Are GPs useless?

[Nymins]

My local GPs are great. Fantastic appointment times (generally within 2-days or the same day if you call before 9.00am).

 

[ethan]

I have never come across a doctor that takes seriously anything I have ever had to say about a condition or symptom or for that matter take the time to read my notes prior to appointment. Sad I know. The same can be said of the nursing staff.

I had a massive allergic reaction to some food colourings that made my face and lips swell out of proportion. I looked like a mongol and approached the doctor who told me to sit down and in so doing asked how he could help me?

When admitted to hospital due to a pulminory embolism they continued to provide me with Volteral along with heprin. Volteral can produce bleeding of the stomach.

Regular blood test nurse recommends my next blood test to be within 6 weeks despite the fact my notes say do not under any circumstances leave for longer than 4 weeks?

This week walked in to a walk-in centre in desperation as I have torn a tendon in my hip and the co-codamol does not help. Nurse's first question have you contacted or consulted your GP? Reply:This is why I am here, this is a walk-in centre isn't it? Anyway please help with some better pain killers.
Nurse: Here's what I will do. I will print you off some info about a prolapsed disc. Go away and read this. No pain killers or anything except a useless piece of paper unrelated to my condition. I have torn tendons before and know what the symptoms are.

Present state is one in which I am being treated for an unknown condition and set of symptoms to which nobody (specialists) will agree as to what it is?

 

[Raumarik]

ethan if the practice aren't good enough change doctor, just being registered with them and not attending gives them money. Take yourself elsewhere.

Trust me GPs like having a healthy list size and health boards will question why they are dropping if people keep leaving, well that was before the Tory/Lib Dems decided to scrap PCTs.

 

[Destination]

I've been ill for absolutely ages, like proper life altering ill. Seen like 4 or 5 different GPs dozens of times
Go on, insult me for my ignorance guys.

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

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.

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.

 

[Tefal]

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.

sure you're not just a chain smoking drunk with a kebab fetish?

 

[Jolteh]

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.

If we're gonna be correct, then it's better to say that all tooth decay is caused by acid. There's the acid in you food and drink, and there's the acid produced by the bacteria in your mouth that feeds upon the sugar in your food.

That's just me being picky though, you make a lot of good points, particularly the bit about making sure your toothpaste has fluoride in it.

One thing I would say is that he mentions a problem with his saliva, which could either be caused by or causing his tooth decay. If there's a problem with its composition then it might not being doing it's job of buffering the acid levels in his mouth properly. Similarly, if his teeth are decaying, it's going to leave a bad taste and probably make it go a funky colour.

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.

 

[[FnG]magnolia]

Whilst I don't doubt that there are a great number of average or even poor GPs I'm almost certain that there are a far greater number of terrible patients.

e : ^ the chap you're talking to is a dentist.

 

[KNiVES]

I've been blessed with a fantastic GP whom I've had since I was a child. He knows his stuff extremely well and has correctly diagnosed virtually everything. He has helped me through some bad issues and has no problem with helping me on seemingly trivial things either. The day he retires will be a sad one for sure.

 

[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.

 

[Zero Pope]

Have to say, I've had nothing but positive experiences recently with my GPs. This year I'll have had carpal tunnel decompressions in both hands, a cyst removed from my face and all within a couple of months of seeing my GP for each issue. Currently my only bugbear is the various anti-histamines and nasal sprays I'm having to try to resolve a suspected allergy.

 

[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.

 

[AHarvey]

I went to the docs for some cream for the Psoriasis on my face. I've got it on my scalp, face, chest and small patches here and there and he refused to believe it was Psoriasis and gave me some other cream that didn't touch it.

I went with headaches and memory problems, I was told to carry a notepad.

Bleeding from the backside, lose weight. Palms and feet burning and knee's aching so bad I couldn't sleep. Told to up the exercise more and lose weight.

