AIBU to think the NHS should cover this?

[Icannotcope]

I know I'll probably get slated for this but I just don't understand it.
I've always had large breasts and a small frame. I'm 5'1, 50kg, size 6-8. My breasts are a 32H. During pregnancy they got absolutely massive, I have no idea what size - but huge! Now they've settled back but they're still massive.
I have severe back pain and neck pain. I have injured traps from trying to support them and this has caused nerve damage so I get shooting pains down both my arms and have a loss of sensation in my left hand. I also get twitches in my hands. The pain on my neck/shoulders means I can't do things that involve having my arms forwards for more than a few minutes at a time (like typing, cooking, writing, driving etc). I've been to physio multiple times and done so many exercises but nothing helps. They've all suggested ensuring my bras are properly fitted but that hasn't helped either. They've ended up all saying that the only option is to have my breasts reduced.
Because they got so big during my pregnancy and have now deflated a bit, I have a tonne of excess skin. So, they hang down almost to my belly button. The excess skin gets irritated and infected because there's so much of it. I have to wash it multiple times a day, use aloe vera to try to keep it cool and talcum powder to try and keep it try. I take baby wipes, aloe vera and talcum powder everywhere I go because it gets so hot and sore.
On top of all that, it's affecting my career. I work in a professional field but there are no outfits that I can wear that don't look unprofessional because of the size of my breasts. Anything that's button up either bursts over them or is so large on the rest of me that it looks sloppy. Anything too high neck makes them look even larger and draws more attention to them. Anything low neck is obviously a problem too.
I simply cannot afford to have them reduced - it costs so much money and I just do not have it. Every time I've spoken to my GP, they've just said "it's a cosmetic procedure - you can't get this on the NHS". Surely it's not fair that I'm in agony all day every day. It I were experiencing this pain and these symptoms because of any other body part then the NHS would help but there seems to be some kind of decision that breasts are exempt from help.
AIBU to think someone should be helping me!?

I am so sorry Icannotcope. I was going to add to the people saying that it is not a question of how helpful your GP is, it is whether the CCG are prepared to allow the operation on the NHS.

I have had this problem since puberty and wish I had had a reduction done. I wouldn't meet the criteria now for the NHS as I am overweight but this does not apply to you. I totally agree with the poster who said that your pain and discomfort are dismissed because it is seen as a minor cosmetic problem. For those who say go private, reduction costs more than augmentation so it is a greater financial outlay.

I agree that you should appeal to the CCG. Does your GP practice have a practice nurse who could help you write an appeal. They might be able to help with the wording. For instance, in your post you mentioned work outfits. Now we all know it is a huge nuisance to have a very limited choice of tops and for jackets to look awful and I definitely agree that there are some settings where breast size would impact on promotion but the bits you need to emphasise for the CCG are the physical symptoms like pain and tingling. Have you got letters from the physios and bra fitters saying that it's not just about posture and a well fitting bra? You could use them to show you have explored alternatives to no avail.

I really empathise and really hope you can get a reduction on the NHS.

Thank you to everyone who has been so helpful and supportive. To the 14% of people who think I'm being unreasonable - do you have any suggestions for what I should do instead?

Yet another female-specific health issue being dismissed by NHS practitioners. Boils my piss.

My sister almost exactly the same story as you. Got hers done on the NHS a couple of years ago. Has made a massive difference to her. She got it done at St thomas' ended up in a private room with a view of the houses of Parliament!

I really hope you find a way forward with the NHS. You absolutely should not have to live like that.

Yet another female-specific health issue being dismissed by NHS practitioners.

Exactly @Sicario. Needs to be challenged. Bet they'd help a bloke with engorged balls that caused him infections and groin strain.

I think you should be able to have that on NHS. Keep plugging away. If it’s causing other physical issues.

Also Bravissimo are excellent fit for larger busts and lots of professional clothes.

@MorganKitten

As someone fighting the ccg it’s not as easy as anyone is listing.

I have seen it done successfully and righty so many many times. Yes you have to prove it -but it sounds here that it is 100% a clinical need.

Cheshire Chav - from what I gather the NHS will no longer balance up by performing any surgery on the 'good' breast.

[quote Icannotcope]@Alsohuman I'm on the Bedfordshire/Cambridgeshire border but I'm with the Bedfordshire CCG. It sounds like it might be easier to access in Cambridgeshire because I'd wouldn't need to prove that I have ulcerations that don't heal. Maybe I should just register with a GP in Cambridgeshire and then I wouldn't even need to move? Is this outrageous behaviour? I feel a bit like I'm scamming them?

