To have completely lost confidence in my GP?

[LittleRed53]

(Sorry for the long post but didn't want to end up dripfeeding)

My 2yo DD has been suffering with a mystery condition for 2 months now. It started with one tiny sore spot on her head, with a crust on it, and swollen lymph nodes. It didn't get better and she developed a couple more crusts, so we took her to our GP; unfortunately he was on holiday and we got an intern, who gave us an antiseptic and said it was 'Nothing to worry about.'

I was concerned by her dismissal of it, and after over a week of treating it as prescribed and it only getting worse, we went back, and got our GP this time. He wasn't completely sure what it was (according to my husband who has handled all the appointments- we have an EBF 2 month old and we're always in the waiting room for an hour or more so agreed it makes sense for him to take DD), but prescribed an antibiotic (Amoxicillin) and more antiseptic.

DD did NOT like the antibiotic, but using a variety of tricks and methods we got through the 6 day course, but her condition did not improve. She has also had diarrhea from day 1 from the antiobiotic.

Went back to the GP again, he said he thought it was a staph infection; prescribed another course of the same antibiotic, more antiseptic and a special skin treatment to do on her scalp each day.

DD was pretty well fed up of the antibiotic, and I really did not like the thought of giving 2 courses to such a young child, but DH said GP knows what he's talking about, and we just had to do it. So again, every trick in the book was employed, we overcame plenty of tears and got through the 6 days again. Again, no improvement.

Took her back to the GP, and he then said it is impetigo, prescribed the EXACT same thing as on the second visit- so now we're 2 days into a THIRD course of the same antibiotic, and I can't see any change for now. DD is now getting so upset by having to take the medicine that she is starting to scream and cry as soon as mealtime approaches (and she has always been a wonderful eater). She is consistently gagging and spitting out at least a part of the dose since we started this third course- and I can't blame her, she hated it from day 1 and has now been on it for almost 3 weeks

I'm out of tricks, out of motivation as I don't see why it would work now after 2 failures, and so stressed at how it's affecting DD (not only making her hate mealtimes, but I dread to think what it has done to her digestive system). I don't even see the point in continuing with it now, and I don't want to take her back to the GP again, as I've now lost all trust in him as a doctor. Seriously, 3 rounds of antibiotics for a 2 year old, without running a single test or anything to even confirm what it's supposed to be treating? He's been our GP for over 10 years and I've always had a very good opinion of him, but this has ruined that.

DH has a high opinion of our GP and while he's not really thrilled, he thinks we should just do what he says. It already ended up in a big argument when he got back from the last appointment and I was so unhappy with the prescription.

I'm going to ask DH if we can at least take DD to a naturopath or homeopath, to at least get a second opinion and something other than more antibiotics!

I'm at my wits end and so disappointed with our GP!

YABU- I would stick with the GP
YANBU- I would be looking for another opinion

YABU

Go back to the GP practice and ask for a second opinion.

Also you need to take adequate hygiene measures to ensure your toddler isn't reinfecting themselves.

In our area, if you say you are not happy with the way a child's case is progressing, you are referred to the local hospital to see a paediatrician, they are then the gateway for referral to, for example, a dermatologist or immunologist/allergy clinic. It shouldn't be a problem for your GP or any GP within the practice to do this, if pressed. Depends what you have in your area of course - does that sound like it might be a plan?

You don’t trust your qualified, experienced, family GP of 10 years but you trust an unqualified homeopath to treat a physical infection?

That’s absolutely crazy! YABVU.

And what do you mean “intern”? Do you mean a Trainee GP - in which case you could have asked for a qualified GP to be present - or do you mean a Locum? A Locum is a fully qualified GP with experience whereas a Trainee GP is obviously a qualified Dr but still completing their training year to become a GP.

FGS don't take her to a homeopath - see a different GP!

Thank you for your responses, I do appreciate a different perspective.

We have tried mixing with yoghurt, and a different flavour from the pharmacy, but that stopped being helpful after a few doses.

Getting a second opinion from another GP isn't an easy option. I'm in France, and here GPs don't consult other people's patients- we're registered with our GP, so that's who we have to see (barring emergency trip to ER and seeing a dr there, but this is not an emergency).

I'll try the fruit pouch idea, thanks for that AmImissingsomethinghere.

At the risk of being flamed, I'll address all the negative comments about homeopathy etc as, we'll have to agree to disagree on that.

Bless you. My son had pnuenomia last year at a year old. He had three days in hospital and ten days home on antibiotics. Absolute nightmare. He hated them too. I fired it into his mouth. I put it in yoghurt. I put it in custard. I put it in Weetabix. I put it in fruit shoots. He always knew.

I'm not sure what it could be. It sounds like some sort of skin irritation. I hope you get to the bottom of it. Building his gut back up with yoghurt etc might help. We also didn't like him having so many at such a young age. He's had five weeks of antibiotics in his 2.5 years.