Family member gave birth, developed a cough while in hospital. Went back 3 days later with cough as it had become worse. Put her in a bed, did nothing and she died just before xmas leaving 2 kids behind.

Same hospital, wife's grandmother was rushed in, turns out she had a blood clot. They treated her for 3 days with blood thinners, then ran out if the meds. Discharded her 2 days later and she collapsed as she was leaving. Never recovered and died 2 days later.

My grandmother went in and had a new shoulder, they left some stiches in there and it caused all sorts of issues, took 4 years to find out why it was happening. She's since had both legs removed due to a blood clot in each leg. GP's ignored the pain when it could have been early enough to save the legs. Had to call 999 and get her rushed in one night.

Lots of bad stories about hospitals & GP's.

I think that everyone should be getting a yearly health check, blood tests etc to catch anything in it's early stages but the standard NHS is in rather a state at the moment.

 

[Redmint]

Had pretty mixed results with my GPs, for general stuff like infections etc they've been fine however when it came to sending me to a specialist to get a diagnosis of crohns they were far too slow... was only after going back 6-7 times complaining of stomach problems and having a number of blood tests that they finally sent me to the hospital.

 

[Doohickey]

I had a massive allergic reaction to some food colourings that made my face and lips swell out of proportion. I looked like a mongol and approached the doctor who told me to sit down and in so doing asked how he could help me?

I don't know what's wrong with this, it's not exactly professional for a doctor to automatically assume something is wrong with you and not bother to ask.

When admitted to hospital due to a pulminory embolism they continued to provide me with Volteral along with heprin. Volteral can produce bleeding of the stomach.

There is no reason to stop Voltarol (i.e Diclofenac) unless you are actually bleeding from the stomach.

Regular blood test nurse recommends my next blood test to be within 6 weeks despite the fact my notes say do not under any circumstances leave for longer than 4 weeks?

What is the reason that your notes say '4 weeks' specifically. There aren't many routine blood tests that need to be done specifically within a certain period of time. Perhaps the nurse used her clinical judgment to decide that 6 weeks would be appropriate?

This week walked in to a walk-in centre in desperation as I have torn a tendon in my hip and the co-codamol does not help. Nurse's first question have you contacted or consulted your GP? Reply:This is why I am here, this is a walk-in centre isn't it? Anyway please help with some better pain killers.
Nurse: Here's what I will do. I will print you off some info about a prolapsed disc. Go away and read this. No pain killers or anything except a useless piece of paper unrelated to my condition. I have torn tendons before and know what the symptoms are.

The fact you walked in to the clinic will have suggested to the nurse that the problem was not urgent. Not sure why you got info about a prolapsed disc. But it is something you should have seen your GP about probably, rather than a walk-in centre.

Present state is one in which I am being treated for an unknown condition and set of symptoms to which nobody (specialists) will agree as to what it is?

There isn't an immediately obvious answer to everything in medicine.

 

[Doohickey]

I'm amazed how they can make any meaningful diagnosis by just asking questions but never actually checking anything which involves "touching the patient" (heartbeat, swipes, Lymph nodes and the stethoscope on display around the neck is more or less for decorative purposes to look more important then the nurses).

Most diagnoses are made by 'just' asking questions, believe it or not, before even touching the patient. I don't know what you mean by 'swipes', but yes you're absolutely right, the stethoscope is just for show. Some doctors even have them plugged into their iPods

 

[Doohickey]

it seems like i could go in with a broken ankle and they'd prescribe me anti-depression tablets.

Of course I trust this is the full story and in complete context.

A mate with a stomach bug went in and got prescribed SSRIs.

Again, see my comment above.

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.

If a GP needs to look anything up, even on Google, while telling people not to look things up themselves, it's because they know what they are looking for, and are able to extract useful information.

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.

I'm not calling you ignorant. It is human nature to feel a certain way following certain experiences. However it's unfortunate that people do have bad experiences, and that a lot of people don't understand/appreciate the role/methods of doctors and the service provided. But, I do agree that there are many below-par doctors around, although this will be a small minority. My only advice- if you are not satisfied, change your GP.

