AIBU to ask what you’ve had to do to get a doctor to take your pain or symptoms seriously?

I got sterilization keyhole surgery and was in an insane amount of pain when I woke up. I got up to use the toilet and collapsed, vomited several times and was drenched in sweat. Told it was an anxiety attack. This was through the NHS but a private clinic. Sent home 2 hours later.
Phoned private clinic twice who told me to take a suppository for the constipation and it was normal gas pains. Fast forward 10 days after being in pain, can't walk, hadn't been to the toilet and was still vomiting I got a gp appt, said I had a uti. Week of antibiotics and still in pain. Got another gp appt who done blood tests.
Next day I get a call from the gp to say my infection markers for in the high 200s and I have an inflamed liver. Sent to hospital and get a CT scan. CT scan Confirms that during the surgery the surgeon cut my bowel and my bowel was now leaking into the rest of my body.
Due to the length of time it hadn't been spotted it was too risky for surgery so I had to spend a month in hospital fasting and had drains fitted to get the infection out.
Now, 4.5 months later and I'm still in pain daily. Only 3 out of 4 infection pockets were drained so I still have one causing me pain.
if someone had spotted the symptoms earlier I could have had surgery to quickly remove all the Infection and hopefully be back to normal.

I was in absolute agony due to a hormonal issue that caused almost constant UTIs. I was told it was just bad luck and wasn’t that painful. I had to go private, with no money so into debt, to get the right diagnosis and treatment. I was on the verge of having to give up my job before and it was completely lifechanging.

Would be interesting if patients would share a rough location. Our gp is sympathetic, accessible and effective. No headlines there tho

Would be interesting if patients would share a rough location. Our gp is sympathetic, accessible and effective. No headlines there tho

Well, I had to literally scream. During my third c section, I repeatedly told the incredibly arrogant male surgeon and anaesthetist that something wasn’t right and that I was in pain. They both dismissed me and told me that it was normal to have sensation during a c section. Which obviously I knew, given that it was my third one. The pain got worse and worse and then it was agony. Pure agony. The spinal block had failed on one side of my body and I was screaming, although fortunately I have no memory of this.

Unfortunately, it was too late to do anything by that point. The anaesthetist said he was going to have to put me under but the surgeon disagreed and said he could get baby out in 5 minutes if I could hold on. I held on and DC3 was born.

I was then given a huge shot of fentanyl which left me totally insensible so I have no real memory of DC3 being born or their first few hours.

I’m still so angry about it two years later. I got nowhere with PALS. This campaign is desperately needed. Thank you.

My GP when I was in my mid 20s got noticeably better when after getting my PhD I changed my title to Dr.

My husband made an appointment to talk about his concerns for my health with the GP who kept insisting I was healthy. I look it on the outside. Enough said

My first birth I had a pph, transfusion, 4th degree tear. I was also sent home with retained products but my doctor (female) kept telling me that my pain and excessive bleeding weeks later was perfectly normal. Finally my husband met her in the hospital (he's also a doctor) and described to her the exact symptoms I had called her about (more than onc). She took HIM seriously and brought me in and finally dealt with the retained products.

So in my case I had to get my husband to talk for me. lovely isn't it.

Not taken seriously on a number of occasions. Months of going to GP with abdominal pain, I was only 21, kept being told IBS. Large ovarian cyst that then ruptured and I had to have emergency surgery to remove cyst, part of ovary and fluid in abdomen. Another, spontaneous pneumothorax- misdiagnosed twice and sent on my way, chest X-ray and cue all hell breaking loose with GP trying to find me that day as I needed to go to hospital. Also, weird pressure in my face, fobbed off as anxiety, turned out to be rare aspergilloma in sphenoid sinus, also needed surgery as could have been catastrophic if left much longer. Now, I go there and ask directly could it be X? Or Y? Can you be sure?

