did you know that if you're mental* you can't have anything physically wrong with you as well

[yesimmental]

It's all in your head

When I was 20 and in severe abdominal pain, vomiting and feverish, admitted to hospital by 2 different doctors dx of appendicitis (so feeling slightly better having been put on a drip and given lots of morphine) - but also as it happens - having a period. "exaggerating period pains" didn't need surgery and should go home.

Thanks for nearly killing me you misogynistic arsehole.

Also my poor friend recently extremely close to death after getting "just a virus" from her GP, because she has kids at home.

And while I am at the number of GPs who reject any idea of dairy allergy/intolerance in babies until the parent does a tolerance test off their own bat (me after 4 years of symptoms from DD1) or their husband goes in wwith them (at least 3 cases I know personally) or they record their child screaming in pain to show the GP (seen many times on MN)

I went to the GP with joint pain and fatigue. I had PND on my file from a couple of years earlier, so she suggested I see the counsellor.

Prior to having depression, my doctor tried to blame all illness on the fact I was a teacher and must therefore be stressed. I asked him how exactly bottom set year 9 had caused a mole to change shape/colour and he didn't have an answer so he reluctantly referred me to dermatology. It was melanoma. Now they just blame it all on the depression and the teaching.

I once complained when the CMHT rang my house and disclosed who they were and left a message with my mother who was dog-sitting for the day (they knew that no-one knew about my illness). I got an apology but I've seen in my notes that it was marked down as me being irrational to be angry about them breaching confidentiality.

Ah yes I see as a teen you had mh problems. Bit of an attention seeker really and the symptoms are all in your head. Said to me by a locum gp for a follow up from a chest scan. He didn't care about the results of the spirometry, the peak flow or the allergy tests. Saw another gp a few days later, who looked at the results properly and saw I had an allergy and diagnosed asthma. Also cancelled the referal to the mh team the previous gp had made.

Tried for years to get someone to listen about the concerns of ds1. Brushed off constantly and told he was like this because of my previous mh problems (before he was born), had pnd, (4 years after noticing issues with ds1). Had taken him away from his father who was abusive and had I stayed he would have been fine. I am over reacting the problems, and was manipulating other staff like his teachers to see things that weren't there, because they had the same concerns as me (a common occurrence when some has mh) . Several years later, he was finally diagnosed with adhd, autism, and a number of mh diagnosis. Although had I fought harder to get him diagnosed, then it wouldn't be as severe.

My cousin was diagnosed with bi polar years ago, she was recently sectioned as she was apparently having an episode. Didn't mater what she said to them to explain she wasn't, she was just frustrated, they put that down to her mental health too.

Terrifying how no one would listen to her, she just had to play their game until they decided she was ok. In the mean time, she lost her job, her divers licence and they nearly managed to change her medication which would have made her so much worse.

Granted, she was having some issues, but not bad enough to warrant being sectioned.

She now feels like she can't ever express any unhappiness or frustration without it being seen as something worse

Just as a matter of interest - how do you get a GP/Medical professional to believe ?

I have IBS/FM/CFS plus have had depression, so everything I have is them

I got the FM diagnosis 4 years after regular complaints (all recorded on MN) of pins & needles & numbness - still not sure it's right

I'm in a bit of a catch-22 here. Unfortunately, one of my major mental-health tells is hypochondria. I know this. They know this. It's on my file.

I'm in a scary position now, when I think there's something wrong with me. My brain is fighting me, telling me I'm really, really ill and it terrifies me. However, my brain is also telling me that I'm probably just being stupid or a drama queen or making it all up for attention. Which doesn't help.

I have a fantastic, amazing doctor who knows to take me seriously when I turn up convinced that I have symptoms of cancer. I can't explain quite why she works so well with me, other than that I've been seeing her for 8 years and we both trust each other.

When she's not there, there's one other doctor in the surgery who can handle me when I'm in that state. All the rest vary from disbelief to dismissive to downright rude. It does not help, when I'm in that state, to say 'well you know you're being silly.' That's devastating.

The last time I was actually, properly ill (pneumonia), I was lucky enough to see my usual doctor who diagnosed me properly, first with a chest infection, then when it had turned into pneumonia, with that. She then went on leave, but before she did, she wrote a note to one of the other practice doctors explaining the situation both from a mental health and physical point of view, and he was fine.

Generally speaking, I think I'm pretty lucky with the treatment that I've had with the mental health stuff. there's a system at our surgery where certain patients have a note on their file basically saying if they call for a doctor, they need to be seen that day, no questions asked. It was such a relief knowing that I had that safety net there (I'm a lot better at the moment so under the usual care again). My psychiatrist is in touch with my GP once a month or so and they compare notes. But having heard loads of other stories, it really does feel like luck.

Or, if you're female, it's due to hormones. No matter what your age.

Student? ANY health issue is due to drinking. It doesn't matter if you've told them you rarely drink; you're CLEARLY spending every weekend and every weekday getting off your face on Jagerbombs and shots.

