I’m in so much pain I feel sick but my GP won’t see me

Leaving thread now, just one last wavering plea for you to go to a&e. You're not taking someone else's appointment, you're not wasting anyone's time if the pain is as you say. It needs to be properly looked at by someone and that person is not your GP. They won't be able to scan or x-ray it, they won't strap it or teach to how to strap it. They won't offer you pain meds as they are so restricted at the moment.

Also stop doing these exercises given by some random physio who hasn't even looked at it/felt it/witnessed your actual pain.

I really hope you take this advice, good luck OP, I hope you recover soon.

Use heat or Ice
You need to elevate
You need to rest it but also gently move.

Id call 111 and ask for some pain relief. Explain you've tried your GP. They can arrange for Naproxen and Codeine.

Then push the physio for a referral for a scan.

You've mentioned being isolated and not being able to work out. You should not be working out.

As for isolation do you have friends and family to call round.

What do you do for a job?

There’s something badly wrong with your treatment here. Physio is not supposed to be unbearable .

can I ask what exercises you are doing? Initially all I was doing was activating my quads and bending my knee 10 degrees (sit on a chair and slide it on a plastic bag slowly back and forth).

Once I could extend my leg it was straight leg lift raises and heel-slides lying on the bed, as well as pushing down on a rolled blanket under my knee.

I didn’t start trying to do more (standing up from sitting; steps or lunges or squats) for three months and it was then very gradual.

Naproxen or other non opioid painkillers
opiod painkillers - codeine, tramadol.

unlikely to without face to face though

Can't your physio prescribe?

Is the pain keeping you awake at night?
This is a red flag.

My daughter has bone cancer - in agony for months..... the GP diagnosed a pulled muscle over the phone.....I wish we'd been more pushy sooner and gone to A and E. An x-ray would have spotted it straight away. It is rare but not impossible.
@Randomlygeneratedname speaks alot of sense.

Oh and remind your GP of Jess's rule!!

Firstly get an appointment with Occupational Health at work, Im amazed your manager hasn’t referred you. Then if they can’t speed you into an mri scan or outpatient appointment, find out about the price of going private and consider asking your parents for a loan.

Can’t you make a GP appointment for something else and then talk about it when you’re there? That way you can explain in person how much it’s impacting you and ask if there’s anything else they can do to help

Has the pain been this bad all along or has it suddenly got worse recently? I had my knee immobilised for six weeks, I definitely didn’t feel sick from extreme pain after the first few days. I had codeine at the very beginning, and it sounds like you may need something that strong.

I don't think you will be seen faster. If I was in that much pain, I would sit in a&e and wait for 18 hours. Especially since you want to sit in a gp waiting room until someone will see you. What's really the difference?

How can a physio offer exercises if you haven't got a diagnosis, did you see a doctor at the time of the injury, had an pray or scan. Most physio won't see you without a diagnosis and the exercises could be making it worse. If you work in a nhs hospital I'd go to minor injuries, occy health or a&e.

Even though it’s an old injury, it’s worth going to your local minor injuries unit or A&E if there isn’t one local to you. ( retired A&E doc here). You’d have to wait but probably worth it to get seen.

Some minor injury centres have a system with appointments that can be booked via 111

Yep, second this. Find a good private physio who specialises in knees. They should be able to make a pretty good assessment of the level of stability in your knee, and which ligaments are affected/to what extent. They can then take it from there whether you need referral for MRi, or whether they need to adapt the rehab exercises to something you can cope with initially to allow you to progress.

Yes they would.

personal experience.

ot does depend on the reason why though.

op, if there was some kind of accident that led to this - you mention torn ligaments - then it probably should have been x rayed in the first place.

was it an accident? Have you been to an and e to get it x rayed?

If it's as bad as you say I'd go to A&E. You haven't even had a formal diagnosis yet and to my mind that's the starting point. You should have gone that route in the first place.

The point I was making is you work there and you can get there so why don’t you go there 🤷🏻‍♀️(assuming they have a Walk-in centre)

Then sit and live in pain then - as people have suggested tons of perfectly feasible options but you won't do any of them.

I'd change GP

Get a private scan to see what's going on. Vista is a good company for scans.

And the worst thing is, she works at a hospital 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’m sorry to say your only options are to suffer or pay for a private scan.
My relative was told they had a sprained ankle. They said multiple times they felt it snap. The X-ray showed a crack, but they were dismissed and told it’s normal. Those X-rays were apparently peer reviewed & concluded the same. After weeks of physio and no improvement - being told to walk on it or it’ll get worse (the irony!) we eventually paid for a private MRI which revealed the break, severe bruising of the bone from continued use, torn ligaments & muscles.
And that’s how the NHS treat one of their own. Honestly, I don’t hold out much hope for you from what I’ve seen.

So say you have another problem and then ask about the knee when you get there.