Are GPs useless?

[powlesY]

I'm certainly of that belief. I've been ill for absolutely ages, like proper life altering ill. Seen like 4 or 5 different GPs dozens of times and it seems like i could go in with a broken ankle and they'd prescribe me anti-depression tablets, and i hear the same off of a lot of people.

A mate with a stomach bug went in and got prescribed SSRIs. Whenever you explain symptoms and they don't have an answer, the majority will use google directly in front of you, all the whilst telling you not to look up stuff on the net.

And then, if by some miracle they end up sending you to a specialist, it takes a ridiculous amount of time. I know that's mainly down to specialists perhaps being busy and there's always going to be waiting lists, but if the GP didn't feed you a load of rubbish for months you'd have had some sort of diagnosis by now.

Go on, insult me for my ignorance guys.

 

[powlesY]

Well, if you're unsatisfied you could always go private...

That's what i'm being forced to do i reckon. Spending £100s on healthcare when i've got so much other things to pay for though is just a kick in the ass.

 

[powlesY]

Isn't the OP a teenager?

Anyway, guess the OP has more knowledge and experience than a GP. guess he too did six years of medical school and thus has a complete grasp if the situation.

BZZZZT. Thought not.

I'm 23.

I never claimed that so don't put words in mouth. All i'm saying is they don't often take things seriously enough (like someone else said, down to the hypochondriacs no doubt). There's gotta be a point where they must think "ah, perhaps something is wrong here". I actually coughed up blood in front of the doctor once and he was like "try and keep active, bye", you know, despite the symptoms i'm describing to him making that very hard to do.

 

[powlesY]

You do know there are a couple of websites specifically designed for doctors to look up symptoms... Right...? I'm sure they aren't just googling...

Either way they understand what is actually written on the websites they are looking at far better than you.

I also question the fact you seem to be life alteringly ill yet none of your GP's know about it. Either it is a known ongoing condition, in which case they should know about your medical history, or you have been looking on too many websites...

I have looked on websites, yeah - but that's after months of getting no proper answers from the doctor/s. I've had this "condition" or whatever for 18-24 months now and it's progressively getting worse. To be fair, i have had a few tests (a basic chest x-ray and sputum) and nothing was found so it's basically them thinking i'm psychosomatic now despite me proving an array of symptoms to them. 'Cause i'm a young lad that's not had any health problems before they don't consider it anything to worry about.

 

[powlesY]

So still a kid then. I'm not putting words in your mouth rather pointing out you seem to think you know better than a well trained professional. You may well get one bad GP. I've seen plenty, I have more experience with that profession than you have had hot dinners.

However if you had seen plenty then at least one would spot something is amiss. Therefore I think we have, like stated, a severe cae of hyperbole.

Oh i see, you're ironically being childish by trying to patronise me because i'm 23? Nice one. I reiterate, i never implied to know more than GPs and this is clearly a rant topic. You criticise me for over-exaggeration and at the same time go and point out things you may know more than me and try to belittle me with it?

I've been far too vague for you to know what i've gone through, so please mate, get off that elitist high-horse.

 

[powlesY]

GP's are inherantly useless, these are doctors that see a very narrow set of symptoms incredibly often and see rare problems very infrequently and they usually can't diagnose them themselves. IE they refer someone for a variety of problems and a specialist diagnoses them. When a doctor works in a GP and sees thousands of patients a year and 98% of them have a cold, then the first thing a GP's mind see's when you say something that bears any similarity to a cold or flu and they automatically think you have nothing really wrong with you.

It's natural, you see something constantly you jump to conclusions. Biggest problem with GP's is sending them to school for 7 years, learning how to take out an appendix, put in chest tubes, diagnose lots of things then stick them in an office for 40 years using NONE of that knowledge, is its a joke. GP's are basically anything from 5 to 40 years out of practice of doing real diagnosing.

The system as it is now is laughably poor, huge resources poured into gp's when they really should be on 30k a year, doing basic assessments with 1/4 of the training and more money for real doctors in hospitals to diagnose more difficult cases.

Anyway, I've had absolutely incompetant treatment, multiple times for YEARS on NHS, and the first private doctor I went to was absolutely useless as well, the second private guy I say(who also works in the NHS) found a severe problem within minutes of seeing me that the NHS and first private doctor missed for 2 years, which has somewhat ruined my entire life.

Amen. And sorry to hear that. I feel like i'm going through the same story, obviously missing out the last bit of an actual diagnosis.

 

[powlesY]

hehe, unfortunately the knee problem was diagnosed, fixed(ish, it was allowed to do a lot of damage and cause a lot of pain before being found finally so I know get to live with constant pain in both knee joints), but I've got a whole bunch of other problems they've failed to remotely come close to dealing with.

Are you still trying to get to the bottom of them?

I get chest pain, heart palputations and i've always got a brain fog headache where nothing feels real and like a throbbing light-headedness feeling.

My salivia is often thick, creamy and brown, as is my tongue and there's always a overall very horrible atmosphere and taste in my mouth. It's destroyed my teeth despite when first complaining about the symptoms 18months ago my teeth were great. Of course, the sputum test didn't come back with anything so i'm completely fine.

 

[powlesY]

You did post in an open forum. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, you may or may not agree with!

I'm fully aware of that.

 

[powlesY]

Neither do you know what I've gone through. I've been seriously ill (with no hope of a cure) for longer than you have been alive.

Why are you making it out like a competition again? I thought i was the kid?

Sorry to hear about whatever problems you've got but there's no need to discredit mine. It's like you're trying to outdo me with age and experience when i've never questioned it. I'm not being ignorant to your health issues, so please don't be ignorant to mine.

 

[powlesY]

Never really had a problem with them, what you've got to understand is that just explaining symptoms alone isn't going to be enough.

