To be annoyed at GP attributing physical health problems to mental/emotional state

[Betty789]

I have ongoing unresolved health issues.

Might be long covid, or an autoimmune issue...lots of investigation going on.

It is very frustrating, and it's causing me no end of stress and worry as I don't know what's wrong and I'm worried I won't be able to keep working.

Whenever I have a bad spell, or am in for tests, the GP always makes a comment about my emotional state. Today I was in for bloods and was explaining my concerns about seeming to catch so many more bugs now, which impact on my ongoing condition. I wondered if there was some reason my immune system was low, and she waffled something me being susceptible to catching things with my "physical and emotional stress".

I also noticed in my notes that she had put me down as being "distressed" at some point.

What I am, is incredibly pissed off that i have experienced this spell of ill health which is currently unexplained and with no end in sight! Prior to becoming ill I was not stressed or distressed in any way, and I don't understand how this has somehow become part of my "case"!

AIBU to think it is unhelpful to have this emphasis on my (presumed) emotional state in my notes? I really just want to find out what's wrong with me!

This is unfortunately super common. I have Hashimoto's disease (autoimmune hypothyroidism) and my doctor threw antidepressants and counselling at me for months before discovering I actually had an autoimmune disease causing my symptoms.

I recently went back to the GP because I suspected I have POTs and I was very nervous the doctor would blame it on anxiety, but thankfully she didn't! She agreed with me! Which felt like a rarity.

What things has the GP tested you for so far?

Your GP has a point though. I have several chronic health conditions and the stress caused by one does worsen the others and also make me susceptible to developing new conditions,

eg, I had recently had a 3rd bout of skin cancer, the stress of which caused my immune system to go into overdrive and now I have a type of scarring alopecia where my immune system is systematically destroying all my hair follicles because it thinks these fast growing cells in my skin are cancer cells.

eg. I have hayfever and during hayfever season my asthma worsens such that a whiff of cigarette smoke or air fresher gives me an asthma attack. If it were not hayfever season, I’d be irritated but not gasping for air like a landed fish.

eg. I suffer from migraines and emotional distress from dealing with the above has caused them to come more frequently and last longer.

The stress and emotions around being poorly does have a physical impact on us. I don’t think the GP was saying it’s all in your head. Also, dealing with many conditions increases risk of them making you suffer depression or health anxiety. So it is a wise doctor that keeps an eye on the mental state of a physically ill patient that has been poorly long term.

It’s so much easier to dismiss people in this way and sadly more common if you are female
I had to go private to find out I had an auto immune condition, connective tissue disorder, severe vitamin deficiency caused by malabsorption, am allergic to many things including gluten and dairy, have a rectal prolapse and need a knee replacement in both knees - the NHS wouldn’t believe HRT actually caused my anxiety until I stopped it and miraculously improved
I suspect I’ve also got long covid or some sort of post viral fatigue syndrome
I am not depressed or stressed or anxious just unhappy that my health is so bad it limits my life

Thank you, these are really helpful and interesting responses. I feel less annoyed already!
I don't think she thinks I'm making it up...but I do get a sense that she feels I am somehow emotionally stressed as well as being physically* unwell, whereas I feel I am upset/worried because I am physically *unwell. And if I got better physically I'd be very happy and fine!
I understand that chronic conditions can lead to secondary depression, but I don't think that's what she is referencing.
@Echodaisy7 it's early days, and they have ruled out things such as RA, lupus, any form of cancer. Bloods are mainly fine so I think it will boil down to a diagnosis of exclusion with something like long covid. Although obviously I'm hoping not.
I did wonder about POTs actually, what were your symptoms?

Oh @JaceLancs sorry, I didn't see your post. That's awful for you I'm so sorry.
What is your auto immune condition? And how did you find out about your vitamin deficiency?

my GP once put down my child’s symptoms to my anxiety !!! I had to keep going back and begging for help. In the end they said ‘ok we will do the tests you are requesting but we aren’t happy as it’s for you benefit to alleviate anxiety’ … we were then at a and e less than an hour later. It was mother’s intuition not anxiety

Hi, nurse here. I can understand you being annoyed but there is so much evidence now about how the mind, mental state, stress etc affects the body. In so many previously unrecognised ways. They aren't the separate systems that they were once thought to be. So your GP could well be on to something. I hope you feel better soon 💕

For me it causes difficulty standing or walking. As soon as I stand up I get an adrenaline rush in my chest, and my heart races, I get shortness of breath and tight chest. I also get lightheaded, and have very poor stamina/exercise tolerance. And I get the classic blood pooling - where your legs, feet and hands go blotchy or purple with standing.

The way to test for POTs is to lay down and check your resting heart rate. If when you stand up your heart rate jumps by 30 or more within 10 mins, and stays that way for an extended period, that is a sign of POTs. Easy to track with a smart watch. Mine will sometimes jump 60 or 70. My GP tested me and my heart was going 148 just standing there after like 3-4 mins. It's a horrible condition.

I also have a lot of fatigue and stomach issues, but it's hard to know if that's related to POTs or my Hashimoto's.

I hope you figure it out!

Yanbu. Woman are treated so badly in the NHS and it's so deeply embedded in their culture that it will never change.

I recently made a similar post under another name. I've had multiple appointments with my GP since the start of the year for lower back pain.

