To wonder how you get basic things diagnosed

[JazzyBBBG]

Have had horrendous throat over the weekend, temps up and down, culminating in coughing up blood on Sunday night and brown gunk. Go to the doctors yesterday (saw a physicians associate if that's relevant) "your chest is clear and your throat looks ok come back if you feel unwell"

I said I feel unwell now! Blank stares, go home it's a virus etc. (side point I always wonder how if you are coughing uncontrollably in front of a doctor they can tell you your chest and throat are ok?!)

I went to the pharmacy on way home to see what I could get over the counter and the kind pharmacist said come back for an examination if you aren't better tomorrow. So went back there today - she diagnosed chest & throat infection and prescribed antibiotics.

Earlier in the year I had multiple ear problems including hearing loss. Saw about 4 doctors and was told my ears were fine. This culminated in an attack of Bells Palsy which was centred around the ear and according to the ENTs I saw after it should have been picked up as a risk factor.

I feel like as a 45 year old confident woman why am I not listened to - if i say I'm in pain I'm not bloody making it up! Why don't they listen?

You only have to look on here each day to see things being misdiagnosed. Is that time pressures, is it lack of skill, lack of care what is it? If you are being fully examined as I have been then it hasn't been lack of time - but just not seeing things?

I think there are lots of amazing qualities to the NHS but I really do worry about the basics at times and how do people who aren't as strong willed advocate for themselves?

I don't think being female helps, I think there's a lot of misdiagnosis / writing off that happens when the patient is female.

I was really unwell just over a week ago - started with vomiting, then fever, chills, really unwell, then stabbing pain in my side and back that became more frequent and intense. I saw the out of hours GP who was trying to insist it was a pulled muscle. I said I've had a kidney infection before, I ended up in hospital because it didn't react to antibiotics, it feels exactly the same. He begrudgingly checked and yep, kidney infection clear as day - I don't understand why it was so hard to just believe me in the first place?

We shouldn't have to be, but we do have to be more assertive than men when dealing with medical professionals, and we have to do a lot more self advocating. I don't know why that's the case, though. I'm 31 and have only managed to do it because last time I didn't and spent nearly a year with an undiagnosed brain tumour so I'm relentless - I know a lot of people my age and older who really struggle to advocate for themselves in healthcare.

@DontGoJasonWaterfalls yes I do wonder that. Equally as a parent they often go "what do you think is wrong mum" so ask you.... then proceed to ignore you!

I hate it when that happens. Although i did have it the other way around today when i took dc3 for an appointment to talk about having his tooth out. She "diagnosed" him with a problem we'd known he had for years and then said i should be more shocked and didn't i realise it's a very serious condition. Yes i did but we've known about it for several years now so it's not like it's new information.

A cough is most likely viral (brown sputum is totally possible with a virus - blood could be a tiny bit due to the cough or if it was more than a tiny bit you really need emergency care) and the doctor wouldn't jump to antibiotics unless there are other factors like underlying lung disease.

Bell's palsy isn't something that is very predictable, hard to see how that could have been prevented? Are you saying you had undiagnosed ear infections?

@CinnamonCinnabar not saying it could have been prevented as it likely couldn't but the scan showed the inflammation was all around my ear and the symptoms I had should have been addressed earlier according to the ENT. That said given I'm still awaiting an emergency ENT appointment the day after the attack (May) it would have been too late anyway. I only know this because I saw an ENT privately.

I would never seen a physicians associate they are useless and actually dangerous in some cases. Feed back to your practice and I hope you are feeling better .

My bad experiences aren't recent, so I can't even blame increased pressure on NHS. I feel fortunate that I've since found a decent GP, but my previous GP was a sexist pig who used to patronise me by telling me to treat myself to something nice as it would make me feel better 🙄

No amount of gifts would have made the pain I was experiencing any better because I had acute pancreatitis and due to his 'negligence' I ended up spending 3 weeks in hospital.

The two in my GP surgery seem pretty useless. The one I had in hospital though with Bells Palsy was amazing and went out of his way to help me. I guess good and bad in all.