to consider making an urgent GP appt for something that seems fairly minor?

[crashdoll]

I have an autoimmune disorder and I'm prone to mouth ulcers. These ones have been bothering me for a week. They're huge and swollen and inside of my lip. My bottom lip has swollen up now too. My tongue has red bumps on and is so sore. I take strong painkillers anyway (codiene 60mg + paracetamol) but they're barely easing the pain. I've tried a couple of OTC gels and I'm using mouthwash as well as gargling with warm salt water.

I feel like a drama queen but I'm in agony and these are worse than usual. If I don't ask for an urgent appt, it will be at least Tuesday till I can see a doctor. So, AIBU?

YANBU

YANBU see your doctor asap. Hope you feel better soon.

yanbu

its not as if youre going into A&E with it.

yanbu, pain is NOT minor. good luck

YANBU. If you are in a lot of pain, that constitutes urgent in my book. Hope you feel better soon. :)

Since youre here though, it has beem questioned whether my son has an autoimmune disease, we're waiting for a referral. I didnt think he did tbh but he gets mouth ulcers.

What other tell tale symtons do you get if you dont mind me asking?

In your circumstances I would certainly make an emergency appointment. Hope you feel better soon.

Thats not minor, having any auto immune condition, the ulcers are a reaction to your body not liking something and should be investigated.

YANBU - you need steroid mouthwash to get those ulcers sorted. My dad has an autoimmune condition that causes terrible mouth ulcers, and he has an assortment of treatments

YANBU. Urgent GP appointments aren't the same as going to A&E. You are in pain, usual treatments aren't working, it is urgent.

I generally think that routine appointments are for things like chronic (long-term) illness management, follow-ups to surgery etc. I might be wrong but no GP has ever said that I've misued an urgent appointment.

Thank you for the quick reassurance. I'm going to phone in a minute when they re-open. I just had this horrible image in my head that the doctor would think I'm ridiculous. I don't usually bother my GP with stuff I deal with daily but when I'm forced to eat only mashed, soft foods, something must be done!

WhiteTrash I get mouth and nose ulcers, dry and gritty eyes, dry mouth and I have arthritis in quite a few joints. I've had the ulcers for about 10 years but was only diagnosed a couple of years ago. Where/who is he getting referred to?

He was referred to Brighton Royal Sussex, they did a blood test but didnt test for what they originally wanted to test for. It simply came back as 'high IGE' level.

We were let down badly by the 'specialists' so I stopped appointments. I was going to leave it but he has so many things going on still Ive asked for a referral to an allergy specialist in Eastbourne. Only one HCP has mentioned autoimmune disease. I saw it said 'fatigue' as a symptom and laughed because he wakes 8-20 times a night so figured thats not what he has.

Ive just read though autoimmune disease suffers almost always wake frequently.

He is only (nearly) 10 months though. Just a baby.

Yanbu. The ulcers sound really painful, you are not a drama queen at all! I hope you get the pain under control quickly.

Crashdoll- excuse my utter nosiness- but do you have Sjogrens syndrome or something smilar?

YANBU or a drama queen i know you maybe feel that if you have a bigger medical condition , but ring the Drs get an appointment hope its better soon ,

I would definitely get an appt as soon as you can. Pain is urgent ESP pain that isn't helped with painkillers I had a terrible mouth ulcer this last week that took about 5 days to calm down and is still sensitive and I have auto-immune disorders too but had never linked the ulcers to that (have always suffered with ulcers and have systemic lupus erythematosis, osteo- arthritis and hypothyroidism.)

I hope your GP can help

Yanbu at all

WhiteTrash I had a high IG-something which was my first abnormal blood test result. Hope your son is ok, he's very little.

MardyArsedMidlander I do have Sjogren's as well as RA.

NoMoreMarbles Ulcers are actually a diagnostic criteria of SLE. They originally thought that was what I had.

I couldn't get an appt this afternoon but they said I'd get one if I phoned first thing tomorrow morning. It can't come a minute sooner!

As a GP, I think this a perfectly good reason to ask for an urgent appointment though - to be honest - there isn't that much we can do beyond prescribing gels to ease the pain. Worth seeing your GP though, to make sure there aren't any other problems like oral thrush that might be making the pain worse. Hope you feel better soon.

My Coeliac (auto immune) son gets horrific mouth ulcers if he has oats. Hope you feel better soon

I used to get a lot of painful mouth ulcers and went through a bunch of drs and tests for it and various medications which didn't work and hurt more. I ended up seeing the head of EN&T at a big regional hospital and he prescribed beconase nasal spray. It worked wonders. Dunno if it would help you but I thought I'd throw it out there...

Was like pulling teeth to get gps to re-prescribe it for that though.

My tongue swelled up, so I insisted on being seen today. I saw the dr today and got prescribed steroid meltlets. He said to go back for bloods next week if there's no improvement. I'm utterly miserable and about to take myself off to bed. Thanks for the support and replies.

You poor thing. It sounds like you are really suffering. I hope you have a snuggly day in bed and that maybe someone can get you a tub of Hagen daz ice cream. It might numb the pain a bit and is tasty to boot xx