Was GP unreasonable?

Well done for getting help for your mental health. It's likely to be an unpopular opinion, but I would be inclined to agree with the GP. Having another baby wouldn't make your life (or your mental health) any easier/better right at the moment. MN is full of threads from women struggling with their mental health, juggling numerous children and just about surviving. Get your head sorted first and think about the next baby when things are more settled.

And I don't think it's any better or worse discussing your reproductive health rather than your mental health in front of a 3yr old

i do.

She has a patient in front of her with a new born and a toddler with a serious enough mental health condition that she’s come to a GP for help.

She deals with the contraception issue which is normal post birth, particularly so when the patient in front of you is struggling and not currently on any contraception.

She addresses the mental health concern by prescribing any depressants (not much else a GP can do at current time)

Sorry, I agree with the GP

and i am not talking about * every detail of a patient's medical history on the tip of their tongue.* This is the sterilisation of a child bearing age patient during the birth of her 4th child.

so you don’t always have read of the recent patient notes before seeing a patient? because had that GP done so… they would have seen numerous notes tensing pre discussions and the sterilisation itself.

Maybe i have always been lucky with my GPs, but they seem to have read my notes before i am sat in front of them!

The GP was completely unreasonable, as are the pps who think they know better than the OP about when she is done having children. FFS. Well done on seeking mental health support, OP, and I am sorry it came with a heavy dosage of misogyny and disrespect. Can't imagine a father going in would have been subject to the same out of order comments.

As a GP myself I think her comments were completely out of order - and it's perfectly plausible, @plumberdrain, for a doctor not to have every detail of a patient's medical history on the tip of their tongue. The relevant information rarely jumps out of the chart at you, you have to go looking for it.

So the fact you were sterilised was not recorded in any of your notes 😐 @Phillipa12

It's irrelevant whether the GP sees it as hard work though. The GP should have asked if the OP has finished having children, not assumed, and respected her answer.

I'm fucking incandescent that GPs will push hormal contraception so readily.

Fucking with our repro hormones doesn't only affect our repro system - we are complicated biological animals and deliberately sending one system out of whack isn't something to be taken as lightly as it is done. Western medicine sees periods as inconvenient, (and i don't disagree with this) HOWEVER Eastern medicine sees them as a sign of health, healthy detox and one of the many ways we can notice if something is going wonky and needs treating.

As somebody who's body was screwed up by taking hormonal contraception for years, I'm incredibly angry that the mirena fucking coil is being pushed at an appointment to discuss mental health.

And don't get me started on the difficulties people have trying to beg and plead with doctors to have the mirena taken back out because it turns out it doesn't suit them. 😒

As PPs have said, it is standard for postnatal appointments to discuss contraception. I’ve also just had this. I think you’re overthinking it. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for the GP to see having lots of small kids/babies/pregnancies close together as bloody hard work.

Wtf I'm really surprised by the comments! Yes I think the wording you've told us was very out of order, and no it's not normal to say that children will be more inconvenience IN FRONT OF the children, or frankly at all! I would be seriously unimpressed.

She isn’t likely to become pregnant as she is using contraception. She is using condoms which are very effective at preventing pregnancy when used correctly. So not using hormonal contraception should have no baring on OPs access to mental health treatment.

The GP needs to be very careful about prescribing anything to someone likely to become pregnant. Using adequate contraception means you have more treatment options eg medication.
Plus they have to consider safeguarding of your children as if you are already struggling with a severe mental illness.
I have schizo-affective disorder (type of bipolar disorder) and had to come off some medication before ttc & during pregnancy & can only be prescribed it now as I am on adequate contraception. There was never any questions of risks to my children it is prescription guidelines & is the same for many medication eg for epilepsy.

I would recommend you engage with the support available there's not much available even for most severe mental illness & support for mothers with young children is usually better so make use of it while it's offered.

when I had a newborn, they just went on and on about contraception to me too (no mental health issues). I think it's part of the protocol post birth as so many people think no periods = no chance of pregnancy and get pregnant accidentally.

It also takes your body 18 months to recover from pregnancy, they say now, so getting pregnant straight away after birth can cause extra health issues if you're unlucky

It is normal for a post birth appointment to review contraception, especially if mh is fragile. Surrey another pregnancy at the moment is not going to help you. Maybe the wording was clumsy but the intent was to support you.

Then you would be wrong as they had no idea!!!

So they didn’t just want to discuss contraception then. I’m pretty sure if they knew you had 4 children, they would also know you’d been sterilised.

She didn’t say your child or any child is an inconvenience, she said having 3 very small children would be inconvenient. Probably trying to show empathy for the fact that having small kids is very hard, and you are clearly feeling that. But it does sound like she could have handled it better.

But the important thing is you have antidepressants.

OP today has been a big day for you. You weee brave, took the leap and have reached out for help.

you now have antidepressants.

see today as a positive day rather than hours later stewing about this

I understand you op. After I had my 4th dc, every time I went to the drs all they wanted to discuss was contraception as I wasn't on any, even when that was not what I had gone in for. (I was sterilised during dc4's section!)

The comments the GP made were rude, but they clearly didn’t only advise on contraception. They were probably trying to protect your mental health further as another baby now would be incredibly hard if you are depressed but they still should have taken no for an answer.

she prescribed you antidepressant and wanted to use the opportunity to discuss contraception