feeling like a nusiance

Travelsafar.Why should we feel we are visiting our GP too much.? What have they spent years of training for if they cannot spend a moment putting our minds at rest or that we made need to have our particular health issue investigated or prescribe us medication and 'come and see me again if you do not feel better/ clears up'. As for a possible femoral hernia it is good that your doc is sending you for further investigation.

My DH has so many health issues and has done for several years. Also he is hearing impaired so I have to go to appointments with him. I am constantly listening about yet another "complaint" so much so just cannot be bothered to go to Dr with my issues, eg hips, knee, fingers that I have put down to probably arthritis, ears/throat constantly sore but I just feel I have medical overload and the last thing I need is a visit to GP.

Yep. A quick run down is as follows. I had an ongoing problem with an incisional hernia which had been caused by a hysterectomy, and was rapidly growing. The surgeon wouldn't operate until I lost 25 kg. He sent me to a bariatric surgeon who wouldn't operate because I had so much scarred tissue and because of a lifetime of chronic reflux he would (if he could) have had to perform a gastric bypass but didn't want to do that. Rewind back to November 2017. My two yearly "poo test" came back as positive so I was admitted to hospital for further tests. Luckily the colonoscopy only showed polyps which were removed. A couple of months later I was woken at 4am by the most horrendous pain and noise in my head and ear. My daughter took me to the Emergency Dept after putting some warm water in my ear, amongts all my screaming. The doctors couldn't see anything but thought I had perforated my ear drum with a cotton bud. I then had several appointments at the ENT clinic where the doctors all had a poke around in my ear. Part of the examination involved putting a tube with a camera up my nose and down my throat. This showed a lesion down my throat and tongue so I had to be admitted for treatment for that. At my last ENT appointment a doctor exclaimed he thought he could see a leg (insect) in my ear. A doctor eventually pulled out a large beetle which fell into two parts as it was removed. I had a couple a months getting over all this but kept getting sicker and in increasing pain until in October, the night before I was due to fly interstate for my youngest grandson's birthday I was rushed to hospital for an emergency operation to remove my hernia, where it was touch and go as to whether my bowel would have to be removed. Luckily this was not necessary so after a week my daughter took me back to her home (a 5 hr drive). After the drive I became ill with fluid leaking everywhere from my wound and had to go to the Emergency dept but was sent home after a few hours on the proviso I saw a doctor the next day. By the time I saw the doctor I had a temperature and was in pain so straight back to the ED where I was admitted and stayed for 3 days. I was allowed back to my daughter's care with the dressings being changed and my temperature being taken every few hours. The scans for my stomach showed lesions on my lungs so I now have to go back to my local Hospital for a biopsy on my lungs this coming Wednesday. I do hope they don't find anything else. I don't like this getting old.

travelsafar I would speak to the pharmacist as suggested above, and you must certainly get things checked out. Don't feel you are being a nuisance, that is what the GPs are there for.

Good luck with the problems you have.

Bags: "Royal Wedding Cake Hidden Health Scare" sounds like the Daily Express headline from heaven...

Some of the experiences on here are absolutely disgraceful!
I am very lucky, I have a female GP who listens and spends time with each patient. It can be difficult to get an urgent appointment if needed but the girls on Reception are very good and do their very best to find a slot.

Great news (I think) the system is changing so that GP's will have a range of Allied Health Professions based with them such as pharmacists, physics, dietitians so that you have the option to see them first eg a physio for back pain. www.england.nhs.uk/gp/gpfv/ and www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/ahp-action-transform-hlth.pdf in England mainly but we can self refer to physios in Scotland.

Knowing how hard pressed our GPS were I would phone for an appointment and accept whatever I was offered, only asking before the call ended who would I be seeing. One time I got the only doctor at the surgery who I didn’t like after she was unkind to my then troubled teenager but duly attended. She sat there a minute looking at my notes and then said, ‘Hmm, you like to put yourself about a bit, why is that?’. I was stunned and thereafter chose to see only my favourite of the GPs even if it meant a three week wait and when she retired I moved surgeries.

Baggs i feel your pain regarding repeated blood tests,
I have to go every 3 weeks apparently, to measure my ferritin levels, i have refused recently because, my ferritin isnt that high, [not supposed to go over 100] and i feel worse when it gets too low,
I have Haemochromatosis, [iron overload] but i have no problems with it, and if it goes over 100 supposed to have a venesection, [about a pint of blood taken] but i have refused those too, as my iron builds very slowly but after a venesection, drops a lot,
I have not seen a Consultant for over a year, and the nurse said we are just doing what we are told to do
My argument is this, not everyone is the same, and a pint of blood from a big person might not affect them the same as it does me, at 5 ft nothing,it makes me very tired,so what is the point of feeling ill when i feel ok to start with,

as you age you generally see the dr more,and why not,we have paid all our lives into the system! being a dr is a well paid job, but the stress....,gps are retiring earlier than ever,ones of the reasons why there is a shortage.remember they have a very difficult job,they are at the coal face of most of our ills,physical,mental and social. who would be a dr?!

