feeling like a nusiance

I often feel as though I'm being a pain, too, in going to the GPs, but seem to have collected a few ailments as the years have gone by. I often begin the consultation by saying, "you may remember I saw you a few weeks ago about..." only to be met with a blank look and a quick scan of the computer screen. So, I wouldn't worry about going to the GP often, they probably don't remember you anyway! To be fair, our GPs are usually very good.

Oh travelsafar I do envy you...... there are no such thing as day appointments on the day at our surgery now.... I have needed my pessary ring changed for a month now and I could not get an appointment. They told me to phone surgery and book a phone app with my doc ....so I said ok i’ll have a phone app. Receptionist says “sorry there are no phone apps for three weeks.” So no appointment on the day no phone app for three weeks and no further apps til 19 th March. So how the hell you get these apps is a mystery to some of us! I wish you better health .

I feel I am lucky as all the doctors at my local surgery are very nice. The only problem is getting an appointment.
I am being treated for polymyalgia at present so each time I see the doctor she gives me an appointment for next time, the only problem is I then have to arrange a blood test appointment with the surgery which is not always easy

Do go to your GP or the nurse, physio, pharmacist, etc, as often as you need.

Sadly, and inevitably, by the time we get to 60+ we are wearing out a little, so yes, we do need help more often!

The GP and staff are paid to look after you, so you are not intruding on their free time. And it’s often cheaper and better for the NHS to ‘nip something in the bud’, than wait for it to develop.

I remember as a student nurse (MANY, MANY years ago) looking after an older lady on a ward who had a cancerous tumour under her breast that was enormous, fulminating and eroding ...... she hadn’t wanted to disturb her GP when it was small and possibly treatable. Have never forgotten that lady.

Keep well and don’t worry. ?

travelsafar I'm so sorry to hear you've had so many health worries and pain. This has certainly happened to me since getting into my late 60s. Also I felt like my GP would get fed up with me. But he is always very kind. You must go when you need to and it is important not to leave things too late.
So try not to worry, just make the appointment. I hope the waiting time is shorter than it is for my Doctor! Good luck! Lots of love.

FlorenceFlower Such wise words Florence!
My Aunt was similar to the poor lady you describe. Her cancer was in her womb. Left too late until a crisis and an ambulance and only palliative care. So desperately sad.

Travelsafar I wouldn't worry too much about the possible hernia. I have 2, and I'm on a waiting list for a repair. I don't want to have it done but husband insists.
The groin pain could also be referred pain from your hip.
I don't think we're being a nuisance, but I get so tired of going for tests, assessments etc. I just put them off, unless urgent. I'll be 83 this week .

Coconut, you beat me to it ! I too thought that was an appalling way to speak to a patient, Harrigran, and that Dr seriously needs calling out. Is he normally that rude /arrogant ?

Travelsafar..please go back to your doc asap.. the pain in your jaw sounds like it could be GCA ,Giant Cell Artritis it needs to be checked out just in case., your eyesight could be at risk if it is.. can you see a duty doc quicker-- tell them you are worried about GCA..
I seem to be at docs every 5 mins with my aliments..Polymyalgia, fibromyalgia are the main two..the past 10 days have been suffering what I think is a kidney stone .Pain has been excruciating..but no blood or infection showing in my water. I have had it before and the grit/stone has always passed after 24 hours..nothing this time.My lovely GP -I am lucky enough to have 2 that are very good..has asked for an ultrasound scan asap. We have a system at the surgery where they keep so many appointments each day and if you phone at 8.30 am you might be lucky enough to get one. If not the gp will ring you and if they think they need to see you will tell you to come down surgery. It seems to work well.. its also open on Saturdays and evenings too, though you would have to see the duty doc..

Hi all, there are some heart rending stories here. I am sorry for you. I suffer from asthma which I have now had for72 years and have somehow survived. Asthma is not a trivial complaint although a lot of people think it is just an annoying cough. At least 3 people a day die of asthma. At the moment I am managing it well. The other thing I have is arthritis in both knees. But I do manage a short walk every day even if in pain.
My son is a doctor and his hours have been increased. He usually starts work at 7.30 am and sometimes does not leave until 8 pm or later. Now I believe some surgeries are to open at weekends. I have not asked him if he will be working Sat-Sun. Also for some reason doctors pay was reduced. He has never complained. I believe that lower pay and increased hours are one reason why his surgery had an unfilled post for 4 years. There is a lot of stress involved and yet most doctors try to look cheerful when a patient comes in. It is their job after all. Do not delay having your problem looked at as if it gets worse it will make your doctor's job harder.

