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.

OP, for your recovery were you resting a lot, possibly reclined or at least still, in a way that you are not normally?
Mechanical joint issues can arise this way- but then I would have expected your physio to raise this.

What has the physio said?

What? Where did it say it was cosmetic or abroad

I paid privately 6k for my gallbladder out as the nhs waiting list was too long and I was in too much pain but if there had been issues the NHS sure as hell should have been cleaning up the issue cause I only went private (at great personal expense) because they weren't going to treat me for years. By the time I had my gallbladder removed it couldnt even be fully removed as it had caused adhesions with my liver. It was removed in pieces because it was in such a bad shape and was full of pus and stones but NHS said I'd be fine on a 5yr waiting list

With the state of the NHS at the moment I don't blame anybody for going private if they can get the money together. When people are waiting years, in pain, it is understandable.

Unfortunately this is the downside of private health care. They will only deal with the specific issue you consulted them for.
If you have private healthcare you could try an appointment with a neurologist. Alternatively a physio should be able to assess whether your leg and back pain are related to your surgery.

Others have suggested theatre positioning...depending on the type of surgery this can have a real impact. For instance, gynae surgery may need your legs In stirrups and that can cause pain unless and lower back for weeks.

If you had anything related to your spine done eg spinal fluid taken or anaesthetic it can result in these type of symptoms along with a headache. You may need a blood patch done to rectify it.

Book in with an orthopaedic private physio. They will give you a provisional diagnosis and write a letter/email to you and your GP if required. Good physios can work out what is wrong without needing scans, or can spot that it isn't a musculoskeletal problem and refer you to the best person to help. They can also put your mind at rest - or speed up the referral process if further intervention is needed.

Scans are not as helpful as people think. They can cause both patient and clinician to give meaning to an 'abnormal' finding which is not the cause of the pain. For instance, most people over a certain age have 'slipped' at least one disc on a scan. Few cause problems. Scans should rarely be used as anything other than confirmation of a clinical diagnosis.

Thank you, there’s some really good suggestions for me to follow up with. For the person who said the NHS shouldn’t have to resolve this because I had my operation privately, of course they should. I’m in pain and it’s not something I have been able to sort out privately, although I am trying. Like most others, I’ve paid taxes for years and if I need the NHS I will use it. The operation was something that was fairly urgent and with the NHS wait time I was advised by my GP to have it privately if I could.
Plus it could potentially be a coincidence or something I previously had which was exasperated by having surgery, who knows at this point. Thank you for the responses everyone.

OP i would call your insurer, Bupa Or whoever.

Book a private GP appt which is provided by the insurer. They will assess and refer you to the correct specialist. They will give an authorisation code and a list of specialists and you can book an appt with the right person.

You can get the insurer to do all the work.

After major surgery a few years back I ended up with sciatica in back and legs from being mainly bed bound and lying in positions that helped with post op pain but was, obviously, no good for my back. Could you this similar?

Did you have a spinal anaesthetic? I had some numbness in my legs for several years after my first c-section and the weirdest sensation that two of my toes were tied together when I got up in the morning. It did eventually resolve itself.

@Lobstercrisps thank you, I’ve never actually used the private GP service because my NHS GP is usually pretty good and I get my private referrals from them but I’ll definitely give this a go.
@justteanbiscuits there wasn’t loads of lying around, particularly because I was uncomfortable lying down from very early on.
@Ladybyrd I didn’t have a spinal anaesthetic. Although I have had one previously and it wasn’t that long ago, so I don’t know if that could have anything to do with it.

@Peanutbutter7 its really easy. I have bupa and I use the app to book an appt.

Whenever I've called bupa about other things they always say that the private GP service can do the referrals if needed.

My last GP referral from NHS was £25 although I needed it urgently.

Also I'm very surprised your consultant won't look in detail at your problems.

I had gynae surgery in the summer which didn't heal properly. Everyone kept saying I shouldn't still be in pain after a month.

Got back to consultant after 9 weeks and my scars had healed wrong and badly and I needed a second surgery to put them right.

