I feel like the GP just doesnt care :-(

[WobblyWomble]

ok i'll try and cut a long story short (apologies if it is long winded)

For 18 months i have had terrible chronic fatigue as well as muscle and joint pain, memory loss and constant infections (water infections, throat, eye cysts etc) and other things.
GP keeps saying i'm depressed because i had PND 5 years ago and then a few months ago i burst in to tears in his room out of sheer frustration and exhaustion.

DP was in the surgery with DS last week and seen a leaflet on the condition Lupus. I've never heared of it before but when he read it, he immeadiatly thought (in his words) Oh My God this is what She (me) has got! he brought home the leaflet, and reading it as well as some online research i think its a possibility that i could have it? i've also reaserched M.E and CFS and they're all simular symtoms. I've already asked GP about CFS etc but he just says NO.

I really dont think i can face the GP again for him to tell me "no its not that blah blah blah"

I feel so isolated, its ruining my life. even the smallest of every tasks leaves me physically drained. i still have plenty of motivation but when i put it into practise eg taking the DC swimming etc i pay for it doubly the next day.

its a small surgery in a large area where its difficult to get an appointment and then you're made to feel unless your dying then they havent got the time to listen to you. I'm wondering if by going private i'll be taken more seriously and actually get answers? the only thing he did was send me for blood tests to see if i was aneamic.

Sorry for it being long and also for any spell errors :-(

Also bare in mind your gp will assume you're ok and symptomatic when you leave the surgery so nag them. They're there to look after you but you also have a responsibility for your own health and a duty to yourself to get the best care possible.

Its taken me nearly 20 years of foot stomping to get to a level of care whereby im functioning id hate to hear of someone else taking that long.

Ring another GP surgery and ask to change. Or at least see a different GP before going private.

Bloody phone that should be asymptomatic as in fine and lacking in symptoms

How about making an appointment every week until you get somewhere? I find being a pia very effective in getting taken seriously. Last thing you have energy for but I fear you'll really have to fight for a diagnosis.

OMG your GP sounds like such a to*. Yes definitely change doctors. A good doctor can transform a life by spending a proper 2 minutes listening and then ticking the right blood test boxes and making a proper referral.
A shit doctor can rob you of decades and don't get me started on GP's who ignore the physical because there is some mental.

Defo change doctors.
I have fibro and Ra and your symptoms sound fairly familiar.
When you next see a doc take a list of symptoms/questions etc with you. I do and it stops me getting muddled and sidetracked. Then I refuse to leave until everything is answered.
Also if you do get diagnosed with fibro or me or whatever I would urge you to seek support from websites such as arthritis care. They are mega helpful and supportive and they usually have helplines so you can ring up and complain/whinge/cry etc (I have done it all!).

I really hope you get things sorted soon. Keep your chin up chuck.

That's a good idea Jayfer. If you are going back to your GP OP you could insist that they scan your list of symptoms into your medical notes --might demonstrate that you mean business and want things properly documented etc (for when you wanna sue them).

Womble l could have written your post 16 years ago, my GP was trying to convince me l was depressed and l even took DH along to confirm l wasn't depressed. She thought otherwise and prescribed AD's.
Before l started taking them l had another miscarriage, saw another GP who after my D&Ctook more blood tests and within 1 week l had an urgent appointment with the hospital.
I have been diagnosed with MCTD.
Please seek another GP opinion, you can change surgery --your relationship with your current GP has broken down and you are within your rights to do so.
For the record l never visited my original GP again, she did try to phone me but l did not take the call. She failed, (as is your GP failing) in her duty of care to me.

I have Fibromyalgia and Ehlers-Danlos and I fought for years with my Dr, at first they said I just wanted out of school and continued to fob me off with paracetamol for years, I had to self diagnose twice and demand a referral to rheumatology to confirm!
I am still fighting with them because evn though I have a diagnosis they don't want to give me painkillers then suddenly one day they started saying I wasn't alowed them due to risk of addiction, WTF? Made them look into it and it turned out someone along the way had read something wrong.
Doctors can be wrong even though they don't like to admit it, be adamant with what you want and if they still wont listen then change GPs, you are always entitled to a second opinion.
Hope you feel better soon and get everything sorted.

Switch switch switch

I say this as an Ex-HCp, I,m sorry to say for a lot of my older hmmmm workmates once they make up their minds that's it's. They then look for proof to show that.

Lupus is a 'mare to diagnosis, and I hate yo say it because it is a mainly 'Female' issue it dose tend to get overlooked.

(I'm trying to be polite about my former ? peers)

My g-d your story sounds exactly like mine! I was ill for five years with severe fatigue, joint and muscle pains, acid reflux and Raynauds. Because I had also suffered from severe depression after a bereavement my GP at the time kept telling me it was all 'psychosomatic'. In the end, i just stopped going to see him, blamed myself and thought I was just weird and lazy.
then I moved house- got a new GP. The fatigue came back worse than ever- I went to see him and within five minutes of the consultation he said 'I think I know what you have- but I'm going to do some blood tests to make sure'.
Yes- it came back that I have systemic sclerosis/ scleroderma.
I think he thought I'd be upset but I was so pleased to get a diagnosis!
As everyone has said, connective tissue disorders are notoriously difficult to diagnose and most GPs have no knowledge of them.

Mardy I have liver palms as well and it always gets overlooked saying "it's probably hormonal" They're all buggers!

take a look here you can change gps

Same happened with me - been seeing doctors for years for joint pains/fatigue/raynaud's, to be told it's in my head/part of getting older (was told that a couple of years ago, I'm now 26!). Last time I went I saw a v young locum who referred me to a rheumatologist, I've got hypermobility syndrome and am in the process of being assessed by specialist physio. Don't give up - GPs are not specialist and often you have to do the research yourself and suggest it to them. Insist that you are referred to rheumatology. Poor you, it's a horrible thing to go through :(

I would be keen for you to have a thyroid function test as if yours is underactive it is very treatable and correcting that one thing can make a big difference.