Arrogant GPs
I agree, have had similar experience of being mis diagnosed for several years with various illnesses including anxiety. I was give anti depressants and aggressively told to go to mental health services. Only after doing a lot of research myself and finding a private doctor , paying £800 for a scan was diagnosed with kidney problem which am now awaiting surgery for. It has been a shocking experience of how disempowering it can be when doctors do not listen, believe or act on any of the information you give them. My trust and respect for doctors has diminished, and I feel they are people you may even need to protect yourself from.
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I know what you mean. After months of constant headaches which get worse with moving, I had a CT scan abroad, having been denied an MRI scan several times by my GP. Sadly I cannot afford £800 for a scan or I would have paid for it.
Original post by Marsha1969
I agree, have had similar experience of being mis diagnosed for several years with various illnesses including anxiety. I was give anti depressants and aggressively told to go to mental health services. Only after doing a lot of research myself and finding a private doctor , paying £800 for a scan was diagnosed with kidney problem which am now awaiting surgery for. It has been a shocking experience of how disempowering it can be when doctors do not listen, believe or act on any of the information you give them. My trust and respect for doctors has diminished, and I feel they are people you may even need to protect yourself from.
Do you want to protect yourself from the private doctor too?
Possibly. I hope that this doctor will be more aware of the problem, and is a better doctor but I am now cautious about believing what any doctor says. I now research the information and get another opinion. I know doctors are intelligent people, but it has been surprising the lack of investigation, joined up thinking and even mild curiosity as to what has been causing pain for 6 years. I have been quite naïve in doing what I was told for a long time - ie taking pain killers, anti depressants etc without questioning, and won't be entrusting my health so easily, doing something that feels wrong just because someone with a qualification and an authoritative tone of voice tells me to do it. The 6 years of lack of treatment to my kidneys has done lasting damage and I can't fully repair that, even with surgery.
Original post by Anonymous
I know what you mean. After months of constant headaches which get worse with moving, I had a CT scan abroad, having been denied an MRI scan several times by my GP. Sadly I cannot afford £800 for a scan or I would have paid for it.
Did the CT help?
Original post by Anonymous
Did the CT help?
It didn't show anything I didn't already know about. It's just a shame the doctors don't care really and my quality of life is **** as a result of many things.
Original post by Anonymous
It didn't show anything I didn't already know about. It's just a shame the doctors don't care really and my quality of life is **** as a result of many things.
Maybe the doctors didn't want to expose you to radiation because your headaches didn't sound sinister...
A scan wouldn't change your quality of life, surely?
Original post by Anonymous
Maybe the doctors didn't want to expose you to radiation because your headaches didn't sound sinister...
A scan wouldn't change your quality of life, surely?
A scan wouldn't change your quality of life, surely?
An MRI scan isn't radioactive, a CT scan on the other hand, is, and yet it's the scan that is most avaliable.
Original post by Anonymous
An MRI scan isn't radioactive, a CT scan on the other hand, is, and yet it's the scan that is most avaliable.
Well yes, because a CT scan takes a fraction of the time of an MRI scan. The point is, your symptoms obviously didn't warrant a referral for a scan or you would have had it here without needing to go abroad.
Original post by Anonymous
Well yes, because a CT scan takes a fraction of the time of an MRI scan. The point is, your symptoms obviously didn't warrant a referral for a scan or you would have had it here without needing to go abroad.
You basically just repeat what my GP told me which is of no help whatsoever, thanks for understanding. I hope you never have a health concern that needs investigating because in this country you're ****ed.
I still had to be referred to have the scan by the doctor from abroad so obviously they thought it was necessary or they wouldn't have done it. Doctors here just want to save money.
Original post by Anonymous
It didn't show anything I didn't already know about. It's just a shame the doctors don't care really and my quality of life is **** as a result of many things.
Keep in mind that the NHS isn't a bottomless pit of money and you aren't the only patient using it. That doesn't mean they don't care and does mean they need to have genuine belief that you need it. In most cases, nothing is seriously wrong. But equally doctors are not perfect or robots, they are humans who make mistakes.
i know someone who's sister is now paralysed because she was prescribed something she didnt need. also my friend's gp didnt believe that she had cancer even though she kept going back for 3 years until she got to the stage before terminal
Original post by Anonymous
You basically just repeat what my GP told me which is of no help whatsoever, thanks for understanding. I hope you never have a health concern that needs investigating because in this country you're ****ed.
I still had to be referred to have the scan by the doctor from abroad so obviously they thought it was necessary or they wouldn't have done it. Doctors here just want to save money.
I still had to be referred to have the scan by the doctor from abroad so obviously they thought it was necessary or they wouldn't have done it. Doctors here just want to save money.
Sorry you've had such experiences, but my own experiences in this country have been very different - I agree that GPs are not always sympathetic or interested, but I have always been referred for investigations appropriately (sometimes even over the top). People do not give the NHS the credit it deserves.