Your consultant should at least be referring you onwards to another discipline and giving you the code you need to use for your insurer.

Physios are usually very good at assessment of musculoskeletal issues, what does your's think the issue is?
It sounds as if it is unlikely to be a surgical issue as such and more likely to be due to positioning under anaesthetic or post operatively. Most of these issues eg slipped disc do resolve particularly when helped by a physio's exercise regime. If it doesn't resolve an MRI will clarify things.
If you are not improving could you be referred to a 'back specialist' either neurosurgeon or orthopaedic on your private health for examination and diagnosis ?

I am presuming it was cosmetic surgery some sort of body lift or tummy tuck?

This is why you don’t want to elaborate on the surgery more?

Private surgeons will fob you off as soon as they have your money. Private hospitals aren’t really there to deal with things when they go wrong.

Keep trying to get answers. Sounds like whatever it is it is getting worse everyday.

Perhaps because "people going privately " is the only thing that has stopped it collapsing entirely over the last few years? A friend of mine has just saved and paid for knee surgery, without which she would have been unable to carry on working. She's a nurse and was just left to hobble around deteriorating on a waiting list for years.

This is also common in the NHS.

I had emergency surgery after an accident and had severe nerve and other problems afterwards

NHS didn't want to know and I went private to a bone specialist who immediately referred me on to the correct speciality.

It is very common for people to have complications after surgery that are not addressed, either on the nhs or privately.

I am a member of a patient group for my complication and most people have been told some variation of
"I don't know what is happening"
"You aren't doing the physio right"
"This isn't related to the operation"

Etc etc

My post specifically referred to cosmetic surgery, not required surgery.
Someone who gets fat injected into their arse, or other such procedures

As another poster has mentioned, denial that a problem is anything to do with them happens in the NHS as well as privately. I had an emergency surgery with the NHS where a trainee did something wrong, recognised it was an error, told the Dr (in front of me!) that she thought she'd made a mistake and he said not to worry about it! I was discharged after surgery and had to be readmitted within a week because of illness caused by the error the nurse had made. The surgery team insisted it had to be something else, that my illness was nothing to do with them. Because they failed to acknowledge their error, they gave me the wrong antiobiotics and I continued to deteriorate until a second opinion was saught and the Dr did a simple physical test, correctly diagnosed me within a minute and said, as she wasn't part of the surgical team, she could only make a recommendation, and hopefully they would listen to her. Forunately, they did. I think you need to continue to follow-up with the private surgeon, ask them to refer you elsewhere for a second opinion / ask a private GP to refer you to the best person for follow up.

Thank you for this, I’ve had private GP appointment and got the referral through. Now I’m just waiting for the insurance to get back to me to tell me where to go to make the appointment.

Thanks for all the replies and I’m really sorry for anyone having gone through similar. I think it really got to me when my surgeon dismissed me, almost making out like I was making this up or like I wanted to drag this out. I didn’t expect a diagnosis from them because it’s not their speciality but at least an acknowledgement.

Just to clarify I didn’t have any cosmetic surgery. It was a necessary and quite urgent surgery and I only don’t want to say what it is because it’s quite specific.

If you haven’t had surgery on your back and legs, didn’t have an epidural or spinal anaesthetic and didn’t have the pain when you left hospital , what makes you think that the surgery caused your back problem?
Did you have legs in stirrups during the surgery?? Teams in theatre are very careful with moving Nd positioning patients

It sounds like your surgeon is saying that nothing happened that could have caused the problem which sounds like sciatica.

Patients often develop back pain in hospital or after a period of illness due to sleeping in a hospital bed / less supportive mattress , losing core muscle strength, moving in a different pain to protect against abdominal pain, being less mobile. There is usually an underlying mechanical back problem that reveals itself .

I think this needs to be treated just as any other patient with sciatica with physio pain relief and MRI / spinal team referral. The GP should refer.

As an experienced Director of Clinical Services within private healthcare I am not surprised by the Surgeon’s reaction. You now need to make this a formal complaint which will necessitate an investigation and a more comprehensive response from the surgeon and possibly the anaesthetist .