I'm not entirely sure why the GP has prescribed three courses of oral antibiotics. Did you try antibiotic creams first? Have they ruled out fungal infection?

There are some really good antibiotic / anti fungal creams that we have been given for skin issues previously - not need for oral antibiotics. We have had to take amoxicillan previously and it is vile. My DS always used to get digestive issues with it too too. Now I would always try to get an alternative antibiotic or a cream instead.

I would also be questioning the need for a 2 year old to have 3 lots of antibiotics in a short space of time. If one type hasn't worked it would suggest they need to try and alternative or look at getting a confirmed diagnosis. My GP is loathe to prescribe lots of antibiotics even for mild/moderate ear infections and always checks how long it has been since my DS has last had antibiotics. I am happy with this approach

If you’re in France that explains the homeopathy angle a bit better - it’s much more popular in France for some reason. I mean you can go and see a homeopath by all means but it won’t work.

Yeah, don’t bother with the ‘naturopath’, it’s a load of bollocks...

Ask for a referral to a dermatologist or ask them them to swab the sores. At the very least request a different GP.

I would go back, and this time you go and talk to the doctor.

Unlike others I do believe in homeopathy so by all means go and see one in addition ( and before anyone piles on, lots of medicines over history, including things used today are plant based)

By all means see a homeopath as well, can't so any harm. Staph infections can be tricky to get rid of, my child needed several courses of antibiotics to get rid. Well worth pushing for it to be swabbed as some are antibiotic resistant and need more than amoxicillin.

Staph infections can take ages to clear up. My son had it on his face and it took nearly a month to clear up with antibiotic/steroid cream and oral flucloxacillin which is utterly vile and way worse than amoxicillin. You could always ask for a second opinion from a different GP if you’re not happy though.

Homeopathy has no basis in science whatsoever apart from the placebo effect.
Herbal medicine, otoh, is often effective and many modern medicines and treatments are based on herbal medicine.
Unfortunately, people often conflate different kinds of complementary medicines and therapies, which causes confusion.
Some complementary therapies have been proven to be effective in clinical trials.
Homeopathy is not one of them.

Have you tried hydrogen peroxide cream? I've had a quick look and that seems to be first-line treatment rather than oral or topical antibiotics.

If you want a second opinion see a medical professional. It boggles my mind how you’ll slate a doctor for trying to treat your child with scientifically proven treatment but are willing to take them to a homeopath who will literally not treat your child.

Infections like straph and impetigo can take a good while to clear. You could ask if a topical antibiotic is available instead and try that. In my personal experience, it can work more quickly.

That's not right get them to do some more tests and to ask for a paeds opinion. Most GPs can get clinical advice from the specialists or even better there are hot clinics in most areas for paeds where children can be seen within 2 weeks. Not sure what a 3rd course can do without any improvement with 2 previous courses.

Just read you are in France. No idea how it works there. Homeopathy will not provide the answer in my opinion though

Staph infections tend to respond better to flucloxacillin than to amoxicillin...but it tastes even worse.

If you're in France, I think you can see another GP, it's just reimbursed differently (possibly less) by the secu, no? And you used to be able to self refer to specialists - in your case, I'd ring and make an appointment directly with a dermatologist or someone else with a useful specialism; you may have reached the limits of your GP's knowledge and need some advice from someone else. They can't know everything, after all. I would do this before going to see a naturopath or homeopath, because you may need actual medicines to treat this.

If you aren’t happy, you have every right to a second opinion and I would do that. However, the GP may be right in using prolonged course- sometimes it is needed (but they should have some idea what it is before going down that route). It does sound like swabs abd/or skin scrapings would be helpful here. If there is uncertainty, they should seek advice. In our area gp’s are able to submit advice referrals to specialists- with dermatology photographs and/or dermatoscope images can be sent. Specialist then gives advice and/or arrange a clinic appt if required. Often quicker than simply waiting for a clinic. Not every area does this type of referral, but many do.

Please don’t go down the homeopath route. It is not a substitute for a diagnosis and effective treatment. At best, it is a “treatment” to use alongside- even then you said you havenMt got a formal diagnosis yet.

Long time ago now but when my daughter had impetigo it was a cream rather than oral antibiotics - meant that she couldn't spit it out

It took months to completely sort out my dd's impetigo.

PicsInRed has the right suggestion. I had something very similar a couple of years ago. Weeping, oozing, crusty, nasty sores on my scalp - really nasty open sores with many enlarged lymph nodes in my neck. 8 courses of antibiotics and 5 months later, a nice locum doctor decided to take a swab and find out what it was... the next course of the right antibiotics later and it was gone. Ask them to test it!

Have you actually voiced your concerns to your GP?