It's not all down to money , but don't forget they get paid extra if you see a nurse, discover you have diabetes, or high blood pressure, high collesterol, are excessively overweight , have a smear etc , etc .... so don't worry .

Can someone tell me what is BCC and INR please

Hey folks ... GPS are paid to have you on their register regardless of how often you see them ... or NOT . Think of the 10 or 15 years you hardly went at all .... they were still paid around £3000 a year for the risk of you attending , so if you ever worry about " troubling " them DONT... I worked out that my GP had been paid around £ 60,000 before I needed to see them , and in my 1st retirement year went at least 8 times ( everything catches up with you that you ignored whilst working ) don't forget YOU are important , don't be intimidated ??

Hi
Did you have a flu jab - they can cause all kinds of bad reactions.
Any new medication - have you read the leaflet that comes with it.
Artificial sweeteners cause a lot of strange symptoms - the laxatives for colonoscopy usually are full of these, avaid them like the plague, they can interfere with thyroid and make us fat.
In a way I feel sorry for GP's they don't have much in their toolbox- unlike us we have over 4000 different remedies all non toxic and safe.
In my work as a homeopath I see lots of people with all kinds of symptoms that the GP's can't sort.

Anyone else use the Isabel Symptom Checker? It's the one the doctors use. (Mine does)

symptomchecker.isabelhealthcare.com/

Harrigran, that is an absolutely disgusting way to treat you and worthy of a serious complaint, he has no right to talk to you that way. As others have rightly said, Drs are there because we pay our taxes, and it’s their job to set our minds at rest when anything is troubling us. We all get niggles as we get older and of course we need to know what we should or shouldn’t be worried about. In that scenario i would’ve stood up so that I’m looking down on him, and asked him calmly who the hell he thinks he is talking too and demanded an apology. He clearly needs a job description !

Yes - since hitting 60 I seem to be having several health issues / visits to the GP. I go about one thing and come out with something else! ( eg high cholesterol / low iron!) Not to mention various aches and pains. Feel OLD until my mum reminds me I'm a youngster!! She's 92!!

I think most doctors know the real hypochondriacs, but I do understand how you feel.. I'm the same..I hardly ever went to the doctors, but now I do think it's important to go with any worrying, unusual pains..unfortunately these seem to increase as we age!...
Now, trying to make that appointment is completely another matter!

bathsheba has a conscientious GP too. ?

I too find it problematic when to visit the doctor. I wonder if there is a list somewhere of symptoms that need urgent attention, and symptoms that should be looked at by doctor but not urgently.

I 've found nurse practitioners to be efficient and aware of what needs attention but I suppose every practice does not have one of those.

I'm the world's worst offender for not seeing the GP. I'm lucky if I go once a year yet there are things that need to be sorted and I can't do anything without the obligatory doctor's note. I'd prefer the " no fuss " and get on with it approach---get it over and done with without the waiting bit. The waiting is worse than what you went for. For me it is anyway.

I've had BCC's removed in the past and one has returned in the same place as before and a couple more have appeared.
It's not the thought of their removal as it's relatively painless it's the thought of those who are worse off than myself, besides the telling off that my D gives me and of course the waiting which gets my insides anxious. Some nurses are this way inclined and not always good patients.

I think what it is is that a few years ago if I rang for an appointment I'd either get one the same day or the next day which was great to get your problem sorted there and then but because the wait can be 2/3 weeks it puts me off and so the time goes on. The less time you waited gave you less time to think/wonder what the " ailment " could be.

Sad to say that over the years I have little confidence in the GP's at my surgery. For a start there have been a lot of different faces which tells me that the continuity of perhaps seeing the same one has all but gone. 2/3 years ago I saw a junior doctor who couldn't understand head nor tail of the readings of the mobile ECG device that I'd worn for a week. He then vanished out of the room to another colleague, came back and asked me if I could have another fitting to which I refused.

Hence my non-visits to the surgery.No wonder my BP was sky-high at the time----I was furious !
I do see the practice nurse/sister every 8 weeks for my INR and that's about it.Due next Thursday.

His definition of rude is???

ill-mannered, bad-mannered, impolite, discourteous, impertinent, insolent, presumptuous, uncivil, disrespectful, unmannerly, ill-bred, churlish, crass, curt, brusque, blunt, ungracious, graceless, brash, unpleasant, disagreeable, offhand, short, sharp.....do any of these synonyms ring true harrigran?

Another male GP I notice....

The last time I visited GP he asked if he had requested my attendance. I told him no but I really was not well and thought I would discuss it with him, he dismissed me by saying " not being rude but you are old and medicine is not an exact science ". Really not worth the two week wait for an appointment and expect better when I was being treated for cancer.

PS you might like to check out the shaky hand though

Marelli it’s pathetic isn’t it? I now deal with most things myself especially pain management.

If I do ever feel I need a professional opinion I’ll say ‘NOT Dr.So&So’ please, in fact neither of the male GPs please.

With just one or two notable exceptions I’ve found female GPS much more thoughtful and approachable.