To be unspeakably angry at the doctor?!

[showmethegin]

I have been having really awful, incredibly painful periods from the age of 11 so 19 years of agony. My GP finally relented and prescribed me naproxen which has helped. In the same appointment I explained that me and DP are TTC. After 3 months of relentless negative OPKs, wondering what the hell was wrong with me I've now found out that Naproxen stops ovulation for approximately 27% of women.

AIBU to expect the doctor to have told me that?!

I could sit and tell you some horror stories about doctors and their prescriptions, but instead I'd just recommend in future check everything with a pharmacist because they tend to know a little bit more about what they're talking about where medications / side effects are involved.

Doctors diagnose but not unheard of for them to drop clangers with medications xx

You've unfortunately learnt a valuable lesson. Doctors are great but not a stranger to missing things / reccomending an inappropriate drug on a rare occasion. Unfortunately I feel that I need to double check stuff after purchasing prescriptions that were later found to be unsuitable.

This is why you should always read the patient informatiohn leaflet. Doctors prescribe thousands of different medications.They won't know the side effects of all of them. You have to take some responsbility.

It's fine to check with a pharmacist , they have years of training in medication. Seriously no GP will or can know the results of a tiny inconclusive study done 3 years ago or every side effect ever listed and even the computer systems will not bring up this sort of stuff.

YABU!

With respect, you need to calm yourself down a bit.
and read the information leaflet for what you're taking.

People need to start taking more responsibility for their own health

My cousin is a GP- she says she wasn't aware of the fertility thing, but thankfully is aware of the proven, common & potentially serious risks of taking this drug

@OneGiftedGal
Thanks for that. Perhaps you should be a GP if it's so easy and overpaid?
I try so hard to advocate for my patients and do the best I can for them. I work hours and hours over my contracted ones for them.
I'm sorry if you've had bad experiences but we are not all shit, though we are all working in a shitty system which doesn't help.
Post like yours make us all feel shit though, even if we arent. Happy Christmas.

I'd been taking naproxen for many months for joint pain....I later on developed Vasculitis, which I see is a potential side effect, albeit a rare one a bloody painful ,debilitating, and incurable autoimmune illness
Was I unbelievably angry with Dr for prescribing this for pain relief , no I wasn't - I had read the information sheet and aware of the common side effects but as with all medications there is potential for side effects , I guess I was very unlucky

@CantChoose
Interesting post. Yes, I have had bad experiences from my GPs over the years, in fact, I can't remember any positive ones. Maybe I don't speak up enough, maybe I'm not pushy enough to get through the GP first line of money saving defence to see a consultant. Maybe I should regularly make appointments 4 weeks in advance so that I know I have one just in case I become ill and simply cancel it if I don't become ill. Maybe I should stand up for myself more until a doctor prescribes my daughter a simple lotion (that they could have prescribed over a year ago) that will help to clear her molluscm instead of having to make 3 separate time wasting appointments and have her absolutely covered in legions so that she is bullied at school and has now delevoped nervous ticks. For what? So that the GP can save the NHS £8 but will now inevitably cost the system a lot more to help her current problems.
Good for you that you put the extra hours in unpaid but then so do most people in the workplace. You, as you say are working in a shitty system but then by the same token, you have chosen to work in said system and you sound as though you continue to tow the line.

I trained for 11 years to be a GP. Do you really think I knew what the system was like when I applied to medical school? And where else do you suggest I work? Serious question; I don't exactly have a collection of employers I can choose from.
And I don't think for a minute that people in other professions don't work hard or do unpaid overtime. But you didn't launch an attack on any other professions so that's not really relevant here.

Cantchoose - you may well be one of the "good guys" - that doesn't negate the experience of myself and others who have repeatedly come across gp's who:
don't listen
are dismissive, even outright rude
prescribe medications without checking for allergies or contraindications that are unsuitable for the patient
fob patients off with clear symptoms of conditions that require specialist input to even get a correct diagnosis
call patients - even within medical notes - neurotic and hysterical
dismiss them as parents when they KNOW something is amiss with their child
call patients with mental illness "time wasters" and "attention seekers"
claim to have given patients advice on smoking, drinking when that's not true to gain financially for their practice...

And in my personal experience the good GPs are very much few and far between. Due to my background (army dependent for 30+ years) I've had a lot of GPS I estimate (quick tot up) I've seen approximately 20+ in my life of those 4 I would describe as good, conscientious, non-dismissive, genuinely helpful GPs.

I have asthma which went not properly Dx for several years as a child, endo which went undx for 14 years and I lost 3 babies before it was despite classic clear textbook symptoms, I never got a referral to gynae until after it was Dx as a result of a complex mc which required surgery and the surgeon spotted it. Dd has a disability which I know now (I'm not a dr and certainly this condition outside my realm of knowledge) she was ALSO displaying clear symptoms from birth - and in fact I'm now concerned it's actually a different condition which is very serious possibly life threatening, but which has some similar symptoms - but which she has glaringly obvious physical characteristics which again dd had from birth. She's also had all year - since January - ongoing very distressing gynae symptoms which the GPs keep just giving her treatment for thrush/bv/uti - even though test results keep coming back saying that's not what it is! I think it may be related to the disability, her and I have both said so to the practice and been dismissed - even though none of the GPs have ever had training in the area related to her disability. She's a 17 yr old worried, in pain, experiencing other very distressing symptoms and she is terrified that if it isn't Dx and treated soon she may lose her fertility or even worse. I'm trying not to show her but I'm equally worried. There's a history of female cancers - at very young ages - in the family - this info has also been dismissed!

My mum had clear cancer symptoms dismissed, only Dx when she was admitted to a&e for something else and the dr noticed something 'not right'. We are very lucky she had that minor fall!

Several family members I only learned relatively recently had clear symptoms of gall bladder disease dismissed until the situation reached crisis point.

My grandmother had medication she had used for years and was fine on, changed without warning from a branded version to a generic one by a new GP - the reason she was on the branded version was because she was allergic to something in the coating on the generic version - this was in her medical records - it wasn't something immediately obvious especially to an elderly woman with poor eyesight. Cue allergic reaction and unnecessary hospital admittance.

So you tell me exactly why I should trust GPS? When my experiences tell me to do the exact opposite!

The 4 GPs who were good ones:

Listened
Didn't dismiss or patronise
Didn't simply settle for treating the symptoms.
Were conscientious in checking medical history & allergies etc when prescribing - my current one (I've so many meds allergies now it is awkward) asks me "is X one you can take?" Before starting the prescription process on the computer. And understands why I get nervous about trying one I haven't taken before and gives me advice for what to do if I am allergic in relation to the likely symptoms with that med.
Went above and beyond on occasion for myself or my dd, getting quite insistent on our behalves when on 2 separate occasions we were both extremely ill. I believe literally saving our lives.

If I could replicate/clone those 4 or have them train all the other GPs and tell them not to be such arses I would!

Gp's also have the status and power to CHANGE the system - either individually or via organisations like rcgp.

The 4 "good" Gp's I've referenced have also campaigned - in their own time - on issues like mental health, childhood allergy Dx & treatment, gynae issues, mc & stillbirth. Have voluntarily attended support groups for patients to answer questions etc.

I take 20+ tablets a day. My pharmacist told me it’s the doctors job to find out what’s wrong and prescribe, it’s her job to make sure it doesn’t contraindicate with anything else.
That makes sense to me...
But also reading the leaflets help me to know what I should expect