I keep telling them it's coming from inside where the organs are and they keep telling me it's 'muscular'. After 7 or 8 appointments, they have decided to prescribe me antidepressants and told me to loose weight, instead of listening to me and finding out the cause.

Surprise, surprise. Yesterday I pissed out a 1-2mm kidney stone!!! The pain is now gone and I feel normal again. It turns out the meds I take, make me a higher risk of developing them.

If they had listened to me instead of treating me like a hypochondriac, I might not have suffered for 7 long months! I am livid.

Oh doctors all seem to be useless condescending buggers these days. One of these days I'm not going to cower under the power imbalance and I'll actually answer back to their ridiculous gaslighting!

My daughter (early 20s) begged her GP/NHS 24 to take her symptoms seriously during the first lockdown and was told it was mental health issues because she had been on anti depressants as a teen. She had Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension and very nearly lost her sight permanently. She was eventually diagnosed at an opthalmology appointment she had to beg for over the phone. She was literally going blind due to the pressure on her optical nerves and nobody would believe her. Healthcare provision for women can be abysmal in this country

There is definitely medical misogyny. It makes me very angry. Today I read an article on BBC news about a 23 year old girl called Carla Naoum who has very severe ME/CFS. She's completely bedbound, unable to eat, light sensitive, in extreme pain. She's in hospital currently and the doctors are treating it as psychological, she has a psychiatrist telling her she needs to "calm down" and "stop screaming" and they took away her pain meds and refused to turn the lights off

Her dad in the article says she's screaming because she's in pain and he's scared she's going to die

Now tell me a 50 year old man who went into hospital with the same symptoms would be treated like that...

Yanbu

there is a brilliant book called ‘Unwell Women’ by Elinor Cleghorn about the interplay between women’s illness and the male world of medicine. Fascinating and enlightening.

Hope you feel better soon

It's not just the NHS. I'm in Ireland and get the same kind of stuff every gp visit.

I was fit and healthy with normal BP, cholesterol, relatively pain free, held down a full time job, 2+ hour daily commute, kids, husband and all that family life entails etc etc until I caught covid.

Now finally being seen in the long covid clinic but it wasn't until I had tried hrt, antidepressants, cbt etc etc that they decided to refer me. 8+ month waitlist for neurological appointment, sleep clinic, cardiology etc, but closer than I was for the last 3 years.

I don't know if these are depressing or reassuring to read!
Sorry to hear from those of you that are struggling.
@user1471526265 I suspect long covid but my GP seems disinterested in that.
I am tempted to pay to see a private GP just to get a fresh set of eyes on it, but am pissed off that my notes will have me down as a hysterical person!
@Motherrr I absolutely agree with what you are saying. I think the link between mind and body is fascinating and it's scary what stress for example can do to you physically. But I was ticking along quite happily until my body decided to stop working!

That's exactly how I feel. I was doing just fine before getting sick. Sure, my mood is a bit all over the place and I'm frustrated and angry, but I'm in pain every day, too dizzy or fatigued to do more than the bare minimum each day. My "life" is very restricted by this to the point that it's really little more than existing. I'd be surprised if anyone in this position wasn't a bit depressed quite honestly.

@user1471526265 I'm so sorry to hear that, it's just crap isn't it. I totally get what you're saying.

My mum was fobbed off repeatedly by her male GP when she went with some worrying symptoms. He told her on numerous occasions over several years that she was stressed and anxious and to try practicing mindfulness. Nope, she’s got Parkinson’s as both me and my sister suspected. All the classic signs. Had she been taken seriously in the first place the disease would be nowhere near as advanced as it is.

I wanted to make a formal complaint about the GP but mum won’t let me.

Totally feel you on this. When i was suffering from a set of symptoms for years, id had a test for something that came back within normal range. I asked the gp what the reference range used was, as i was aware there'd been a recent NICE recommendation to lower the range fairly substantially. He looked at me and announced 'you seem disappointed, its like you want to have something wrong with you'. I was fuming, and couldnt on the spot explain that there already was in fact something wrong with me and i just wanted a name for it!

Later went private with specialist in the area and got the diagnosis for what id suspected all along and the gp had assured me it wasnt.

There was an excellent article in The Guardian about this a few days ago. Basically medicine is inherently misogynist and women's concerns are routinely dismissed. It's unacceptable.

Welcome to chronic illness! Unfortunately, this will be a recurring theme.

I have had this too. I have a sore hip. Loads of tests but nothing diagnosed. I keep on top of it with visits to the physio. Sometimes it is very sore and i struggle to sleep so my mood is low. If it isn't too sore and I sleep well my mood is good. Last time i went to the GP all she focussed on was my mood and she prescribed anti depressants. I don't want any depressants. I want my hip not to hurt and to sleep well! I am no further forward with the hip pain.

Bloody hell, I bet that was painful. I really hope you’re feeling better now.
The losing weight is also a common cure all. Friend was told for 4 years her weight was causing all her problems. Four years. Then she woke up one morning unable to see. She had a brain tumour on her pituitary gland which was causing all the symptoms but the GP was convinced it was all because she was overweight.

This is such a great book, well worth reading.

God help women with a history of trauma and/or MH problems who feel physically unwell. It's like it's not possible to have both. Books like The Body Keeps the Score really don't help with this either.