Absolutely fucked off with DRS

[Mumoftwo95]

Would I be unreasonable to complain about treatment by my doctor..

I have been in and out of the doctors for the last 5 months. Memory problems/permanent fog, constant chest pains, rapid heart beat,palpitations, headaches, severe exhaustion, pains all over my body. I have been fobbed off several times over the last 5 months, I'm 28 and have genuinely started to worry that this is just how you start to feel as you hit your late 20's! I have been told I was just run down and over stressed.. no tests ran until when I went in on Friday last week, I've since had a phone call to say I need to take folic acid as my levels are 1.2 when my norm should be between 3.9 and 29! From what I've read being deficient for so long can cause some major problems. This doctor was also so rude especially on my last visit, it was quite clear to see that I am feeling really unwell. I had to bring my two little ones along as I had no one to watch them, my heart rate was 120, temperature over 39, sky high blood pressure.. basically if he couldn't tell just from looking at me - my obs said it all. He was so rude and unforgiving, constantly making digs - "get them to sit on that chair and stay on it" (they're 23+35 months so near on impossible). He was getting increasingly more angry and making me feel so uncomfortable. I understand it would've been much more practical to have left them at home but what did he expect me to do.. leave them in the dog cage as he quite clearly seems to think they're on the same level as an animal.. tell them to sit and stay and they'll obay 🙄 anyway.. I'm rambling 🫣 absolutely livid!

So to round it all up if he had actually taken the time to do a basic blood test I most likely wouldn't have gotten this bad. It has literally got to the point that I feel so weak that even getting up off the sofa is a struggle, there seems to be no end in sight as I've been told it can take months for my levels to actually rise High enough to make me feel better.

If anyone else has ever had a folate deficiency please tell me it gets better quick!

Ask you surgery for online access to your medical records, that way you get to see the full results, alongside the normal range - they probably tested a variety of things, but only told you the one thing they were concerned about.
I wouldn't worry too much about the blood pressure - 120 is the high threshold of normal, - but mine can often go down quite a bit within a few minutes, combination of "white coat syndrome" sitting down for a few minutes if I was in a rush to get to the surgery. (or in your case the stress of two young children & the GP not delighted they're there)
I've been severely anaemic in the past, symptoms a lot like those your describe - ask for a full print out of the results, or if you'll be able to see them once online.
If the folic acid doesn't help, ask for an appointment with a different GP in a few weeks.

@LostTheMarble funnily enough I've actually booked to have my implant out after a year of being told to "wait it out for the bleeding to settle" as I've been bleeding for three weeks straight! Possibly something to do with it!

I never even thought about bringing the tablet, that probably would have massively helped! I hope you're feeling better soon x

I sympathise op, i was fobbed off whilst getting progressively unwell over an 18 month period by my GP. When they finally did a blood test my b12 was down to 90 and I was practically housebound.

Ask what your ACTIVE B12 result is, often low folate goes with it and they both need each other to work. If it's anything like 200 or below that could well be the issue and don't let them fob you off saying it's within normal range, the UK has woefully low set ranges for b12 and people can be symptomatic at 200-300. Other countries have much higher numbers for what's considered low b12. Most 300 at least. Feel free to tag me if it does come back low, been there got the T-shirt! Have had injections every 8 weeks since after the initial loading doses as I have nerve involvement/damage

@AndSoFinally I do actually take a multivitamin, Probably shouldn't assume you know everything. I haven't waited 5 months either, I have been trying to get help for this whole period. Bloody know it all. 🙄

@PlainChipsandIpads That's what I thought too but I assume they would have checked my infection markers after seeing my obs x

@ThinWomansBrain that does make sense with the 120bpm as I was massively stressed, I did mention this to him.

I'll phone up Tomorrow to request my records, thanks x

@Ivyy that's really helpful, I'm going to phone Tomorrow to request my records. That sounds awful, it has been bad enough dealing with it for 5 months! I'm glad you finally got to the bottom of it, my mother in law also has to have B12 injections and I've seen just how bad she gets as she's nearing her next injection x

Just checked my blood pressure out of interest and it's 161/78 at rest 🫣 sys is a little bit worrying! Pulse is actually 80 so pretty bloody good.

I'm not surprised op. I've been fobbed off so many times by doctors over the years.

Over the course of around ten years I had a few random symptoms. Vertigo, numbness and balance problems. Gp insisted it was stress. I saw him quite a few times as things progressed, double vision and muscle weakness. Still he said stress. I asked for more tests namely an mri. He refused.