In my case it was going private that almost killed me. I was in agony after a hysterectomy. They wouldn’t listen to me. They said I needed a scan but they only had a scanner at the hospital on a Tuesday. I had to wait 4 days for a CT scan that showed massive internal bleeding that had turned to sepsis. Then they kicked me out! They wouldn’t arrange transport to an NHS hospital because they’d have to pay for it. They were begging DH to take me by car, even though he couldn’t get me out of bed. I ended up ringing 999.

I would never go private again. They’re fine till something goes wrong.

I loathe to type this cause it’s such a common story. Midwife told my parent I needed to calm down and stop being hysterical (behind the sound prof curtain) because I was barely in labour. 10 mins later he was here. That’s not the unusual part. Ds had a bilateral haematoma and the paediatrician reading the notes was furious that I hadn’t had a section. Apparently from my notes it was clear I needed one and it was dumb luck we were both ok. She was really serious and questioned what happened at every stage. I had no idea, I just assumed I laboured fast.

Thank you so much for doing this Mumsnet. Its well needed!

I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease a few years ago. It took nearly a year to get diagnosed and was told by the doctor that it was anxiety and was put on lexapro. They reassured me I was fine and that it was in my head basically. Over the months I kept on losing weight with a decent amount of blood in my stool. I went to the doctor every 2 weeks or so with my symptoms. I ended up going to a&e myself when I was very weak and 6 and a half stone. At the hospital, I was told it was food poisoning and was sent home. On the way out, a nurse pulled me aside and advised me to go back to a&e a second time, that if I do they have to investigate (thank you if you are reading this!). I did that and after 15 hours waiting on a trolley, they investigated and I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. I spent a month in hospital. If the doctor and hospital had listened to me, I would be healthier today

They are all taught in the same system as the men.

I am a doctor and remember being taught at medical school that women go to the GP all the time, but if a man turns up then it's definitely something serious.

Now there is some truth in this as men often leave things until it's terrible, but it doesn't mean the women weren't turning up for something important. Women will naturally go to the GP more and younger for gynae issues, pregnancy and then illnesses in young children.

When I worked with resident doctors it would be common to have at least one new young female doctor on each rotation fainting, collapsing with period pain or flooding and being desperately apologetic and trying to power on through. We had to sit them down and tell them this was not a normal part of being a woman, no period pain isn't supposed to leave you anaemic and doubled over and could they please go and get some medical help. Often we also had to tell them what specific help they needed to ask for as well.

Women's health just isn't taught well. I got help of one of my conditions (predominantly affects women) after finding out the diagnosis on Mumsnet and paying to see someone privately. By this time I'd had it for 20 yrs and I am a bloody doctor! It also took me over 10 years to have my migraine treated effectively - again a condition that predominantly affects women. By this time I was in trouble at work (the NHS!) for having so much time off sick.

But I’m just ‘a bit of an anxious person’ and ‘that’s just the way god made me’ so there’s nothing to take seriously…

I agree with this and the other posters who say that female doctors are just as bad. Weirdly, they seem far more dismissive of any gynae related thing than men, when you'd expect them to be more understanding...

My wife had to become terminally unwell before she was taken seriously.

Approximately half a dozen visits over the course of 8 months to our (male) GP with increasingly severe pain, only to be told repeatedly that it was a side effect of some medication she was taking for another condition. In desperation one night we went to A&E, where a simple blood test showed that something was very wrong, she then had a scan which clearly showed the pancreatic cancer that was by then too far advanced to be operable.

On examination, a GP told me the cause of my pain 'definitely wasn't my kidney'. Later in hospital, a CT scan revealed the kidney was the size of a rugby ball and full of pus. Thanks, Doc.

You do wonder about an education system that lets a resident doctor think it is all right to call a patient and shout at her for not being in clinic when she is waiting for the blood tests that he has sent her for.

He went on to realise that he had misdiagnosed me, but failed to do anything about my three reports that his treatment was not working and I was still in pain. Then he phoned me the day before my long awaited appointment (six weeks instead of the two weeks it should have been) and tried to intimidate me into moving it back so he didn't have to confess to his Head of Department. He got disciplined and the Trust paid me damages after that.

