Rant..experience at doctor this week!
Just a rant!
• To start off with I am not an overly emotional person especially with people I wouldn't be familiar with.
• I do have a somewhat stressful job but I never let it get to me and I have clear boundaries!
• I do not run to the doctor with any kind of illness, touch wood the only illness that I ever really get that requires me to attend the doctor is tonsillitis and at that I know when I can get over it myself and when I will need an antibiotic!
Ok woke up Tuesday morning not feeling great! I had a chesty cough and every bone in my body ached, had a headache and felt dizzy. No Appetite at all.
I Called work and told them that I wasn't feeling 100%, would work from home catching up on admin work etc and that I would be available on email!
So that was my Tuesday morning, cough was really annoying me so at about midday so took some codinex and off to sleep for an hour or so only to be woke up about an hour or so later with Violent pains in my stomach (not kidding but they were like labor pains, they used to come every ten mins and last for about 2 mins).
I knew they were somehow connected to my chest and how I had been feeling all morning ( don't ask but I could just feel it as if there was crap from my chest going into my stomach)
They really scared me so I made an appointment to see my GP, at the GP that I attend there is 4 doctors and I usually don't specify which one I want to see, I don't have a relationship built up with anyone of them so never mind.
Anyway I saw the GP who owns the practice and who has been my family doctor for over 30 years (all my life)!
I told him what had happened that morning, now in fairness to him I said I was more concerned about the stomach pains, but he was really sarcastic, kept asking was I stressed at work, anything going on in my personal life etc etc...
I said to him the pains that I had were real and had to be something to do with my chest, he replied you have common cold! I said it feels like more than that to me!
He started typing and then printed out a letter, I asked what was this? Referrral to A & E...
I said I don't think this requires A & E, I think it has something to do with my chest, again he told me I had a common cold and kept referring back to stress, something in my personal life etc etc, he alluded to anti depressants being available if I wanted them, I told him it was very real and that my chest was very sore and I felt sick also...
He again told me that I had a common cold, at this stage I got emotional so he prescribed me buscopan for the stomach spasms but didn't examine my chest, take my temperature etc...
I said I had taken codinex this morning was that ok and he said if he keeps your cold at bay go ahead...
I was about to leave and I asked him for a doctors cert to give to work, technically I didn't need one but I thought when I was at the doctors I might as well. he then actually sniggered as if to say so this is why you are really here..
At this stage I was an emotional wreck! He didn't fill out the cert for me but signed one and sent me out to a packed waiting room to get it filled out there with two big red eyes from crying!
I went to the chemist to get the buscopan in case I did have any more stomach pains and I also asked for a bottle of codinex.
The pharmacist pointed out to me that the codinex especially on an empty stomach could be causing stomach spasms, was that the reason I was prescribed Buscopan? Wouldn't I have been nice going to A & E ?
So home I went, I was an emotional wreck, It was sicker I got, took my own temperature which was 39.
I spent the rest of the week up until this morning on the couch, coughing, sweating, dizzy, pains everywhere, my chest was so blocked up I could hardly breathe... I have not gone to bed since Monday night as no way could I lie flat down.
I had enough this morning so I made an appointment to go back to see doctor, a different one this time, when I walked in the door this morning he was standing beside reception, he really had a worried look on his face when he saw me and came up and asked me was I ok, I said no not really (can barely speak at this stage) and he said have you made an appointment, I became really emotional again (which is so unlike me but he really got to me on Tuesday) and told him I had and walked into waiting room before I started crying again. I wasn't going explaining that I had specifically requested another doctor.
When I was called he and the other doctor were clearly discussing me in the hallway! And if I was a mind reader it was my "mental state" etc that he was referring to...When I sat down with the doctor I had an appointment with she said have you stomach pains again, I really kept my emotions together and explained that where I was concerned about stomach pains on Tuesday I always believed that my chest was the primary issue and I told her about the pharmacist diagnosis re the codinex and she agreed.
I told her how I was feeling all week and she examined me, I had a high temp, swollen glands and a chest infection! She was so nice and understanding.
I didn't go into how the other doctor had treated me, as I would not have been able to keep my emotions in tact and anyway he owns the practice! She prescribed me antibiotics which I am sure are having an effect already and exputex for my chest.
Just needed to get that rant off my chest!! Thank god I don't suffer from stress/depression etc but I know one thing for sure that if I went into this surgery on Tuesday with stress or depression I would have come out a whole lot worse!