To feel let down by healthcare professionals?

[Peanutbutter7]

I had surgery a little while ago and it all went fine. It was a major surgery but also fairly routine. However a couple of days after being discharged, I developed weakness and pain in my legs. One much worse than the other. It’s now developed to back pain as well. This has now been going on for weeks, I’ve been to my GP several times and they’ve just fobbed me off with just wait and see if it gets better, been prescribed some pain killers which haven’t helped anymore than ibuprofen.
I asked my surgeon about it and he said it can’t possibly be anything to do with the surgery I had (the operation was done privately). The surgeon also seemed to be frustratyed that I was still struggling to get back to normal after my surgery and said I should just get on with it and my legs would probably improve. This hasn’t happened.
I feel really alone in this, I went into surgery in pretty good health, I’ve never had issues like this before and now I feel like I’ve lost so much of myself, I can’t get anywhere very far or quickly, I’m often in pain and no one is doing anything about this.
I’m feeling low and I can’t just get on with things, I have small children to care for as well. I know I’ve got to put my foot down with my GP to refer me but I’m just fed up of how things have gone.

If you’re convinced it’s related to your surgery then your surgeon needs to refer you anywhere relevant.
your gp has minimal input and no specialist knowledge of your surgery.

or maybe try a discussion with the gp about alternative causes. ‘Putting your foot down’ will just get you sent back to your surgeon and minimal help.

Can you say what the surgery was?
I wonder if seeing a physio privately might be a start in working out the cause of the weakness.
They might suggest seeing a neurologist if they think that would be appropriate.
I can't suggest much more without knowing what operation you had.

Go back to the private provider.

I would go back to the surgeon, and ask what follow up they will do

The surgeon will take absolutely no responsibility for this and made it clear they can’t help. I think this is where my frustration lies and probably not with my GP. It’s just frustrating because I’m in pain and it’s not getting resolved. I think my GP will eventually refer me to some kind of specialist if I persist. I’ve been going to physio which I booked privately and it hasn’t helped so far.

They made it clear they can’t help and won’t take any responsibility for this happening. Is this good practice within private healthcare? I’ve never had anything major done using private healthcare before and it’s not been the positive experience I thought it was going to be.

What were the risks and complications on the consent form? You don't want to say what the operation was, but are you as sure as you can be that this is a result of the surgery and not a new, unrelated condition?

You would need to consider manual handling, position on operating table, any spinal involvement, type of anaesthesia. So many potential issues.

Nothing about this was listed on the consent form. Of course I can’t be sure that it is related to the surgery, but it seems also unlikely it could be a coincidence when I have never had any problems like this before at all. GP’s don’t seem to think it’s unrelated.

If you have private health insurance you can write to them. If not, you can write to the Chief Exec of the private hospital and ask them to investigate.

I think it's difficult for anyone to offer an opinion without knowing the surgery op.

'Major but routine' could mean tendon repairs to your fingers or removal of a kidney - and tbh my response would be different for each of those.

Surgeon assured me that they are very careful of positioning, but of course he is going to say that if he wants to take no responsibility.

I’d rather not say what it was because it’s very specific but I will say it had nothing to do with my legs or back. Which makes it even more unlikely that something may have happened and I’m very aware of this. But I know how I felt before the surgery and I know how I felt after and it doesn’t make sense.

This. It is impossible to narrow down.
My first thoughts are accidental trauma or injury to nerves/ muscle/ tendon due to proximity to surgical site. Or spinal injury due to bad lifting or positioning under anaesthetic. It happens.

It could be referred pain from adhesions (scar tissue) if you had abdominal surgery? I had adhesions and the pain radiated down my legs - doctors were not that helpful.

On any case I would push for investigation, probably CT spine in the first instance. How you do that depends on my earlier post regarding health insurance cover. Pain suggests mechanical cause, however, it is very much a guess based on very little info.

Sorry that I haven’t said what it is, it’s just very specific. I really appreciate the replies though and it confirms that I know it’s a possibility that something like bad positioning or lifting could have happened and I feel it should be looked into but unfortunately will probably be left to the NHS to pick up.

Do you have legal cover on your home insurance? Worth having a look. I used mine a few years ago following an injury caused by another party's negligence.

@endofthelinefinally thank you. My insurance may cover further investigation when my GP can work out what I need. I will suggest CT scan of my spine to start with. I will check the house insurance.

If there was no spinal anaesthesia and surgery was remote to your spine/brain/legs/pelvis then it's hard to see what the link is - a blood clot is a possibility but should be fairly clear neurological symptoms. Infection (remote spread from surgery) is also possible but rare generally.

Vague weakness of both legs & back pain starting a few days later might have a serious cause but could also be psychological as a stress response. Either way it's a post op complication.

TBH I think we need to legislate that the NHS doesn't have to pay for any issues arising from private healthcare.

OP needs a diagnosis asap before any cause or costs can be discussed. I agree it is very poor that the surgeon is being dismissive but that is common IME, especially in the private sector.

@endofthelinefinally this is exactly what I have been wondering and whether it was common for private healthcare. I would prefer if it could be resolved or at least diagnosed privately but at the moment it hasn’t happened.
@RoamingGnome thank you. I did get the d dimer test in case it was a blood clot which was slightly high but not high enough for them to suspect I had a blood clot (this was NHS).

Sounds like you need to see a neurologist. CT spine of limited value in this situation, neurology will probably recommend MRI spine but best done by them so they request what they feel needed - eg how much of spine is imaged, whether contrast used or not etc. Difficilt to say without knowing exact procedure but from the bits you have said unless had neuraxial anaesthesia would seem unlikely the two are related. Surgeons on nhs and private would wash their hands if not related to their surgery as this isn’t their area of expertise.

No, it shouldn't. You chose to go private, you deal with the consequences privately.
As should anyone who goes abroad for cosmetic surgery that goes awry.
Why should the nhs pay?

Your symptoms may be related to muscular skeletal issues originating in your back. Unfortunately back pain is an extremely common problem which often resolves spontaneously. GPs therefore tend to only consider further investigation and specialist referral if the the issue persists for many, many months. Without an accurate diagnosis, it is impossible to prove your symptoms are related to the surgery. I would therefore focus on getting a specialist referral to MSK to investigate the cause of your symptoms.