As for being referred for the scan abroad - did you have to pay for it yourself?
Original post by Anonymous
Sorry you've had such experiences, but my own experiences in this country have been very different - I agree that GPs are not always sympathetic or interested, but I have always been referred for investigations appropriately (sometimes even over the top). People do not give the NHS the credit it deserves.
As for being referred for the scan abroad - did you have to pay for it yourself?
As for being referred for the scan abroad - did you have to pay for it yourself?
I agree. I saw a psychiatrist once who made me feel more **** than when I first saw him. Then I saw a different one who made me feel listened to and got me the therapy I needed. Then when I found a lump my GP did all they could to get it investigated and kept up with the follow-up. Not all doctors are good but not all are bad either and sweeping generalisations are for idiots.
Original post by Marsha1969
I agree, have had similar experience of being mis diagnosed for several years with various illnesses including anxiety. I was give anti depressants and aggressively told to go to mental health services. Only after doing a lot of research myself and finding a private doctor , paying £800 for a scan was diagnosed with kidney problem which am now awaiting surgery for. It has been a shocking experience of how disempowering it can be when doctors do not listen, believe or act on any of the information you give them. My trust and respect for doctors has diminished, and I feel they are people you may even need to protect yourself from.
There was a study that doctors often diagnose people who don't have depression, with depression and people with actual depression, don't get a diagnosis. People always talk about doctors not taking women's problems seriously but the history of 'hysteria' was mentioned recently in my studies and seems to be a genuine thing. I read today that women are twice as more likely to be sexually abused in childhood and this causes them to be susceptible to not only depression but have a higher stress response in later life to stressful events, yet I think doctors view women as emotionally unstable beings that need antidepressants, not considering other factors at all.
I thankfully haven't experienced this myself, but I have been pushed aside with severe health problems and left in the dark with no answers. It has taken years to be listened to finally and now I have a couple diagnoses and see specialists once a year, but my symptoms of my chronic illness look like anxiety and even now, they say I'm anxious.
Original post by hannxm
yet I think doctors view women as emotionally unstable beings that need antidepressants, not considering other factors at all.
Is this all doctors or just male ones?
I feel like a lot of the time, when GPs are having a bad day they just can't be arsed with helping people and will fob people off where possible. I've found that you've just got to be stubborn - if you make it clear you're not happy with your treatment and you're not leaving until your satisfied, then they'll soon comply to get you out of the way.
Original post by Anonymous
FYI I didn't pay a penny for the tests I had abroad because their system is better. Isn't that annoying for you?
Well no-one is holding you in the UK with its awful healthcare system by force...
I've had mixed experiences with different specialists. Some are amazing (e.g. dermatology/immunology/cardiology/rheumatology/etc). Some not so much. But tbf I don't usually expect all specialities to know how to deal with my issues because my health is pretty complex and hard to manage.
My GP gets frustrated with my specialists sometimes because they don't all like working together and it's especially problematic trying to get the mental health people to work with the physical health ones and the different hospitals to work together too but eh. Not my job to coordinate them. I've got too much other stuff to deal with haha. If they did work togethet though I think they'd understand a lot bettet but ah maybe they will in time.
You have to learn to work with then to get the best care. If you come across as standoffish they won't want to help you.
My GP gets frustrated with my specialists sometimes because they don't all like working together and it's especially problematic trying to get the mental health people to work with the physical health ones and the different hospitals to work together too but eh. Not my job to coordinate them. I've got too much other stuff to deal with haha. If they did work togethet though I think they'd understand a lot bettet but ah maybe they will in time.
You have to learn to work with then to get the best care. If you come across as standoffish they won't want to help you.
Original post by Marsha1969
I agree, have had similar experience of being mis diagnosed for several years with various illnesses including anxiety. I was give anti depressants and aggressively told to go to mental health services. Only after doing a lot of research myself and finding a private doctor , paying £800 for a scan was diagnosed with kidney problem which am now awaiting surgery for. It has been a shocking experience of how disempowering it can be when doctors do not listen, believe or act on any of the information you give them. My trust and respect for doctors has diminished, and I feel they are people you may even need to protect yourself from.
Yeah there are a lot of stories like this, but just bear in mind the incentives of the people you are seeing. The NHS doctor has an incentive to save the NHS's resources, and to save your from the harm of medical tests (e.g. a CT scan is a lot of radiation), but they aren't going to personally going to be paid less for not requesting one. On the other hand, the private doctor very much IS paid if he does a scan, he IS paid if you're happy because they've diagnosed something, and a private surgeon is paid a LOT to perform a procedure. Completely lying to you would be a hugely illegal of course and I'm sure they wouldn't do that, but its amazing what £500 per scan or £5,000 per procedure will do for your scan and diagnosis rates.
Or the NHS doctor just got it wrong, of course. Quite possible.
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