Really frustrated with the NHS

[BabyCatMama]

They keep asking if things are an emergency or I can't get an appointment. Well one thing that isn't an emergency is I have had a fungal infection covering my feet for years last year. Nothing at the pharmacy helps. My skin is bleeding and cracking. When you try to tell the doctor all of your health problems they say they don't have time for all this. I've lots of issues that I just ignore because I only get time for serious things.

I just say I'm in agonising pain and there's no appointments left. Today they did say someone will call me in a few days. But I'm on weak sleeping pills that don't work and I don't know if I will be able to be awake at the time they call me. I told my psychiatrist these ones don't work and he said lets just see. Why don't they listen to you ?

The pain medication I'm on isn't strong enough and I've seen several doctors and they refuse to prescribe anything stronger. And I'm taking paracetamol with codeine every day and it's making me ill. Like it's burning my stomach so they gave me something to coat my stomach but I just think if it's doing that to my stomach how is my liver taking it ?

My psychiatrist office just doesn't answer the phone. They just send letters that I can't attend he appointment because my sleeping pills aren't working. Then they wrote to me saying they were taking me off the patient list for not attending appointments even though I had phoned and left messages on the answering machine. I have a psychotic illness and can't take the meds I was last prescribed because of horrible side effects.

I can't call the GP to repeat my prescription I have to have in a form every month and it is on the other side of town from me and I can't always afford to travel there and back every month.

I bought a private prescription for pain meds last month but it was a hundred pounds. I can't afford it this month. I have bought meds online for half the price but I can't really afford it and I'm worried about being poisoned.

I'm thinking about going to see a private GP next month they charge £50 an appointment. But a private psychiatrist would be 2 or 300 hundred. This is why people aren't working. They are staying unwell because of this. I don't know is it this bad for everyone ? If it is how is this allowed for go on. Why has no one sued them ?

Codeine is weakly addictive, it isn't morphine though. I am genuinely in pain every day.

Hi OP

If you have a chronic pain problem - so the pain has gone on for weeks or months - then the usual treatment is to change from painkillers to drugs that help to control the nerves that transmit pain.

Drugs that fall into this category are drugs like amytriptyline, duloxetine, etc. not all people find the first one they are offered (usually amytriptyline) helpful and so sometimes you need to try two or three before you find the one that works for you.

The usual advice is to take these drugs alongside doing physio and exercises to try to help whatever part of your body isn't working well.

Can you ask your GP if you can try one of these drugs?

Opiates are rarely appropriate for chronic pain. They rapidly build tolerance and become less effective, as you have found. Doctor shopping for more opiates is a huge red flag for addiction. I'm not saying this is your fault, or you've done it on purpose, but getting off them needs to be your top priority. Addiction can happen to anyone. You will probably feel physicallyand mentally better without them. Combining them with sleeping pills, seeking codeine w/o paracetamol so you can take more - its positively dangerous. I have chronic pain OP so I'm sympathetic. I've been on codeine, and was on it too long w/o med review. It stopped working. I was still in pain. Of course I initially thought, 'well I need stronger painkillers then'. But I didn't. I needed to get off codeine, take regular proper exercise, see a physiotheraplist, and use heat, paracetamol and ibuprofen as needed. I am now in signicantly less pain than I was on codeine.

I agree with the poster who advised seeing a Podiatrist.

@Octavia64 that is a good idea. I was aware of amitriptyline being used in pain but I had forgot about such drugs. My mum mentioned gabapentin, which I haven't had before and don't know anything about.

When I said this to the GP he said he is reluctant to start introducing other medications apart from codeine with the medications I am prescribed already for my mental health. But I will try raising it again when the other doctor calls me. I don't think they are aware that I have not been taking one of my prescriptions for a while

It's been good to just have a rant here though. It just feels sometimes in the real world that no one is even listening to you

I am actually having some relief this morning, it is more a low level ache right now

@iiloveeverykindofcat I actually have some ibuprofen gel which is more effective than I thought it would be. I'm going to apply some now actually.

Unfortunately I can't take NSAIDs by mouth as they have affected my kidneys at this point. I was thinking about seeing a chiropractor. I can actually see a big bulge where my spine is bent out of shape. Well that's what it looks like anyway

Phone the GP, this situation you are in is an emergency. Tell them that, once you have an appointment you can get advice for all of the issues you're having. No one should have to live like that.

Which prescription have you stopped taking without them knowing and why, @BabyCatMama?

I think you should ring that mental health nursing unit today. They will be best placed to help you.

