Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To make appointments with these GPs purely to tell them it’s their fault?

326 replies

TheAngryBatBot · 28/01/2019 20:52

5yo DD has had a wart on her hand for the last two years. To begin with I thought it would go away. It didn’t and it grew. I have never had warts and neither has any of the rest of the family - I have no experience of them. Googled, but as she was under 4 to start with, a lot of the treatments weren’t suitable.

When I showed the GP and asked what to do, she pulled a face and asked why I wanted to do anything with it. I muttered about being worried she might get teased, but the GP looked at me like I was made, so I accepted her response that I should do nothing. I felt pretty mortified for even asking.

Despite feeling like a complete tosser for wanting to sort out the bloody wart, I took her to the pharmacist when she was 4 and he gave us a gel thing to put on. This didn’t work, and a friend who had had warts suggested going back to the GP and getting them frozen off. So, I thought maybe I’d just had a strange experience and another GP might actually help. Well I got the same fucking response - a sideways, judgmental look and the feeling that he thought me a neurotic mother were all I got from this GP too. It’ll go away on its own he told me.

DD has had a bad spell of health lately, she has ricocheted from virus to virus and also unfortunately developed eczema on her face. Between the blocked, runny noses and the eczema she has touched her face a lot. Tonight I have discovered a fucking wart on her beautiful face. Sad On closer inspection, she now also has 3 other smaller warts on her hand, along with the very large original wart. I am so upset. With myself for accepting what the areshole judgmental doctors said, but also with them. I don’t have a degree in medicine and didn’t know they could spread like that. Why didn’t they help me with the original wart? Why did they not consider the fact that they could spread?

I am a teacher and if I rolled my eyes and dismissed a concern raised by a parent which then escalated, I would have my arse handed to me, not only by that parent but also my line manager. I’ve got an appointment with another GP tomorrow who I really hope will actually help us properly with this (I’ve been told he is very good). But AIBU to want to make appointments with the previous two GPs, show them DD’s face and tell them that I hold them personally responsible for this?

Disclaimer: I would never waste GP time by actually doing this. But AIBU to want to? As I said, in my job I’d be hauled over the coals.

OP posts:
Original poster
TheAngryBatBot · 28/01/2019 20:54

*mad not made

OP posts:
endofthelinefinally · 28/01/2019 20:56

I wonder if her immune system is ok? Warts can be a sign of a poor immune system so maybe you could review her diet, sleep etc?

CrabbyPatty · 28/01/2019 20:59

Warts are fairly common on kid's hands/fingers and in my experience don't spread like this commonly. The GP prob thought it wasn't worth putting your daughter through freezing the ward off. But now the situation has worsened it's def worth getting her reviewed again but I do feel it's disproportionate for you to be so angry about it.

Darkbaptism · 28/01/2019 20:59

The NHS used to freeze warts but I don’t think they have offered it for years.

iklboo · 28/01/2019 21:00

Current NHS advice is

Cryotherapy is not usually recommended to treat young children because they may find the treatment too painful. It may also be difficult for them to stay in the same position while having the treatment.

They should, though, have discussed other options.

theredjellybean · 28/01/2019 21:00

What did you expect the gp to do?
There is no 100%effective treatment for warts or verrucas.
We can't magic something up.
That's like a parent blaming you because their child has not progressed quickly enough through a reading scale when actually the child is not bright enough.
Sorry but it does waste GPs time when patients come back wanting treatment for something untreatable and why exactly is it the GPS fault? Your daughter has warts...

theredjellybean · 28/01/2019 21:01

Cryo no longer funded by my ccg

Original poster
TheAngryBatBot · 28/01/2019 21:01

Yes, I think you’re right end I actually already had the appointment for her with this doctor before I discovered the new wart because I am concerned about her overall health. TBH, I’ve seen almost every GP in the practice, and they just tried to get us out of the room as quickly as possible by prescribing antibiotics or another cream for her eczema. None of them have actually looked at all the problems she’s had as a whole and tried to investigate or help us. I’m really really hoping this GP tomorrow will listen.

OP posts:
theredjellybean · 28/01/2019 21:02

Best option... Leave alone, warts have natural life cycle and die off and no treatment is more than 50%effective

Ladyoftheloch · 28/01/2019 21:02

Having a wart removed is really, really painful - I wonder if that’s why they didn’t advise removal right away? Often they go away with over the counter treatment, so they perhaps thought you should exhaust that option first.