Yes, I do. After a patch of really bad health - gall bladder abcess, full incision abdominal surgery to remove gall bladder, severe cellulitis and pneumonia - and four hospital stays, I seem to have one thing after another going wrong. However, the GPs seem to have decided that all my ailments are part of my FOLS (Fat Old Lady Syndrome), which apparently can be cured by a lecture about losing weight - no practical help seems to be on offer, though, despite my weight gain coming after so much illness (with really large doses of antibiotics) and the reduction in mobility that has accompanied it.

Harrigran that’s appalling. I am also being treated for breast cancer and my GP has called me twice in the evening to see how I am. She told me that all cancer patients have ‘easy access’ noted. on their records and will be given an appointment quickly. I do consider myself very lucky to have such a good GP.

Traveksafar - I've had two femoral or similar! hernias, the medical staff couldn't agree. Both successfully operated on. A minor operation and well worth having. Please have an operation if you need it. Get to a pharmacist or back to your doctor with other problems, it's the not knowing that worries you. Good luck and keep us all updated.

INR stands for International Normalised Ratio which is a check for blood clotting time associated with Warfarin. A regular blood test is needed when on Warfarin to check that the INR is in the correct range. Much better to be on one of the newer drugs which are not affected by food and no blood tests needed.

My mom did not go to the doctors in many years. When she did go (this was eighteen years ago) with what she thought was fibrositis (turned out to be multiple myeloma) they had difficulty because her records had not been computerised because she was not a frequent attender!

I was pestered constantly to book blood tests (under threat of withholding pain medication). The thought of needles sends me into panic mode so I resisted as much as possiblr. I was also required to attend a medication review, again threatened with no medication, when I was quite happy with what I was on. I waited two hours to be seen despite the one ailment rule, which the doctor ignored, so appointments ran over. During my wait, a lady came in to say her son was on his way for an appointment but was stuck in traffic. She was told he would be seen if he got there within ten minutes of his appointment but would have to book again if not despite them running two hours late! I changed practices and have not been contacted at all in nine months by the new doctors which I am happy with.

My main gripe is with a hospital. I was put on the list for an Ablation procedure for atrial fibrillation in mid December with the consultant said 2 - 3 month wait. Great, I thought, will not interfere with summer holidays. In mid January, I received a letter stating I had to phone in weekly to confirm I had taken anti coagulant medication and, after four weeks, would be put on the waiting list. I would then have to continue with the weekly phone call until scheduled. I then found out the waiting list was more like five months putting a possible date in the summer holiday time. Had I been on Warfarin weekly blood tests would be required. I feel insulted that people can't be trusted to take the medication and this has made me worried that there may have been problems with procedures at this hospital. A friend who lives fifteen miles away and has only had AF since last August (I have had it seven and a half years) has already got her date for the procedure in April, in another hospital, with no weekly phone calls. I don't know whether her calling an ambulance every time she has an episode has any bearing on her getting, what seems, priority service.

Do please go back to your doctor, travelsafar, and tell her as you told her that you feel you are making a nuisance of yourself, but you would rather be safe than sorry.

Any good doctor would rather see a patient once too often than once too few.

I do hope she is pleasant when you do go, and that neither the itchy patch on you leg or your sore chin is anything to worry about, and something that can easily be cured.

Travelsafar, dont worry about "bothering your Doctor" thats what they are there for.Having been a nurse all my life I have seen a lot of things develop because people dont want to bother the Doctor, or scared of going to the Doctor, I usually say not many things improve with waiting, its best to see to them as soon as possible.

Over the last two years I have seen doctors more frequently than in the rest of my life. Not really serious problems (asthma, chronic sinusitis, repeated chest infections and IBS) but recurring, and as I needed antibiotics I couldn't get those without seeing a doctor. Prior to that I rarely went to the doctor and they once wrote to ask if I still lived at my address because they hadn't seen me for years. But I certainly can't complain about the care I've received. My opinions and views on the cause of this sudden decline in my health are always taken into consideration, appointments are not rushed and I'm treated like a human being, not an ailment on legs. I wish I could be so complimentary of our local pharmacy who rarely have my medication in stock, which means I have to wait another 2 or 3 days before I can begin taking it. But I am grateful that our small village even has a health centre and a pharmacy. Hopefully my health issues are improving and this year will be better.