 

[ethan]

I don't know what's wrong with this, it's not exactly professional for a doctor to automatically assume something is wrong with you and not bother to ask.



There is no reason to stop Voltarol (i.e Diclofenac) unless you are actually bleeding from the stomach.



What is the reason that your notes say '4 weeks' specifically. There aren't many routine blood tests that need to be done specifically within a certain period of time. Perhaps the nurse used her clinical judgment to decide that 6 weeks would be appropriate?



The fact you walked in to the clinic will have suggested to the nurse that the problem was not urgent. Not sure why you got info about a prolapsed disc. But it is something you should have seen your GP about probably, rather than a walk-in centre.



There isn't an immediately obvious answer to everything in medicine.

For (1) I looked like the elephant man. It wasn't normal to look the way I did: the assumption on my part being that if the doctor couldn't see this then what kind of a doctor is he professionalism or no professionalism? The fact that I had to explain my symptons which were obvious didn't help also. I know it is only an insignificant gripe but I can only assume he was being polite.

(2) Volterol increases the anti-blood-clotting effect, which can result in an increased risk of bleeding or increased time taken to stop bleeding, if used in combination with heparin. Other physicians told me it was ludricous for them to have kept me on it. I am also on warfarin which is similar and no physician in their right mind would put you on volterol with it for the same reasons/issues.

(3)INR

(4) I would have had to have waited an extra day to see my GP, something you would not do if you were suffering to the extent that I was, in desperate need of adequate pain control.

(5) No there isn't but there's a "treatment" they will happily place you on regardless

 

[FoxEye]

My biggest beef with GPs is that they don't give a toss about sport/activity related injuries or inherent weaknesses of joints, etc.

My GP has told me numerous times that if I want to stop having pain in my knees I need to stop running.

Marvellous. Just what I needed.

 

[anything I don't mind]

I have come to the conclusion that a lot of the GP functions does not realy require a 5 or 7 year education. Not that any random person could do the job. But I do think the barrier to entry is too high for a local GP. If it was more easy to be a GP then there would be more of them and they would be less likely to be arrogant and expensive. When it comes to surgery or even specialist level doctors that I think I personally would prefer a few more years education behind them. Most GP that i have come across have a bad attitude, condescending, don't trust me or take me seriously. It depends on what sort of problem you have and I do think there is an element of luck in getting a good doctor.

The GP that I have been to also refuse to deal with more than one problem at a time. I have a problem with my foot that effects my entire leg. I have a dislocated jaw on the one side. I have other problems. When I go to the GP there is no point in bringing them all up at once because I get the feeling that he thinks I am a hypochondriac or something. Then I end up getting no where. So with my noes problem I just focused on that and it took me a year or so to get it fixed. But I was not too pleased with the surgery for a number of reasons. But I didn't die.

But trying to get something like physio therapy or fixing a pectus excavatum, they are always seen as cosmetic no matter what discomfort or a dislocated jaw fixed is hopeless. The doctor told me to go to the dentist to fix my jaw. This was the ear noes throat specialist. I couldn't believe it.

I also can't get an appointment very easily at the NHS and I agree that the attitude of the staff is atrocious, they have the attitude that I don't deserve to be there and I can't describe it but a weird attitude. They also have ridiculous opening times. There is not a basic 9-7pm. It is some covoluted mess. mondays wednesdays doctors between 9-11 and 13-17 tuesdays and thursday 8-11 no afternoons. No weekends. I just made that up. But I am just making the point that I never just say I want an appointment next week at x time and they say sure done. Always something like no can't do that because this and that.

 

[Evoss]

Like any profession there are the good and bad, unfortunately you have only met the bad.

I have never seen a GP use google/search on the net. I come in, tell them the problem and they give me an answer straight away, you got some dodgy GPs if they are searching every symptom.