To think many people overeact to minor illness and injury?

[Ihaveabloodyheadache]

Friday I woke up with some loss of hearing in one ear and a feeling that it's 'blocked' somehow. It's itchy inside and a bit red/swollen and a bit painful, with a 'wet' feeling inside to though no discharge, my balance has been knocked off a bit but nothing major and I feel under par and a bit snotty and grotty.
Considering it's gone on 3 days and got progressively worse, I'm going to give Dr a call later for a routine appointment. I'm not comfortable, but I've been to work and am coping with paracetamol and ibuprofen for now.
But according to a couple of friends and relatives, I'm courting absolute disaster by not either going to the local minor injury unit over the weekend, or demanding an emergency appointment this morning.
I'm not dying, I'm not in agony, I can wait.
Would anyone go to a minor injury unit for this or have an emergency appointment?
My personal opinion is that if everyone rushes to the on call services, or gets an emergency appointment for something like this it's hardly going to help an already struggling NHS is it? And it's not an emergency.
AIBU to think that people overreacting to minor problems like this are a strain on the NHS and people should be prepared to wait when it's not an emergency?

Bad behaviour- see GP as must have a label to excuse it (not suggesting genuine ASDs, severe mental health problems shouldn't be recognised)

How do people know if their bad behaviour is just bad behaviour or ASDs, mental health problems or ADHD if they don't go to the GP first?

Teenage or adult angst - becomes anxiety and needs medication or counselling- instead of acceptance that everyone gets anxious sometimes and the best way to deal with it is to confront demons.

And this is why there's still so much stigma towards mental illness in this country.

How boring it is to hear someone going on and on and on and
on about how stoic they are. You've bored your friends and family with it and now you are boring MN. I'm being harsh because you have posted back several times about how you don't need to go.
Go and get it checked out by your GP surgery or a walk in. Stop whining. It's probably nothing. It could be something.

The problem is that it can be easier to get hold of a unicorns horn wrapped in a mermaids tail than get a GP appointment when you need one. So rather than wait, people go to out of hours or present at A&E. This then puts further strain on resources which makes the wait longer which means people are likely to go earlier.......

And of course Dr Google will ensure that whatever minor symptom you are presenting with, you have something life threatening and need to be seen NOW!!!!! The idea of self treating or watching and waiting seems alien.

Yes and ear infection can become serious but most times it doesnt and will often clear up on its own, so going when it hasnt improved after 3 days in an otherwise healthy adult isnt being a martyr at all!

Why not go to your practice nurse?

Ours is perfectly capable of examining ears and can ask a doctor to write a script, or indeed examine the ear if a second opinion is needed.

Our practice nurse is also super duper on UTIs - way quicker and easier than waiting to see a GP.

Well, it depends how long it's going to take to get you that appointment - I have hearing loss in one ear because it took a week to get the right treatment for an ear ache (walk-in couldn't prescribe antibiotics, only give me OTC drops, then first doctors appointment's antibiotics didn't kill it - 5 days in by this point), and by then the damage had already been done.

By holding off an extra day on taking my son to the doctors with what I thought was just a nasty cold, we ended up being blue-lit to hospital and him spending a week there - including IV steroids and oxygen for days.

It's hard to strike the balance between not making a fuss, and not hurting yourself by waiting too long.

From reading MN, you could say that many people over-react to EVERYTHING. Life in general.

Lionqueen -
slighlty red and inflamed. No discharge.

The point of the thread is that I'm genuinely surprised by the reaction of some that my symptoms would be considered anything other than minor, that could wait for a routine appointment, and to think those symptoms are anything other than minor, would be an over reaction.

So what have you tried as self care? Have you been and got OTC drops? Have you taken something to reduce the inflammation?

I agree with you op. My gp won't prescribe antibiotics for an ear infection any way, she just says to come back in a week if it's still sore.

It's my understanding that the out of hours clinics are there to help take the pressure off GPs surgeries and A&E. The last thing GPs need is a barrage of appointments after a bank holiday weekend where people that have left things longer than necessary and require more treatment as a result. At my GPs surgery it's virtually impossible to get an appointment after a weekend.

Having said this, I agree that people using A&E and other services for really minor things is just ridiculous. We need more education about which service to use in particular circumstances and encourage people to use 111 or to go to their pharmacy for questions about minor everyday ailments.

OP what is making you think thatbthe pain is minor and that you would get more pain if you had an infection?

You've had plenty of people saying an inflamed area that is red IS the sign of an infection. Assuming you would agree with such a basic statement, are tou saying taht you think it's an infection not worth treating because somehow it will resolve on its own?
If you had pus at the end of a finger on on your knee, would you just leave it or would you put some disinfectant (salvon type of thing) on it? For me, a 'minor' infection in the ear should get the 'same' treatment, i.e. Not being left to heal itself and hoping for the best.

I also agree that if it's not worth going to see the GP because it's such a small issue, why have you being talking about it to friends and family? They clearly got fed up hearing you talking about it and not doing anything.

Slowlifelove -
Pain relief and anti inflammatory, and cleaning the outer bit to check for discharge (as well as someone looking in to check) and olive oil. Symptoms not resolved, self treatment has not been effective, therefore I'm seeking a routine appointment.