Just insist on bloods being taken and book a checkup for when they ask you to come down to talk about the results.

I've had a couple of blood tests and they found there's "nothing wrong with me". Of course, i'm just imagining my spit being brown and waking up in the middle of the night with huge chest pains.

 

[powlesY]

Any chance of a poll for this?

I'm definitely up for one being made.

 

[powlesY]

Well now.
Teeth getting destroyed is either sugar or acid. Its basically not going to be anything else. What has your chronically ill diet been like? Do you smoke?

You seem to think all Gps are rubbish, as the 4 or 5 you've visitied dozens of times have yet to diagnose your illness and think you are mentally ill becuase all the tests they have done are negative and despite this you still think you are ill.
Look up some mentalist illnesses, depression, bipolar, that sort of thing, looks at the symptoms they 'cause', you'll find altered sleep, nigt waking, chest pains listed under a fair few. I'm not going to give medicla advice, as that might get the thread locked, but as for your teeth, if it isn't acid, its sugar. If its sugar, its probably your fault. Start with a full diet analysis, wrte down everything you put in your mouth, eat drink etc, and then in a 24 hour period count how many frequencies of any potential sugar source there is. If its over 5, possibly over 3 if you don't brush regularly with a fluroide paste, then you're likely causing the tooth damage yourself.
If it isn't that then look at acids, and work from there with potential sources.

I actually don't eat many sugary foods (never been a fan of fizzy drinks either) and even quit drinking tea because it just hangs around in my mouth and it's horrible. I'm an open-minded person and i've considered the mental side but it all stemmed from living in a botched garage conversion. I've cut down a lot on my smoking because of this illness and am now down to 3-5 a day (and plan to get a vaporiser soon and quit all together). I know what certain things can do to your teeth but when i'm literally coughing up thick brownish saliva in the morning and my salivas creamy all through the day followed by a horrible taste and smell, i don't think it's the foods (although i do concede that my illness as it's developed could have destroyed my digestive system).

I originally got told i had acid reflux despite reading up on the symptoms and seeing it's barely relevant to me and another doctor said he shouldn't have prescribed me tablets for it - that doctor then went on to just prescribe me an asthma inhaler which i used for months and months and it didn't help at all - despite using it correctly, all i'd get is the chemically taste in my mouth for hours afterwards (this after taste happens with most things i eat, but is always there even if i haven't eaten). Along with this comes the headache, chest pain, fatigue etc. I want to go the hospital and have done for ages, and whilst i know it won't hurt, i expect them to look at my record and conclude there's nothing wrong with me and send me on my way. Pfft.

 

[powlesY]

To be honest though, if it was happening to me and my teeth were being affecting badly in my mid-20s, I'd be spending less time ranting about how bad I thought GPs were on a forum, and more time making appointments with doctors/dentists to get it sorted.

I've made plenty of appointments with doctors and a few with the dentist aswell (including scale and polish). Dentist didn't have anything out of the ordinary to say despite their obvious severe discolouration and when i mentioned the horrible taste and stuff i just got told it might be digestive.

 

[powlesY]

Here's how it usually goes:

1) get something wrong with you, like a hurty ear
2) wish you could go to an ear specialist, but no. call up GP to make an appointment
3) wait anything up to 3 weeks for the appointment, which usually has to be in the middle of the day so you need to take time off work
4) wait forever in the waiting room because previous patients are slow/late/dead
5) get a cold, emotionless GP ask you what's wrong. you tell them, they look it up on google/webMD/whatever and prescribe you whatever they decided to endorse that month/year, BEFORE THEY'VE EVEN TESTED YOU FIRST.
6) you feel awkward and rushed, so you say thanks and leave
7) nothing changes

For sure. You go in there with the intention of fighting for a proper answer but then general politeness takes over and you end up leaving the same as you left none the wiser.

****.

 

[powlesY]

So how is it the GP's fault if you have been polite instead of persistant?

I don't mean it like that. They just have a way of making you accept things and then leaving. I've had a good few rants in there and still leave without any improvement. Perhaps it's my flaw, maybe others know what i'm talking about. They should be bouncers they are that good of getting rid of people.

So good at making people feel like a statistic or an entity in a factory rather than an individual person.

 

[powlesY]

How many times have you changed to a different General Practice?
How many times have you been FORCED to change to a different General Practice?

There's only one general practice in my town.

 

[powlesY]

They are trying to force anti-depressants on me trying to tell me it's all in my mind. I guess my mind just decided to give me a massive headache and cough up stuff all the time and completely change my pearly whites to a bunch of disgusting decaying ****s in the space of 18 months?

I've literally got nowhere to turn, no support from doctors, no support from family. It's sickening. Argh.

 

[powlesY]

No-one is forcing anything on you. If you disagree with the treatment plan then you don't have to take the tablets. Instead of resigning yourself to what you've been given/told, why don't you at least go and see another doctor? (if you already have then I missed that as I skim read)

Well not forcing, they aren't allowed too - but they are trying their best to make me say yes.

I've seen 4-5 different doctors in the same surgery. I get the same off of all of them.

 

[powlesY]

I've told the doctors i'm gonna go to A&E and he tells me nothing different will happen because i've already had a blood test and chest x-ray. I'll probably have to wait 6 hours to be told to go home.

 

[powlesY]

Right. So i'll catch a bus tomorrow, because the hospital is an hour away and i'll go in there. I'll post back here and tell you the results. But honestly, hopefully they make me stay for a few days. I've suffered with this **** for so long i just want a diagnosis, i don't care if it's horrible bad news where it's life threatening or something - at least i'll know.

op just how hideously obese are you?

I'm a huge 10 and a half stone at 5ft 11.