Would he have treated a male patient like that? Somehow I doubt it.

In my mum’s case, she had to fall down a flight of stairs and sustain a serious head injury for her GP to admit that perhaps her shuffling walk was a sign of Parkinson’s disease and refer her for testing. She also had to collapse in the street and be blue lighted to hospital to finally get to see a cardiologist and be diagnosed with a severe heart valve defect. Same GP both times and was fobbed off with stress and anxiety for years.

I think perhaps the meaning of GP has changed from General Practitioner to Generally Pointless.

I have had multiple miscarriages.

Due to unmanageable pain and torrential bleeding, I have had to go to A&E to be managed.
Even before 12 weeks gestation, I labour.
It can last between 6-12 hours.
Codeine does not touch this pain. It is intense, I can’t speak, I can’t move, I can’t breath.

“it’s just like a heavy period “ has been told to me on numerous occasions.

I need gas & air and morphine. As soon as I have “passed” the pregnancy, like a switch, the pain stops instantly. I can then try to contain the bleeding and go home. Don’t need an overnight bed, don’t need any further medications.

In A&E on one occasion, a young Dr came and sat by me, put his hand over mine, tilted his head to one side and asked me “could this pain be more psychological than physical do you think?”.
I was chugging the gas & air, couldn’t speak because the breakthrough pain was so horrific, felt like a drug seeking addict.

For context, I don’t do sick or unwell, I’ve no time or patience for it. I’ve had a miscarriage on the Saturday then gone back to work on the Tuesday so by no stretch of the imagination am I soft or delicate. But truly, the pain is utterly utterly horrific while I am actively miscarrying.

I was pushing my baby’s pram through the snow 10 days after a C section.

Never have I felt so misunderstood, patronised and angry as I did that night.
Nothing I could do but try to get through it but I have never forgotten it.

Similar here. Was diagnosed with globus in triage at a&e just before my troponin levels came back in the 8000s and I was sent to a bigger hospital with a CCU.

slightly overweight or any history of depression and you’re written off.

I have had to use stubborness and educate myself on the right vocabulary to use. Part of my family is medical and I use specific vocabulary and I'm very articulate and precise.

I had to use very specific terms to get a nurse to see me and prescribe me antibiotics for a tremendously painful yeast infection - but it worked.

I had to go private for a lipedema diagnosis as I was ignored by the (female) GP. She said "it's not liquid retention", and when I asked what it could be, she just shrugged.

Once I had a horrible chest infection and the GP said it was just a cold and to take paracetamol. I told him I was a team cyclist and I was unable to go up the small steps leading onto his office, that I knew my body and it was not a cold. That if he discharged me I wanted my symptoms detailed in his notes and that he had refused auscultation.

He checked me out. I needed several courses of antibiotics and weeks to fully recover.

I also had to put my foot down and very heavily advocate for myself when giving birth.

I had to take my husband into the consultation with me. That's not true, he chose to come in with me, because I couldn't walk unaided and it looked good that he was 'helping' (walking beside) me, and demanded that "Something needs to be done".

It worked on that occasion but beware the man who goes to every appointment with his very damaged wife.

Gallstone sufferer here.

I had to use heat pads that were far too hot to be safe, morning noon and night for months and months. The heat pads were so detrimental to the state of my skin that it caused deep purple mottling and ulcers. It was only then that a doctor finally believed my pain really was a 10 out of 10 and I got referred for gallbladder removal. He gave me a lecture about not overheating my pads and giving my skin a break after the op! I can't believe it took that long for any of them to take me seriously.

• Develop spesis and I was nolonger producing urine because my kidneys weren’t working. Before that I was told my c section wound wasn’t infected because they couldn’t feel the heat around the area.
• Turn yellow because a gall stone was stuck in bile duct so my liver wasn’t working. Before that I was told by my GP the gall stone attacks were panic attacks and treated as if I was seeking drugs.