I’m in so much pain I feel sick but my GP won’t see me

[SweetSilverLark]

I injured myself five months ago. I’m seeing physio but it’s a two month wait for a face to face appointment and every night doing the exercises the video physio set me is leaving me in agony.

It’s to the point I feel sick and can’t concentrate on my work, I’m taking the highest dose of ibuprofen and paracetamol I can but they’re not doing a thing. The GP keeps pushing me back and saying it’s a physio issue and because of that, they can’t prescribe me anything.

I have been in this pain for five months now and I just can’t keep doing it. WIBU to sit in my GP’s reception on Monday until they’ll sit me in front of a doctor and let me explain the impact it’s having on my life?

Go to A&E. It’s a last resort but you can’t keep going with how things are. People attend A&E for far less. You are not able to function properly. Hope you get help soon.

I did the same! I could barely move, never mind doing exercises, and the support of the plaster mitigated the pain until healing took place. Then, physio.

I did the same! I could barely move, never mind doing exercises, and the support of the plaster mitigated the pain until healing took place. Then, physio.

I’ve torn the ligaments in my knee and it was excruciatingly painful. I feel really sorry for you. I saw two physios and they didn’t help.

I paid to have a scan and a consultation privately as I couldn’t bear the pain. The Dr told me to keep it strapped up tightly for most of the day. He also said that I should use a bog standard exercise bike. He said this would release the ligaments which had siezed up and were causing all the pain. This really helped me - it may be worth seeing if you can borrow one from anyone you know. Start slow and try to straighten your leg as much as you can. It took about 6 months till I was free of all pain and the knee stopped giving out. Hope this might help.

A good physio won't tell you to push through the pain, any proper pain you should stop. Big difference between muscles walking up and pain.

Definitely stop if you have pain.

As it's the weekend can you try 111 and see if you can get an out of hours GP appointment? That exists where I am.
Or I know you have filled in the ecconsult but have you tried phoning up and speaking to someone?

I suspect, money. Why are you being so combative? She sounds at the end of her tether with pain, I assume if she could get there, she would. I mean, you’re kicking somebody when they’re down, is that an accident?

Go to A&E. Most A&Es have an urgent care/minor injuries unit, or same day urgent care (SDEC) attached which is like a walk in centre but attached to A&E. You won't be triaged into majors if you go there with a knee injury. Just go and say you're in agony and can't walk, and your GP is refusing to see you. They will then most likely send you for an x-ray at the very least, diagnose you, and be able to prescribe you some painkillers.

Get a TENS machine, it could really help with the pain and are just under £30 to buy. Once the knee swelling has gone down you can also try a heat pad.

Whilst it's very different, I've just had a spinal fracture due to osteoporosis and both of these saved me when no painkiller, including Tramadol, would touch the pain.

I had a frozen shoulder…I was referred to YouTube!

If you work in the hospital, there will be an occupational health dept. At the hospital where I worked, staff got fast referral to physiotherapy if a condition impacted their ability to work. Could you try your contacting occupational health?

You need to be referred to a trauma & orthopaedic specialist and for an MRI. Knee ligaments do not heal by themselves. If its ACL or MCL you may need surgery. Persist with your GP, its unacceptable that they won’t see you and a referral to a specialist have to go through the GP

Probably because she has batted back EVERY SINGLE SUGGESTION that anyone has made on this thread. If it’s as bad as she suggests it is, she would do anything. Borrow a taxi fare, ask someone for a lift…even ask randoms on a local social media site.

If she’s really in that much pain, she can wait in A&E.

Because, if you read the full thread, and the other threads she has posted in the last month or so under different usernames you'll see a pattern emerging. On each thread she asks for advice and then comes back with a plethora of reasons as to why she can't take any of it. She then disappears for a while before starting a new thread under a different username. Read info if what you will.

Yes I was forgetting how much my tens machine helped with my back pain . They are so cheap to buy now. I had a little wireless machine which cost me about £25 on Amazon. I think it’s definitely worth trying for that sort of outlay.

In Australia we have diclofenac which is available over the counter - brand name Voltaren.

I'm a walking disaster - advanced degeneration in both hips (one hip has lost over 80% range of movement, the other not much better), lower spine, need a full knee replacement, moderate degeneration both sacroiliac joints. So quite the bit of daily pain. Diclofenac definitely helps. I take tablets and OTC you can get 25mg - I've got scripts for that and stronger for when I need them.

I'd also recommend a Tens machine. Fantastic to help with the pain. I've also found heat helps.

If you've torn ligaments you're going to be compensating and need regular hands on treatment to help keep you balanced.

We can now just turn up at the GP surgery and ask for an appointment. It is around 2 weeks away but that's OK.

No, no, no.

Only ice for maximum 20 minutes with at least 60 minutes between applications. Icing for over 20 minutes creates an inflammation response.

I had three separate knee surgeries in my 20s for torn/ruptured ligaments, the first of which was about two months after moving to a new country, so I can sympathise.

You're very unlikely get anything stronger than over the counter pain relief for a long term injury. It's addictive, it stops working as well the more you take it and it's not actually solving the problem.

Is the pain constant, or just when you move/bare weight?

Please don't think I'm doubting you or trying to minimize the pain you're in, but I guarantee that if/when you have that conversation with a doctor, their reply will be along the lines of "If your pain was that severe, you would have gone to A&E already".

If you're genuinely in so much pain that you can't function, go to A&E. They might be able to do an MRI there to see if you need surgery, but it's still a long wait on the NHS. If you don't need surgery, it's unfortunately just a case of physio and time.

Sorry I can't be more positive. I hope things start to speed up for you x

Torn ligaments are massively painful - sometimes more so than a broken bone. Your GP should be seeing you and referring you for a proper assessment. Presumably your physio cannot do this or they would have done already.

Losing mobility has long term consequences and this needs dealing with now.

If you can afford it, go private for an initial consultation, whilst at the same time making a complaint against the GP practice.

That's probably why the GP won't see her to be fair. Good luck getting anything stronger than paracetamol once they've put that little alert on your notes RE drug seeking behavior.

“Drug seeking”

im not some sort of fucking junky. I’m someone who wants to get back to the gym and being able to walk outside! Fucking drug seeking 😂😂😂😂

Why are you finding a reason not to do every single thing that people have suggested then?

How many threads have you started though and now you are getting nasty with the repeated “fucking” exclamations? In your defence doctors are over the top with pain relief as we went into lockdown when I was meant to have spinal surgery. Only life saving surgery was taking place and I couldn’t walk and became extremely down and developed chronic insomnia with stress. I asked for a weeks worth of something to make me sleep and the doctor was really quite rude and told me off basically and that it’d be put on my notes never to be given any again. They gave me five days worth and anybody would have thought I was a crack head.