Strange appointment with GP - should I have said I'm pregnant (again)?

[Blankel]

I had a GP appointment today for a UTI, I'm 36 weeks pregnant (so I'm very pregnant). I was asked to provide a urine sample on arrival. I said to the GP that I'm 36 weeks pregnant and I also said that my midwife had tested my urine and said there are nitrates and protein in there and that she had sent me to them for antibiotics. Then the GP asked for my symptoms and I told her. She then asked me to get on the scales, which I did and it said I'm 70.2kg, which she calculated as a BMI of 28 and told me my BMI is overweight. She then asked to measure my waist, which I said ok to, and it was 99cm. She told me my height to waist ratio was very high (my waist is just under 2/3 of my height) and that I should "work on that", recommending that I try to go for a daily walk and work on my diet to improve it - and that it might ease my symptoms. She then said to wait for the urine sample results and I'd get a phone call if I need antibiotics.

I feel a bit confused. I'm very clearly heavily pregnant so surely the whole issue of having a skewed height to waist ratio isn't a problem? Or am I missing something? Should I have reiterated that I'm pregnant? I didn't want to sound like an idiot...it was really obvious that I'm pregnant - she literally was measuring my waist so can't have missed my bump! Should I be trying to lose weight?

Exactly

i hope you get sorted too

There are more brilliant people that work in our health service than rubbish ones but my God, the system is truly broken and when you’re unfortunately in a broken system with a crap gp/healthcare professional as op is you’re just buggered. As you’ll discover more and more often over the years of being a parent op, you have to shout loudly to be heard and advocate in assertive ways you never imagined you’d need to. Maybe if they spent less money permanently rebranding something or other there might be money to actually make things run more efficiently!

cks.nice.org.uk/topics/urinary-tract-infection-lower-women/management/uti-in-pregnancy-no-visible-haematuria/

I bet she will ring you soon to let you know the results of your exams and let you know you are pregnant! 😁

Was she a real doctor or had she just stolen a white coat?

This entire thread has been batshit.

It’s difficult to believe that your doctor didn’t know you were pregnant, but it makes even less sense to think that she did and yet weighed and measured you, and advised weight loss. Just mental.

Almost as insane is the lack of uti treatment. Third trimester prescribing is more tricky, but mostly all penicillins are considered safe in pregnancy. It might not be as specific as Nitrofurantoin, but I’d certainly have given a course of amoxicillin if symptomatic and having protein and nitrites on urinalysis.

I’m frankly amazed that you’re having this carry on. As for the maternity unit suggesting paracetamol - that is simply unbelievable.
Do they want you having raging pyelonephritis while heavily pregnant? You have grounds for serious complaint. It’s imperative that if you have a uti you have appropriate treatment.

The abdominal measurement is taking to confirm the pregnancy weeks.

I don't remember a midwife measuring around my waist when I was pregnant but they do (or did 16 years ago) measure the fundal height vertically to see whether the size is ok for dates. As it happens DD was small for dates which triggered a whole lot of other tests.

Hope you've got it sorted by now OP. I had a full blown kidney infection when pregnant and my GP said that whilst it was generally safer to avoid antibiotics whilst pregnant, in my situation it was absolutely vital that I took them.

I also thought would be on notes/record as soon as your name came up on their screen?

So I have searched it and all point to your doctors surgery giving incorrect advise. Call 111 again and explain no one called you back. www.babycentre.co.uk/a536353/urinary-tract-infections-in-pregnancy
when I was pregnant, there was a number of my pregnancy big a4 white book, with all my notes in. Do they still do that? Any issues, they told you to go straight down.

And this says immediate antibiotic treatment should be offered: gpnotebook.com/simplepage.cfm?ID=x20190911173617628953

Hope you are OK OP. this whole thread has been nuts from start to finish.

OP did you manage to speak to your midwife? I feel like your GPs are very incompetent. I got a kidney infection at 37 weeks pregnant and was prescribed antibiotics to treat it. No harm came to me or baby so your doc saying they wouldn’t prescribe them at this stage of pregnancy seems like nonsense!! An untreated UTI can progress to your kidneys (and it was extremely horrible during pregnancy!) I hope your midwife can help you and you feel better soon 🌸

I'm so so sorry this has been happening to you. It has been a week since your first abnormal levels and a sample went in Wednesday is that right? A negative result should be back in 24 hours. You can pester your gp practice again and see if any results are back.

You shouldn't have to but at this point if it is making you feel unwell you should pester them again.

Also if the result comes back "negative" but you still feel unwell, get the midwife to send off another sample or get her to write a note to the GP/A&E.

We seem so frightened to prescribe anything when people are pregnant but the nice guidelines are there for a reason.

I hope you feel better soon and your care improves.

I would document all this to make a complaint, it sounds negligent. Is there a walk in clinic anywhere near you? If they can’t give you antibiotics before a test (which is complete bollocks but also terrible treatment in pregnancy when you’re at risk of pre-term labour), and they can’t give you antibiotics in the third trimester anyway (also bollocks, see previous comment) then why are they doing a test anyway? One incompetent practitioner is worrying, you’ve got a full house of them.

I think I’d want to put it in writing ‘to be clear, you are refusing me, a pregnant woman with X symptoms, antibiotics at 36 weeks pregnant?’

*regardless the urine example, the GP can not prescribe antibiotics even if you are not pregnant , until the results come back

This isn't true, by the way, for anyone wondering. Some individual gps might take this view though. One of them managed to get my friend hospitalised with sepsis.

It’s also possible to have a UTI and a negative culture.

It’s also possible to have a UTI and a negative culture

Yep, about 50% of them in fact. The test was originally developed for patients with catheters so the colony count threshold is very high and many people have UTIs with much lower counts.

I’ve never been pregnant but I’ve definitely been prescribed antibiotics for a UTI before my urine sample came back.

GP prescribed me the drugs then and there, I started taking them, then called up for my results a couple of days later and they just said something like ‘yes the sample confirmed you’re on the right drugs’ and that was that.

You should definitely put in a complaint about that GP. Once I had a UTI on a Sunday and my local hospital had a special out of hours clinic and I was able to go down, he checked the sample there and then, and I was able to get antibiotics that day. Are you sure there is nothing like that near you?

You’re not at fault here, OP. Your crappy GP surgery is. I phoned my GP last week with symptoms of a UTI. They gave me a prescription for ABs without me having to see them.

I had a similar incident actually - went to my GP 8 months pregnant with anemia and was asked if I was having heavy periods! My bump wasn't huge but I would think it was fairly noticeable!

Yes, it’s awful when you have a doctor that’s willing to leave you in increasing pain when you know full well what the situation is but the test says ‘no.’

Go to a and e .

I can’t believe what they’re putting you through. At 36 weeks I was given antibiotics for a chest infection. A UTI is obviously more of a threat to the baby and cannot be ignored. I’d just turn up at the hospital or phone 111 again and insist on being called back. The advice you’ve been given so far just does not make sense. What happened to the sample the midwife sent in. Surely that should have been analysed by now!