Make an official complaint Harrigran and don’t agree to an in-house cover up. Disgraceful way to speak to anyone and totally unacceptable! Bullying and intimidation has no place in medicine!

I try never to go unless I think it’s something serious or I know what treatment I need. Tried to get an appointment last year over a period of two weeks when I thought I had a urinary infection. No joy! In the end I went in and demanded treatment. Still didn’t see a Dr but they gave me antibiotics (which I only take in dire circumstances!) Hopeless! Won’t be going again unless completely necessary as I find most things get better on their own in time.

I spend a lot more time at appointments since being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes but it is increasingly difficult to book appointments, made worse by the fact that I work in a school so try to get them all in the holidays. I recently ordered a repeat prescription and went to collect it from the chemist only to find it hadn't been sent. It was a Friday so I dashed to the surgery to get a prescription as one of my medications would run out over the weekend. I was told I hadn't been prescribed the next prescription as I hadn't had an annual review. I was waiting for the next school holiday for that! At that point they gave me a new prescription (which I had to wait ages for a doctor to sign) and when I asked for an appointment for an annual medication review was told there were none available so I asked how I was supposed to get my next prescription then, so they fitted me in. I try really hard not to go more than necessary but getting appointments has become so difficult I now constantly worry about getting one when I really need it. Hopefully it will be easier when I retire as I won't be limited to outside school hours.
My MIL was one of the patients doctors must dread. She was always going with one thing or another. My children only needed to cough or sneeze and she would be telling me to take them to the doctor. I had to tell her that if they had a cold the doctor couldn't do anything for them so it would be wasting their time. Doctors know that some patients always go for trivial reasons and they know who they are. Travelsafar - you are not one of them so don't worry. My MIL was!

Qwerty I'm reassured to read your post about hernia repair. Not so scared about mine now.
Did they put mesh in?

I seem to be seeing the Dr less over the last 7 years, before that I felt like I lived at the surgery. I must admit I was persistent with seeing a Dr about symptoms I had, once of which was extreme fatigue. I was fobbed off with all sorts of things but it was a student who discovered I had PBC, a liver disease. Since then I have been having regular blood tests and its under control now. My surgery is lovely and despite the fact that I was going there every week I was still treated with respect and have no problems getting an appointment..

It is all very well saying not to worry about making appointments as that is what the doctors are there for and we have paid for them! Why do you think there is so much difficulty getting an appointment? It’s because of this attitude!! Yes, if there is something wrong, make that appointment, but do not take the proverbial p***.
It amuses me that in some practices there is a waiting time of 2-3 weeks to get an appointment! If it is not a repeat problem, where gp has said to make a return appointment, it’s ridiculous to have to wait that length of time for a genuine complaint. If you can wait this length of time to be seen, ask yourself “do I really need to see a doctor?”
I’m not trying to put those, who genuinely need to, off making appointments, only saying think first. There are other avenues you can use. Your pharmacist can deal with many minor issues and can usually be seen fairly easily. In many areas you can also self refer to physiotherapy.
Many gp surgeries also have telephone appointments, which are another option, especially if you wish to discuss blood results, medication etc. or need reassurance over something. No, they aren’t as good as seeing a gp, but you can generally get one of these quite quickly.

Try to stay as far away from mine as I can. Never feel I am taken seriously and feel he is laughing at me. You are in and out like lightening as well and because I have to use a wheelchair I am slower to get to the room but that gets taken off your appointment time, only one I can get to though. If you have a good doctor that cares about you then stick with him/her

Please see your GP if you are worried, no matter how often. I have always had a thing about 'not bothering the doctor with trivialities' - in fact my GP once laughingly told me that the graveyard is full of people like me.
A while ago I developed a nagging pain in my side, which grew worse throughout the evening. I didn't sleep much, but was convinced that the pain was because I had been knitting for too long. My son insisted on driving me to the doctor's next morning, and I was promptly shunted off to A & E. I had a cyst on my bowel, which was on the point of bursting. 5 days in hospital and antibiotic drips saved the day, just in time. If it had burst I would have had peritonitis and septicaemia.
It taught me a lesson, and I won't put off seeing the doctor again, even if it does turn out to be nothing to worry about.
I am lucky that all our practice GPs, male and female, are lovely. Nothing is too much trouble for them. I'm appalled at the way some of you have been treated.