Oh and having abdominal surgery at any point in the past means that you can't have anything else wrong with your stomach. It is all due to that and you'll never have anything else wrong. Which is why it's taken five years for them to do a coeliac test, and that's only the beginning of investigations

normalisavariabtofcrazy disclaimer- I'm not a doc, yada yada yada but have they looked into possible Crohn's at all? It can affect any part of the intestines- so fitting with GERD and IBS symptoms. I know a fair few people who have had Crohn's 'hiding' in the small intestine where cameras can't reach. An abdominal scan of some sort (ct, barium study, etc) would be useful to see. Technically they're not supposed to diagnose IBS without ruling out Crohn's etc first.

Obviously, having Crohn's and depression means I can't possibly have anything else wrong. And the neurologist ordered an MRI scan to prove it to me. All he proved was that I have lesions on my brain.

No they've not looked into that because, in their words, I have fibromyalgia and I'm overweight which in their eyes is the cause of it.

I've actually stopped mentioning to new doctors I have fibromyalgia so I get a proper check, which works until they read my notes

did people talk about pregnancy yet? If you are pregnant then anything that is wrong with you is just the pregnancy with the added bonus that because it is caused by pregnancy noone will do anything about it or give a fuck.

I lost the ability to walk of the 3 steps in my flat at 7 weeks pregnant...but nothing to worry about - you're pregnant. I was vomitting solidly for 6 months including a few stretches in hospital but tough shit coz you're pregnant. I had such pelvic pain I couldn't walk or roll over in bed...but yeah pregnant so just wait another 3 months and then it will get better....

Don't pregnant people also deserve the best stab at quality of life possible too? Isn't it also possible they may genuinely be ill with something other than the pregnancy? Is it never worth checking??

I have a heart condition and to date no doctor has been arsed to read enough of my notes to tell...

I take great delight in not pointing it out to the so that they listen to my heart and have a total panic attack that I'm on deaths doorstep or something.....then I smile sweetly and say 'oh..didn't you see that in my notes?'

Except one dude that wouldn't listen to me long enough to hear that what he was freaking out about I have had since I was born...he nearly called for an ambulance...all the while telling me to 'shut up...keep quiet...you don't realise how sick you are....' boy did he end up looking silly.

People with learning difficulties die younger.
They die younger because if they are ill - well they can't tell anyone where it hurts. [sigh]

Sadly people with LD are also more prone to dementia, not sure why, but it also starts younger too which is really cruel. It must be terrifying knowing that if that happens the doctors will most likely be incredibly dismissive of you.

I do wish some doctors weren't such sanctimonious arses. They give the good ones a bad name.

I feel having slated the profession I should point out that one doctor saved my life twice...by caring about me as a whole person beyond the specifics of her duty of care. I guess like every other job there are super stars and charlatans.

Very true ds2 is autistic but has a rare chromosome disorder he got a chest infection on Tuesday very common he is four but apparently everything is due to his chromosome disorder also he can't just like teddies because he is four it is because ,he has 'sensory issues ' !

My grandmother has a diagnosis of both Alzheimer's and PTSD. A lot of people have dismissed her PTSD symptoms, thankfully there's a local branch of a charity who support survivors with Alzheimer's which means a bit more understanding, but it's annoying because her apparent reasons for doing it are quite different to some other people. To stop her, for example, hoarding, they need to treat it as related to PTSD as that's where the need is stemming from, even if the Alzheimer's is the reason for her going back to the need iyswim.

Oh god yes andywarholsbanna the treatment of mental health patients by general nurses is truly shocking I too am a mental health nurse many years ago I nursed a lady with agitated depression she also had copd she had to go to a general ward 24 hours later she was declared medically fit she came back to the mental health unit rambling and confused talking nonsense prior to going to the general ward she was OK she wasn't psychotic she was depressed.All night I sat with her very concerned had the doctor up several times she was diagnosed with a chest infection twenty minutes after my shift ended the poor lady arrested and died less than twelve hours after being declared medically fit this was a nice lady in her sixties who was depressed was not at all aggressive but unfortunately had a label of ' mentally ill' so get her back to the mental health unit as quickly as possible.

And the inverse of patients with LDs not getting appropriate treatment: people who are highly competent, persistent and able to afford private tests are more likely to be diagnosed.

Therefore incidence of some conditions appears higher among those people - and we're straight back to "it must psychosocial."

Yuppie flu, anyone?

Sorry some general nurses not all general nurses .

Not defending doctors that brush you off, but psychiatric drugs can cause a lot of physical side effects. That said, if they are causing those side effects doctors should be taking that seriously and switching medication.

If you're not on meds though and they're just discriminating, then that's crap. I just wouldn't mention any MH issues if you could avoid it. I know things are done a bit differently in UK, but here MH and physical doctors are in different clinics and don't share files. Is there a way to get MH help in one office and physical problems in the other?

In the face of centralised NHS Summary Care Records, available at the touch of a button to HCPs anywhere in the country?

Not a chance.

Preconceptions, outright mistakes, that hurried midwife ticking "smoker" by accident on your records?

They'll follow you for life wherever you go.