Agree she might be a bit run down if they are spreading so a GP check is a good idea.

Hope she’s on the mend soon!

cvcv · 28/01/2019 21:04

Its the virus that’s causing new warts, not the actual original wart.

Porridgeoat · 28/01/2019 21:04

Teatree oil neat twice a day for a fortnight made mine and my kids warts drop off whole

cvcv · 28/01/2019 21:05

Freezing off the original wart doesn’t get rid of the virus. You could freeze it off and she’d still get warts elsewhere.

Original poster
TheAngryBatBot · 28/01/2019 21:07

Crabby I am angry just now. I promise I’ll be good at the GP tomorrow and be my usual polite, calm self Grin I’ve just been really worried about her health lately, I feel there something underlying and it’s not being seen.

theredjellybean Do you mind me asking if you are a GP? Is there not anything that can be done for warts then? Also, what is ccg? I’m in Scotland and perhaps terminology is different. If it’s a funding thing, rather than freezing being bad for children’s skin, then I would have liked to know that as we would have paid for it ourselves if I’d had all the information.

OP posts:
Shakirasma · 28/01/2019 21:07

The advice you received from the GPs was correct. Warts disappear by themselves eventually. Ive had a few frozen off in the past, it was painful, far to painful to.put a child through, and most came back again. They rarely do it now as its sore and ineffective.

NicoAndTheNiners · 28/01/2019 21:08

I think your GP was right. Current advice is to leave alone. Certainly hasn't been something the GP deals with for about 2 decades round here, if you want them done you have to see a private chiropodist type person who does warts as well as verruccas. Or get over the counter stuff from the chemist.

Sleephead1 · 28/01/2019 21:09

personal expirience freezing off hurts lots so I imagine that's why she could have cryo I'm also not sure that many areas still do we used to have a nurse led clinic but don't do it anymore so maybe it isn't a option on the nhs. I agree they should have explained this to you

werideatdawn · 28/01/2019 21:10

I think I'd be looking into what else could be going on what with the warts, viruses and eczema. I have zero medical training but could all of that have an underlying cause? Maybe something with her immune system?

Original poster
TheAngryBatBot · 28/01/2019 21:11

The wart is on her nose. She has been rubbing her nose constantly due to it being blocked up and her eczema. I find it really hard to believe that a wart would have sprung up there, when all the rest are on her hand. I really think it has spread from her hand and if that first one had been treated, she wouldn’t have the nose one.

OP posts:
backaftera2yearbreak · 28/01/2019 21:12

Awww gawd! Absolute flashback of when the tried to freeze a verucca off my foot and I fucking screamed the place down as a child. So much so they had to stop!

UnderMajorDomoMinor · 28/01/2019 21:13

I had loads of warts on my hands as a kid. Had them frozen several times and it didn’t work.

My brother had the same with verrucas. He had over 30 on each foot at one point.

Then suddenly they all went and we’ve never had any since.

Bizarre things.

I found the ones the popped up in weird places died off fairly quickly. I think the do have a tendency to proliferate before they go though.

DanielRicciardosSmile · 28/01/2019 21:14

Apparently duct tape is good for getting rid of warts - can't say I've used that method myself though so not sure if that's just hearsay. I did once have a wart on my finger though and, bored waiting for a friend, picked a dandelion and smeared the white juice from the stem on it. The wart was gone within the week, but I'd happily put that down to coincidence.

WhoWants2Know · 28/01/2019 21:14

I don't know, both my kids picked up warts and veruccas at around , when they went to school and had to do PE barefoot. It was a PITA, and most of their classmates had them as well. Most people get them at some point.

They're caused by a virus, so yes, they can spread on a person's body or from person to person.

Getting rid of the first wart wouldn't necessarily have prevented the others. Your daughter has been exposed to the virus, and her body will need to fight it off.

Removing them may help cosmetically, but it may also hurt and scar- so GPS don't like to do it.

ihatethecold · 28/01/2019 21:14

My daughter had a wart removed from the side of her mouth when she was 11
We had to pay for it to be done at a different drs surgery.
The first time it was frozen, that didn’t work so we returned and paid again for it to be cut off.
It’s never returned thankfully.

The health service won’t fund this anymore.

UnderMajorDomoMinor · 28/01/2019 21:15

Sorry, that was meant to be a reassuring story about how they will go!