To be so anxious about GP appointment?

[SinkGirl]

Sat in waiting room and feel sick I’m so nervous - does anyone else get like this?

Need to finally get some help for a huge number of debilitating symptoms going back years - I’ve seen GPs about individual ghings here and there but I’m sure it’s all connected and need someone to actually look at it altogether. Paid for some of my own blood tests and found my oestrogen levels are really low along with some other things and think these things are causing most of my issues but I’ve been fobbed off so many times that I hate going in and asking for help.

Any tips for me in the next few minutes? I’ve written it all down and have printouts of the results.

No tips, but good luck.

Think about the key messages you want your doctor to hear. What are, say, three key things?

And feel confident in this - it's their job to help you and you know if something's not right

List in your head the main symptoms and then be ready to follow that up with the tests you have had done. Ask for them to do exactly what you have just said and look at whether these symptoms are actually part of one issue. Good luck.

Thanks everyone - she was actually really nice. She’s arranged some more blood tests and a bone density scan.

Pretty sure she thinks I have health anxiety because I’ve paid for my own tests which isn’t the case at all - I just want to know what the hell is wrong and stop feeling so ill and being in so much pain all the time.

Don't give up. You know your own body and if something's wrong, it needs investigating.

I saw a neuro in 1993 with MS-type symptoms, but was never diagnosed. I went back and fore with the same symptoms plus many others until in 2005 I was seen by a rheumatologist and diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

I was still having symptoms that were getting worse and finally saw another neuro last year. A scan revealed transverse myelitis.

I was asked by the surgery nurse how I felt about my diagnosis and she was shocked when I said relieved. Sad, but true. I knew there was something wrong but I simply wasn't believed.

I've seen my notes and I'm down as a nuisance by more than one GP. I was borrowing crutches and a wheelchair ffs!

Oh, and I was told on more than one occasion - many actually - that depression and anxiety makes pain feel worse than it is.

Like you, I paid privately. To see a specialist, in my case. If you can work out what specialist you need, it will be worth you doing that. I lost out on the opportunity for treatment at an early stage because I wasn't believed.

I hope you get the help you clearly need.