests, unless clinically indicated.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequency for patients who are self-inducing vomit<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Please complete <strong>monthly<\/strong> blood tests for someone within a healthy weight range vomiting once a day.<\/li>\n<li>Please <strong>increase the frequency<\/strong> of blood tests if vomiting is more frequent<\/li>\n<li>Please <strong>increase the frequency<\/strong> of blood tests if the patient is experiencing physical symptoms. For example, heart palpitations, dizziness, feeling lightheaded, chest pain.<\/li>\n<li>If the patient is taking potassium supplements, please repeat blood tests <strong>at least twice a week<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Blood tests can be stopped if the results are within the normal range for three months.<\/p>\n<h2>Prescribing multivitamins<\/h2>\n<p>Please advise patients with a BMI under 17.5 to take multivitamins and minerals, omega 3 and calcium.<\/p>\n<h2>Conducting ECGs<\/h2>\n<p>Please complete an ECG for patients with a BMI under 15 who are taking medication.<\/p>\n<h2>DEXA scans<\/h2>\n<p>Please refer patients with the following for a DEXA scan:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Patients whose BMI has been below 17.5 for six months to one year<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For women and non-binary people:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Patients who were once menstruating and have had a loss of menstruation for six months to one year<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Please repeat DEXA scans every 2 years.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We ask that physical monitoring and management is completed by the GP. We will write to the GP with personalised&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":380,"parent":28,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-34","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/wceds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/wceds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/wceds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/wceds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/wceds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/wceds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":447,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/wceds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34\/revisions\/447"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/wceds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/wceds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordhealth.nhs.uk\/wceds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}