feeling like a nusiance

Yes. I feel like a nuisance too. Some people have good health and some bad. Its not my fault- or yours. I feel embarrassed too and stressed. What can you do. It won't stop me going if I need to. just have to live with feeling like this.

Thank you Ginny

madmum38, it makes me very sad to read of what you're coping with and with such resilience. I had Bell's Palsy years ago and I believe it was the steroids my GP at the time put me on right away that probably saved me from the suffering you're enduring. There is a support group website where you find there are local groups in most areas. It might help to chat to others about coping strategies.
www.facialpalsy.org.uk/support/local-groups/

Hugs for being brave.

MaudLillian. Last time I saw him when it was just the knee and the ankles being at the front of my foot he did send me to the hospital and I was told it was because of long term diabetes, never knew that happened. Was also told my shoulders are permanently frozen and I should have had therapy when it first happened, my doctor said I didn’t need it and would be a waste of time and probably be better by the time the appointment came through, that’s about 8 years ago. My thumbs turn out and he said that would also clear in time, hasn’t. 4 years ago I had what looked like a stroke and my daughter took me to hospital where I was sent to a stroke unit overnight, was then decided it was Bells Palsey and would clear up within six weeks. I still can’t speak properly, one side of my mouth turns down and have to drink from a babies beaker, my food has to be puréed because my larynx still doesn’t work so I did go to the doctor then who sent me to a neurologist after speaking with me I was told that two of the tablets the doctor prescribes shouldn’t be taken together and definitely not long term, I have had them over 10 years, and it would have caused brain damage but he wanted to do a scan, by the time the letter went to the doctor and then come to me it had changed to being said it was in the mind, I gave up then and didn’t go back so just live like it now and get on. Had speech therapy and see dietician for a while but was told they couldn’t ever see it improving.
Sorry for such a long, boring post

madmum38, your condition sounds extremely painful, are you sure you shouldn't just be a 'nuisance' and explain to the receptionist that you have pain in more than one joint so need to discuss your overall health with the GP? Do take care of yourself.

No. Never feel you are a nuisance to the doctor. Your health is important, and missing the early signs of something serious can cost the NHS far more than you 'bothering' the GP for something that - thankfully - turns out to be nothing to worry about.

Any doctors that make anyone feel bad for 'bothering' them should probably face disciplinary action! But they don't, they get away with it, and people just put up with it. Often, just getting an appointment is a trial! Receptionists often seem to feel it's their job to prevent the doctors being 'bothered' at all!!

I go so infrequently to the Dr that I had no idea you must expect to wait about a month for an appointment with my GP. I fell ill last November whilst abroad and had treatment from a GP and a cardiologist who I saw on three occasions. I returned home with all documentation from Halter and other tests in December and a supply of the medication for an arrhythmia. I called the practice to explain and was told to take the papers to be scanned. The receptionist said they would ring if the Dr wished to see me. No call came.

When I had 8 days of meds left on 14 Feb I called to ask for an appointment and was told she would discuss it with the Dr and get back to me. No call.

By 19th Feb I had 3 days supply of meds left so I called again and was told the Dr had considered I needed a routine appointment and the first available was March 27th. I panicked. I said I appreciated that they hadn't prescribed the drug, but asked if I could have an emergency prescription till that appointment. The answer was that it wasn't her decision, it was the Dr's and he had said it was a routine appointment.

I booked a flight and returned to see the cardiologist who had conducted all the tests and I have a supply of the beta blockers. The good news is that he told me there is now no sign of the arrhythmia. I'm extremely fortunate to be able to afford to get to the original professional who dealt with my holiday emergency. Yes, it's cost me a few hundred pounds, but it's my health after all. I've since learned from friends and neighbours that they can't get appointments in less that two weeks unless it's an emergency.

Ours just takes as long as it takes! I never feel that I am being hurried. As a result some people may be a bit late seeing the doctor, , but I'm sure that they would rather wait than be rushed through their appointment.

Most surgeries will accept double appointments for more severe/multiple issues. Normally make 1 'normal' appointment and then GP will ask you to make a second double appointment he s/he thinks it is necessary.

At our surgery you are only allowed to speak about one problem per appointment. I have trouble with my bones twisting, for example my kneecap is at the side of the leg. My fingers have now bent over at the top joint, my thumbs have twisted and my neck bending over but I don’t know what is the most important to make an appointment for as it all hurts just as bad so decided to keep taking my tablets and not bother.
The hospital messed my husband up so badly that he was never the same so have no trust in the medical profession anymore I’m afraid

Absolutely travelsafar, I am the same, but I'm 65 now and this has been going on for the past 5 years - I feel embarrassed! Went for about 35 years without any problems to speak of, and now....wow, how long have they got! I guess that's age for you; on the plus side, free bus travel and concessions for theatre, trains etc; on the minus side, frequent flyers at the surgery!

Couldn't get my breath! Wish there was an edit feature

Hollydoily in is international normalised ratios! ! It's tests done when you are taking warfarin medication. They test your levels to get dosage correct. 18 months having the checked weekly for blood clot on my lungs. I hadn't been to Dr for years, went as lout my breath couple times over 2 week period, managed to get an appt with a new Dr. He was thorough and probably saved my life. That was about 10 years ago think I've been back twice since!

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.

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

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.

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..

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

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.