I just can't justify taking out a loan. We don't have this level of income and that money would be just much better spent on things that my family need.[/quote]
Yes move GP and ask for a referral. I speak from a person point of view, that the plastic surgeons at Addenbrookes are fantastic (winky face).😁

I don't know why my emoji isn't a winky face. Sorry -wasn't meant to be rude.

God I am so fucking sick of women's pain, discomfort and suffering from various kinds of health issues being dismissed as a non-issue.

Hope you succeed at getting this done OP.

They do, A friend of my mums had it done. She was hunched over and in pain.

Hi OP,

What you are going through is not cosmetic, you are suffering real issues and I think the NHS should offer you a reduction.
As others have suggested go to another GP, explain all the difficulties and don’t stop until you get a referral at least to a consultant.
I have heard of women with flat chests going for breast enlargements because it has caused mental health difficulties. Why can’t you be referred for a physical condition which is causing you distress?
Good luck OP.

I am very much aware of and sympathetic to the medical condition you are describing OP - but is it possible the GP thinks you have not yet finished your family? Forgive me - I have not read every post, and you may have already clarified this, but it would be an important consideration...?

@janinlondon Thanks for this, it's a good point. The doctor has never asked this question, I'm only 24 but I cannot have any more children after some complications during my last pregnancy. You may be correct that the GP is assuming I'd like more children, but I do feel this is something that they should have asked rather than assumed.

I think everyone who knows someone who’s had a breast reduction on the NHS is living in the past. It definitely won’t have been done in the last five years.

You can’t apply for exceptional funding yourself. Your GP has to make the case for you. You may find a GP prepared to do this but you’re going to have to convince one firstly to make a referral and secondly to apply for exceptional funding if the consultant agrees the surgery is necessary.

There’s a very skewed view here of how the NHS works. In the criteria for my CCG, you won’t get surgery if you’ve got breasts of very different sizes, even on mental health grounds.

I’m so sorry @Icannotcope, I agree with you but there are lots of posters here giving you false hope and I think you need to be prepared for disappointment.

You have to have a BMI of 25 or less, there is a group on Facebook that can advise you on getting a reduction on NHS grounds & how to apply.

[quote Icannotcope]@janinlondon Thanks for this, it's a good point. The doctor has never asked this question, I'm only 24 but I cannot have any more children after some complications during my last pregnancy. You may be correct that the GP is assuming I'd like more children, but I do feel this is something that they should have asked rather than assumed.[/quote]
Make sure your GP knows this -take someone with you and take the CCG gui and say I meet it in this grounds and this ground and this grounds. Also take and print off loads of photos of the split skin infections etc -take them over the 4 weeks or more period of time -but keep taking them and take a daily picture and log -and keep a book. In my experience the people that are successful is the people that 'prove' with evidence not hear say -how difficult the pain, infections etc are. The appeal if needed puts most people off, then expect some push back -be factual. The tops for this size - do not do it. Email M&S ask if they make bras in that size -if they don't then that's a high street unable to cater for you. Having to go to a specialist bra shop -where is the nearest one to get measured etc But the main bit for me is the log -log the pain, log painkillers, measure the length of any split skin etc write down how long it takes to heal etc. All evidence.

In the criteria for my CCG, you won’t get surgery if you’ve got breasts of very different sizes, even on mental health grounds.

Without wanting to minimise mental health grounds, being very self conscious about different sized breasts, is different from major back problems and repeated serious skin infections. Are these also not considered? (I have hugely lopsided boobs after one stopped producing milk with my last DC, so I have at least some sense of how upsetting this can be, but also see that this can be addressed without surgery, unlike OP's issues).

@Tigersneeze I know, I've been agreeing with the OP. I was saying that it's not the GP who has labelled this as cosmetic, the procedure is classed universally as cosmetic surgery. It is wrong.

Go to a different GP. NHS do cover breast reductions if they are a certain size and do cause all the issues you have described. I think you would qualify.

Keep asking and asking !!!

I know a few people who have had reductions on the NHS!

Sorry to hear this op, but can people not read the full thread?! The ccg decides what will be funded. The specialist will not accept a referral that will not be funded. No point in changing gps unless you move miles away to a different ccg.
We all know this happens all the time. My specialism is not funded AT ALL by a local ccg. I cannot accept referrals. If one slips through the net, my nhs trust will not be paid for the work I do for that patient and pretty soon I will be disciplined possibly even sacked eventually, for taking my Trust into debt. Op the only way forward is to evidence that you meet the ulceration criteria- take photos and expect a lot of knock backs. Sorry this is happening- it will happen more and more x

I’m sorry to hear of your suffering OP but I’m not surprised to hear that you have been refused treatment. Painful hernias, unless life threatening, aren’t being treated either as well as varicose veins and a whole host of other ailments.

Try and find another GP , if you can.
I’m sorry to hear of your suffering.