I have a similar outlook to you. However I recently had the same symptoms. I was coincidentally at the gp surgery a couple of days after it started for a routine appointment with my dd so asked the receptionist for an appointment sometime during the week. When she asked what the issue was she said as far as the surgery was concerned ear issues are always an emergency so either go to the walk in or call in the morning for an emergency appointment.

the person who won't go to the doctor about a minor ailment to actually get it sorted but who just moans about it instead

This is my mother
Her: x is wrong with me
Me: why don't you [take appropriate medicine or other suggestion]
Her: No no I'll just wait it out
[complains intermittently for days]

Aren't routine appointments usually in about 3 weeks?

I think YABU. If you have an infection that needs treatment and you don't get it seen to then the possibility of complications increases.

Surely minor injuries units are for, well, minor injuries? The OP doesn't have an injury, so it would be inappropriate.

I think waiting for three days to see if it went away of its own accord was the right thing to do - sometimes aches and pains do disappear of their own accord.

I'm on the fence about whether the OP should have asked for a same-day appointment at the GP today. It depends how long she'll have to wait otherwise - if they say "We can't see you till next week for a routine appointment" then she'd be better off trying to nab one of the emergency appointments. If it is an infection, you want it dealt with quickly. Are practice nurses allowed to prescribe antibiotics? If so, the practice nurse might be the best option.

Self-diagnosis is a bad idea. Dr Google always says it's cancer. Who should you be asking whether it's serious or not if not a medical professional? That's what they're there for.

I always think going to a pharmacist and acting on their advice is a good idea when you're unsure. They're nearly always friendly and happy to help. And I can then feel much more confident I'm doing the right thing, whether that's nothing or something. Obviously if your arm's hanging off, go to A&E etc.

But this attitude of not 'bothering' the NHS with something, I find it rather worrying. You've paid for that service via your taxes, it's only the current government's complete bastardry and cuts in the name of austerity (which isn't working) that mean it's underfunded. You are entitled to medical aid/opinion. I have zero qualms about going to my doctor when I feel I need to, but maybe that's because I grew up in a different country with statutory paid health insurance instead, and where they don't have to worry about issues like this.

"The NHS is not struggling due to people uaing the service, but because of Tory cuts"

Wow.
If people paid attention to advice on which part of the NHS service to use we wouldn't have half the issue we do. By going to the GP when self care or pharmacist advice is adequate one blocks appointments for those who need them which has a knock on affect on A&E as those people who should be treated by GP go there instead. Add to this the sheer number of idiots who go to A&E because they have a minor sprain or fell down drunk and it is no wonder our emergency health services are on their knees.

Yes increasing where I am a routine appointment is a two week wait.

I'm assuming that the OP is happy to wait for two weeks??

Personally I would have gone to the walk in center near by. That's what they are for.
I would also have stop complaining about it to all and the sundry.

'I'm assuming that the OP is happy to wait for two weeks??'

And let those bugs breed and spread ...

Our GP also has a same-day agreement for ears. Thankfully.

"The NHS is not struggling due to people uaing the service, but because of Tory cuts"

YY to that. Maybe it's time to realise how much we have been brainwashed about the fact no appointment is just due to people asking for one when they don't need one.
The idea that you can self diagnosed is ludicrous. Even GPs are told to NEVER self diagnosed because they are going to get it wrong. I've lost the count of the nurses and doctors I know who have waited much too long before taking any action.
And yes SOME people will be able to do so. Because they have enough education in that area to do so. For everyone else?? Go and get checked.

I'll tell you a story. A friend of mine had what she thought was heartburn. Someone had told her that they had had the same symptons and was put on Lanzoprazol. Nothing to see, no big issue. A minor issue as the OP had described.
Her DP pushed her to go and see the GP who then diagnosed .... pancreatitis. A much much more serious condition (1 in 5 people die from that!). Friend is OK but it could have ended up very badly.

"I also agree that if it's not worth going to see the GP because it's such a small issue, why have you being talking about it to friends and family? They clearly got fed up hearing you talking about it and not doing anything."

I asked a friend and a family member to check the ear, as I'm not some kind of contortionist, I can't see inside my own ear, for discharge and for swelling/redness.
Slight redness and swelling, no discharge.

At that point a couple of people also present had said go to ooh, or get an emergency appointment, don't feel either is warranted.
I'm not refusing to go to the doctor, I just don't feel it's anything other than routine, so the martyr comments, and the stop whining comments aren't really appropriate to the situation. But I accept other people's POV, even if I disagree, or if they haven't read the post properly and comment anyway

But A&E isn't clogged up with people going there inappropriately. Yes there are people who do use it but the reason the waiting times have shot up and ambulances are queuing outside is not because of them.

It's because of the cuts to social care and the NHS meaning that the people who can't be admitted because there's no where for them to go. So they just have to sit it out in A&E taking up a bed until someone can find them a bed elsewhere.

I'm not suggesting people should self diagnose or self medicate, the OP is talking about minor conditions which call for common sense. Pharmacist advice is usually a good place to start if you'reunsure of appropriate treatment of a minor ailment.