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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To want to punch my dr let alone the receptionists?

131 replies

Strawberrytallcake · 23/11/2011 08:45

I took my daughter in yesterday as over the weekend she had a high temp which I managed to get down and care for her at home but has since developed a horrific cough, red tonsils and a rash. Dr said she doesn't have a temp now so it's the tail end of it although it is def an infection. This morning she woke up crying with the pain of her cough, I am so annoyed as I only ever take her to the drs if I know it's something she will need extra help for.

Have just called the surgery back and I'm waiting for a call back. We were supposed to be seeing my brother today who does a show once every year all children with special needs show and it is amazing, it's the first time I'm taking her and if she'd had anti-b's yesterday she would be a bit better to go.

Just got call back to now see a different dr at 9.50.

So AIBU to want to punch her? Not actually physically punch her but definitely in my mind quite a few times.

OP posts:

Original poster

Strawberrytallcake · 26/11/2011 23:46

And I haven't slept a night since worrying about her. Yesterday she coughed for a minute straight and couldn't catch her breath at all, she was inconsolable. Does this not constitute being ill?? I can hear her wheezing through the night now!

OP posts:

musicmalady · 27/11/2011 00:13

macdoodle.. thats a bit out of order the OP is worried about her child, if the GP had explained, reassured and crucially told her to come back if she got worse/ what not to worry about then she would have probably coped better.
strawberry.. the main thing with drs and appts and being ill is it all depends how she is. A cough and a cold and runny nose and sore throat and a bit of ear ache and slight rash all fit with a viral infection. However if she becomes croupy or wheezy and breathless,etc thats different, take her back.
Hope she gets better soon.

wampum · 27/11/2011 00:22

I think we all have to get used to treating ourselves and our dc with Manuka honey and lemon and other stuff off the internet.

clemetteattlee · 27/11/2011 00:24

I wonder what you think a paediatrician is going to do. She has a virus, there is no treatment, she will get better but it will take time. Painkillers and good hydration will see her through.
No surgery I have ever been at has a triage nurse, but it is actually more efficient to be referred directly by a GP than to go through A&E on many occasions

wampum · 27/11/2011 00:25

Personally I think it's a step forward and our health will be a lot better for it.

OurPlanetNeptune · 27/11/2011 00:25

Jesus macdoodle I hope you reserve your sneering contempt of your patients for Mumsnet.

A few days late but I want to give thanks that my doctor is not macdoodle

wampum · 27/11/2011 00:26

Is yours any better, then, Neptune?

Alibabaandthe80nappies · 27/11/2011 00:28

OP - this is your very first post on MN and it has turned into a proper arguing thread, you must be so proud :)

OurPlanetNeptune · 27/11/2011 00:28

My doctor is brilliant. He is has been a wonderful advocate for my entire family. In short, I owe him my life.

Alibabaandthe80nappies · 27/11/2011 00:28

Yes and at being referred to a paed. For what, exactly?

wampum · 27/11/2011 00:30

Seriously, OP, ring NHS Direct if you are very worried about her.

Alibabaandthe80nappies · 27/11/2011 00:35

Neptune I suspect he has his rants somewhere though, maybe even about you, while still continuing to do his job to the best of his ability.

GPs are not made of different flesh, they are allowed to be fed up with a bad day at the office, a day where people who don't need to be there clog up the appointments so that they are able to help fewer people who really need it, perhaps?

wampum · 27/11/2011 00:38

Professionalism is about doing a job well, even when feeling fed up. If you feel too fed up to do your job professionally, you should go home and leave the patients alone.

OurPlanetNeptune · 27/11/2011 00:45

@Aliba

lalalalala My doctor is perfect.

But seriously. I very much doubt he would write what macdoodle wrote. He has more class than that.

Believe me I have had enough experience with crappy GP's to understand that some are so awful they should not be in the profession and none of them are perfect. I'm not naive. I just think in this context macdoodle should have been a bit more sensitive.