@MolluscMonday two anti psychotics. One was making my throat close up and the other one was making me severely ill with nausea. I have got in touch with my psychiatrist but I feel fine for now. It isn't like a constant thing it's something that comes in phases

I was trying to pinpoint what I wanted to say, @BabyCatMama, and I just realised I posted on your thread about shaving your head the other day.

I totally hear and understand how difficult it must be to live with those side effects, and have experience of chronic pain and sleep deprivation too. I don’t think you’re doing as well off the meds as you think you are, and I honestly still do mean that kindly. There’s a bit of mania underlying your tone again. You mentioned that your Psychiatrist was referring you to a mental health nursing team- has that happened yet, do you have their contact details? I think they’d be really well placed to help you review all your meds, and will almost certainly be able to help you access and engage with treatment for your feet, too.

Hope today is a good and peaceful day :)

@BabyCatMama I think it’s all so interlinked …pain plus sleep deprivation plus psychosis is a real burden to carry ,many of my patients used to self medicate with pain killers as some people use them to reduce their mental distress …I do hope you get some input to break this vicious cycle.

Hi OP I'm also on antipsychotics and pain meds, including co-codomol. I have recently been prescribed gabapentin for post shingles nerve pain, but I did see a neurologist who recommended it and I think this maybe helped the GP prescribe it?

I used Benenden health to get the specialist appt maybe you could think about joining them and getting your physical health problems looked at properly?

@Orangesandlemons77 thank you I will try using that service

I decided this will be the year I get well. I have so many things to work on

Something jumped out at me on your original post -

I have a psychotic illness, but can't the meds due to the horrible side effects - words to that effect.

If you can't manage to treat your psychotic illness of the mind, then you can't possibly be thinking clearly about these benzos and codeine. You need to treat your mind first. The pain management will become secondary.

Fungal infection in feet can often be treated with Canestan or another OTC anti fungal cream. I don't think a podiatrist or dermatologist will tell you any different.

I think GPS will struggle to help and prescribe as you openly admit to not taking your antipsychotics.

I sometimes get Zopiclone. I often get codeine, and whilst it would be lovely to sleep everything away, it's not going to happen.

Get back on to your antipsychotics, deal with the side effects so you can manage them. Then get some antifungal cream, and if that's no good, you'll be in a better head space to explore other options. Good luck!

Temazepam has been a contrilled med for at least 25 years. All the benzos are highly addictive. No NHS doctor who values their registration will perscribe them regularly. Yes they are highly effective- that is in part why they are so addictive.

@Beurodiversitydoctor I studied sciences for a while and in my latest chemistry modules it did seem to me that the more addictive drugs were often the effective ones without dangerous side effects (other than overdose and abuse)

I was looking at newer drugs based off of addictive substances and they just looked weird

Sorry that is meant to be @Neurodiversitydoctor

It seems though that private doctors are more willing than prescribe medicines like that though. If I have the money I can quite easily get dihydrocodeine

I don't know what to say to that really, not exactly a good thing is it ?

@NeurodiversityNeurodiversitydoctor I suppose it isn't good for people that get addicted to it but it is good for me. I'm not going to use codeine more or longer than I need to. I think there needs to be a better balance in the NHS.

Codeine is very addictive, tolerance builds quickly, I wouldn't recommend taking it long term ( more than a few days) at all.

In fairness to OP, proper sleep, reduced anxiety (helped by benzodiazepines) and reduced pain will all likely help psychotic symptoms.

I think people who talk about (and even prescribe) antipsychotics don't actually know what they're like. I slept 20 hours a day on antipsychotics and put on a stone a month. Coming off them looked like a scene from trainspotting. I have never been able to get my weight back fully and I was extremely slim all my life beforehand. Coming off diazepam was actually easy for me in comparison. We really need to move away from the model that all NHS doctors know best all the time.

That said, doctor shopping, the combination of drugs you are seeking, missing appointments, inability to try other things are flags (and only flags) for addiction. Although doctors should be giving you time and listening to you, they will have to be mindful of not helping fuel an addiction. Look at people like Matthew Perry who just got given what he asked for... You shouldn't say 'it's only codeine', that is still addictive.

*Edited typo

I really hope that is the case, OP. You are obviously clever and articulate and have so much to offer.

There are so many helpful and kind experts on this thread that have helped me understand this issue better. I hope you get the care you need to enable you to manage your conditions well. I think you can do this! I’m no expert, but it does sound like prioritising your psychiatrist appointments first would be the basis of you turning this around.

Same here OP. Yet DH got an immediate appointment for a splinter and DS for a mild earache so the NHS Misogyny seems alive and kicking in West Yorkshire. I just say it is an emergency now, because I do need to see a Dr. It is so shit. I am sorry you are experiencing this.