I then woke up one morning to find I couldnt pass water. I went to A&E. I was admitted and given an mri. I was diagnosed with MS within days.

Now my DH had some tinging in his thumb and he went off to the doctor. Doctor immediately referred him for an mri! lol!.

I swear most doctors just think we are neurotic and it gets worse as we get older. I now find in my 50's that everything is blamed on my menopause lol

What’s the point of this post? It’s in no way helpful to the OP and is just having a dig. Do you feel better now @AndSoFinally? Got a nice and warm and smug and self-righteous feeling? Furthermore there is nothing in the OP to suggest that she hasn’t already goggled her symptoms, you’re just jumping to conclusions. And come now, someone so smart should know that a multi-vit can’t correct some deficiencies as the dose isn’t high enough.

Your post says more about you than the OP.

Patient Access - GP appointments & prescriptions online

More info here about online access to your health records - I used to work for a medical research charity and was astounded by the low take up rates.

Exactly.

Ask for some more tests.

Whenever I’ve been ill or has a friend and bloods are done, it’s very common to have low folate. Don’t assume fixing that will sort all the issues.
I went with heart palpitations and they sent me for an ecg and to get a monitor. Taking folic acid didn’t stop them.

A multivitamin won’t have enough iron if you were anaemic anyway!

I also sympathise with needing to bring children. I’ve had to do it a few times too

I wouldn’t give medical advice if you’re not able to understand the difference between a heart rate of 120bpm and a blood pressure reading. OP never mentioned her BP reading, just that it was sky high.

120bpm hr is not just the “high threshold of normal”.

When you say you assume he’d have checked your infection markers, what do you mean? Did you have bloods taken at that appointment?

Even a "Good" multivitamin might not contain enough to correct it

Is your folate that low despite taking a multivitamin which contains it? That changes the picture slightly and I’d make sure your GP understands the context as it might change next steps - and is the level of detail might be missed if the consultation is chaotic due to toddlers present.
If your multivitamin doesn’t contain folate then it’s likely due to diet. If you’ve been taking it regularly and still low it increases the chance your body has a problem absorbing it so might need more tests.

Have you asked your pharmacist for advice ?

I had low folate and B12 as a result of Covid. Taking supplements has perhaps helped a little bit.
Like pp have said, make sure they test you for everything.

Heart palpitations, fatigue and brain fog are three of the most common symptoms of long covid. Even if you've never knowingly had it you could have had it asymptomatically. I hope it's not LC for your sake as it's horrible and there aren't any drug treatments. However, if you rule everything else out and get your folate levels to normal and still feel like this, I would seriously consider if it could be LC. LC is more common in women and can hit very hard if you are a busy active person.

@PlainChipsandIpads yes he did take bloods on my most recent appointment which flagged up the low folate levels. I assumed he would have requested I was checked for infection as I'm prone to kidney infections which has quickly spread to sepsis on a couple of occasions in the past.

@PinkDaffodil2 yes it is.. I take the ABC-Z ones, they definitely contain folic acid. I also eat a healthy, well balanced diet (plenty of fruit and veggies including dark leafy ones, a good variety of meat and occasionally tuna).

To be honest I think I need to try to get a different doctor to see me, he seems pretty useless. I had to fill out a klinik form before my appointment was booked so listed everything above, when I went in he said "you're here for your shoulder aren't you?" 😳 I was pretty baffled. I had also wrote on the form about pain in my legs and voiced it to him in the appointment.. Towards the end of the appointment he said "you don't get any leg pain do you?" 🙄 also completely ignored a red pin prick rash all over my arms that I had mentioned has been there for a long time, he looked from about 5 ft away and said it was most likely heat rash, I reiterated It had been there for a long time and he just said he thought it was most likely non malignant.

@VitaminABCD I haven't as they're absolutely rushed off their feet everytime I go in to collect my prescriptions.. I'm talking lines out the door, I live in a small town.

@SavetheNHS I couldn't be certain as you said But I do test when I get a cold just out of interest 😂 I'm proud to say I've never had a positive test. During the height of covid I actually did care work so I had to do daily lat flow tests and weekly PCRs, still have an abundance of them! Hopefully I've manged to genuinely steer clear of it x

If you can’t see all your blood test results on the nhs app ask the receptionist to do the necessary so that you can see them and you can then compare past and future results, I’ve found this invaluable

@Leedsgal I will do, thank you! 😊 It would be interesting to see if there was a sudden dip or a slow decline as I had my bloods done about 7 months ago (yearly checks due to the meds I'm on)