is it wrong to point out when doctors missed a diagnosis?

[looseleaf]

A year and a half ago I started going to our gp about dd who was 2.5 as she had weeks of diarrhea, awful stomach pains and would hardly leave her pushchair any more. These have continued, with intermittent constipation, until now. Several doctors listened to me query whether it could be coeliac disease or an allergy but didn't test for anything and suggested i keep a food diary.. I was so worried dd was suffering and so pale i complained not enough being done but hated doing so as think doctors are basically wonderful people! I just didn't feel they were interested in finding what was causing this urgently and dd certainly was still a normal weight. I pushed for a referral to a gastroenterologist who ran blood tests and gave me a laxative to give her which rightly or wrongly i never did as how was that going to help?
Eventually we saw a private doctor about something else and i mentioned these stomach pains and they immediately organised a stool test and found she has giardia , an amoebic parasite which explains so much and can even stunt growth in children if they have it long enough (dd is tiny and I often wondered about this as dh and i both tall)
Do you think it's worth me writing to the doctors we saw? I thought i'd say a stool test would have helped her and that I wanted to let them know in case useful for other cases. Or is this unnecessary? I know most doctors do their best under great pressure too.. Thanks for any thoughts.

[littleducks]

Giardia is commonly missed ime

We all had it and I had to really fight for tests, I walked into the drs surgery convinved it was giardia it took 6 weeks for the drs to prescribe the antibiotics and i got labelled as a fussy mother in the time in between

Keep an eye out for it coming back, it is quite persistent

[looseleaf]

Thanks littleducks.

Dd has been prescribed 2 weeks of antibiotic and they're going to keep an eye on it; I'm grateful for your tip to look out for it returning though and I will.

I'm also seeing our GP to ask to be tested myself as have had chronic fatigue for about the same time period which blood tests haven't explained (though I had low white blood cells).

thanks for your reply.

[meltedmarsbars]

The GP will see the diagnosis on your records when the other docs write to update them and no doubt will review their own diagnosis.

Pointing it out with a letter might only aggravate the situation. Parasites like that are rare and therefore hard to spot - (friend had rare african one despite not going abroad for 8 years!!)

Though I'd be tempted to mention it in the next appointment!

[meltedmarsbars]

Ps hope your dd is better soon!

[littleducks]

Is she on metronizadole? It is a really nasty antibiotic, side effects wise and tastes foul, though i think all the ones they use for giardia are pretty nasty

Hope she feels better soon, but dont expect too much too soon, i def felt weaker for a month or two afterwards, lots of really nutritious food and rest. Hope she feels better soon

Do you have any suspicion where she may have picked it up from?

[aristomache]

I was told that my son's renal failure was one virus after another

[looseleaf]

Aristomache poor you and I do hope he's now getting everything he needs. I must say doctors have a hard job often and I have learnt I should look for further help if my instincts ever unhappy again. But it's hard especially as I repeatedly felt like a fussy mother.

It's true the doctors will know anyway, I'll leave it at that and shouldn't blame anyone; actually one of the gps was wonderful another time immediately recognizing that dd had Lyme disease in Sept which she then tested positive for (we've had more than our share of unusual and nasty infections I feel!)

She is indeed on metronizadole- for 2 weeks- but also on her 3rd month of amoxicillin for the Lyme so 6 doses antibiotic per day poor thing but so much livelier already compared to how she was since the metronizadole our whole family just feel elated!

[looseleaf]

Littleducks I did think the metronizadole must taste foul as each dose a real struggle and we have to be quite imaginative to persuade dd!

[SlartyBartFast]

wasnt it a private consutlation though?
are you sure they will write to the GP.
did they write to you>?
can you give the GP a copy of their diagnosis letter just in case