Alibabaandthe80nappies · 27/11/2011 00:49

I don't think macdoodle wrote anything insensitive though? Which part are you upset about?

The irony is that the best GPs often have the unhappiest patients, because they make the correct medical decisions, not what the patient thinks they want to hear based on what their friend said, or google or what they saw on the telly.

wampum · 27/11/2011 00:53

I think sadly macdoodle's attitude is par for the course. And clearly deemed completely acceptable.

wampum · 27/11/2011 00:54

The notion that the best GPs have the unhappiest patients is certainly interesting.

Alibabaandthe80nappies · 27/11/2011 01:01

I really don't see what 'attitude' macdoodle has. Please explain.

To me her post reads that she was annoyed to have so many people who could just have stayed in bed with some paracetamol and a warm drink cluttering up her surgery, when there were genuinely ill and needy people that her time is better spent dealing with. What on earth is wrong with that?

belledechocchipcookie · 27/11/2011 01:04

Thank god I no longer work in the NHS!

A child's illness can change drastically in hours. Antibiotics don't work on every infection and it's unnecessary to say you want to punch your GP or the receptionist. I suggest you call NHS direct as your child is wheezy, then find a new GP.

OurPlanetNeptune · 27/11/2011 01:21

I am not upset Aliba but I have been at the receiving end of the dismissive and somewhat sneery attitude that macdoodle displayed here. It is horrible to feel so patronised by a doctor, at a time when you feel very vulnerable.

It is the attitude the entire post suggests and represents to me that I have a problem with. People go to their doctor for assurance. Notice in my first post on this matter I simply said:

I hope you reserve your sneering contempt of your patients for Mumsnet.

I stand by that.

Three years ago a doctor berated me repeatedly for wasting his time when he had people who were 'actually sick' to take care of. Kept sending me home. And the one time he deigned to recommend anything for my pain he told me to take some Gaviscon, my pain was being caused by acid reflux. I thought I had gall stones. We were both wrong. I had a tumour.

wampum · 27/11/2011 01:24

I think it's appalling that contempt for patients is seen as normal and acceptable within GP practices.

NHS Direct link here, OP.

bugsylugs · 27/11/2011 05:11

I think too many people think that when they are informed they have a virus that they are being fobbed off this is not the case both cause similar illnesses severity of sore throat does not imply much.
indications for antibioitics
if you have 3 or 4 of the following the chance of the infection being bacterial is higher and so antibiotics being helpful is higher. 2 of the following they reduce pain by a day (so possibly beneficial in a young child less so in an adult) but remember in this situation it should be antibiotics 4 times a day for 10 days unless penicillin allergic. So not something to be entered in lightly.

high temp
painful palpable lymph nodes
pus and crevices on tonsils
absence of cough

unwell child with an infection should not be at a show regardless of treament.

OP hope dd turns the corner today

thatsenough · 27/11/2011 07:37

So now you want a referral for a cough - have you actually read this thread? If there is an audible wheeze then yes it does need checking, but by your doctor and not by a hospital consultant.

I have a cough, cold and sore throat and so do two of children, there is nothing much I can do, paracetamol, plenty of fluids and a lots of hugs is about all there is.

Sirzy · 27/11/2011 07:48

I am unsure what you think a pediatrician will do. I think it's a fairly safe bet that by the time you get an appointment it will be well and truely cleared up and just a wait of everyones time!

If your still worried go back and get her checked again by a different dr. But it's not unusual for things to get worse before they get better.

Original poster

Strawberrytallcake · 27/11/2011 08:10

I'm worried she might have croup or develop a secondary infection, its not just a cough. She has been to the doctors a handfull of times since she was born I'm not someone who is in the surgery every week and then when I need help this is how we are treated?

Actually I can probably get an appointment with a paediatrician on Tuesday if I go private and I would only go if our next appointment is not satisfactory.

I totally regret using the word punch in the title as I see it has opened the door for easy criticism from people looking for an argument rather than bothering to read the whole thread.

OP posts:

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