to be shocked at my GP telling me "I don't know what it is, it's probably nothing."

[LovelyBertha]

DS has the following symptoms: swollen glands, a chesty cough, runny nose, conjunctivitis. He has also had a really angry rash all over his body, which I first presumed to be chicken-pox (as lots of children at nursery have had it). It is clearly not the pox, as it didn't blister and scab- it has just faded to light pink.

I realised it was not chicken pox yesterday, so consulted the NHS direct website- where I was advised to get him checked out by a doctor.

I then consulted a few 'diagnose yourself' type websites, and they all suggested it might be rubella. DS has had MMR, but I read that between 5-10% of children aren't immune until after their pre-school booster.

I was particularly concerned, as he has been contact with pg women/their dc (I am 25 wks pg myself).

I must admit, ds is a complete pfb- but aibu to be alarmed at the doc's "I dunno"? It was the least reassuring doctor's consultation ever.

So what are you going to do now?

My dcs have all had this, it's a virus. The viral rash came and went a couple of times and my dd was generally unwell for about two weeks.

Divineintervention- that is exactly what I wanted to hear. I don't know why he couldn't just have said something about a viral rash, rather than 'dunno'- would have stopped me worrying.

Nabster- I dunno. Am wondering if I should change docs. Last consultation was a bit crap too. I saw him about something un-preg related, and he asked me if I was having regular periods. When I patted my pg tummy and said 'well, not at the moment', he laughed and said 'Oh yeah!'.

DH is convinced he's not a real doctor!

Sounds like a viral rash to me too - and the other symptoms are the virus too, It's miserable for them poor things

I've had a Doc say similar to me in the past, and they can't be conclusive when there's such a range of symptoms, the rash is often the last symptom to appear, so hope your ds feels better soon.

sounds like an allergy.... take him to see a naet allergy clinician
www.naetuk.org quicker than a referral from gp to the allergy clinic in the hospital who said 'nothing was wrong'

Thank you ladies. Feeling calmer. But have decided that he gp is a total arseburger. Got to get rid- as this is bound to happen again. Does anyone know how I go about changing doctors in an area where all the surgeries are so over-subscribed that new patients have to be allocated docs by the LHA?

naetuk is a quack organisation,they cannot diagnose allergies.

Lovelybertha does he have lumps behind his ears because that was the first thing they looked for when I had rubella.

My sister went to her doctors with a rash once, she said "Oooh, that looks nasty." and that was end of consultation!

Probably viral, hope they feel better soon.

They always say its a virus when they don't know

I think my DD has had similar symptoms - thought it may be scarlett fever, but she's on the mend now. My GP didn't offer much support.

Follow your instinct x

I thought my dd had scarlett fever the other day. She was sent home from nursery because a rash appeared on her face, arms and tummy and they said a kid had scarlett fever last week there with the same rash. Went to the doctors and they said it was just a virus rash.

I think I'd prefer a doctor who didn't know and was honest than one who was adament he/she was right and was completely wrong!

Agree with SadMarg. I've had experience of the other kind and it was grim.

They don't know everything you know.

Better to be honest and say they don't know than to pretend they do and give you wrong or unnecessary treatment. But I can see it wouldn't have been overly reassuring.

is there another gp at the surgery to give a second opinion?

I'd be quite happy with that as well, as long as he eliminated any big nasties first.
They're not gods, or infallible. My GP lets me argue the toss with him over various long-standing issues....if I had one of those "I went to medical school/been a doctor for 500 years and I'm right......" types, I'd go spare.
Hope your DS is feeling better now.

I too would rather they were honest than pretended they knew when they didn't - but from your other posts, this GP sounds crap anyway so I would change. at the periods question! Have you tried individually ringing the surgeries near you again? Maybe some spaces will have opened up lately? The other option is to alway ask for a different GP at the surgery.

Idiopathic.....dr speak for "Ain't gotta clue".

Thanks everyone. DS feeling much better today. Yes Christy, he does have lumps behind his ears- you don't even have to feel for them- you can just see them sticking out! Hopefully it is just a harmless virus though.

I guess it's not really the 'dunno' that wound me up as much as the 'it's probably nothing'.
It's not nothing- he's been really ill! All he needed to say was 'I don't really know exactly what it is, t looks like some sort of virus. However, I can tell it isn't Measles or Rubella because of xyz..' Would have been perfectly satisfied with that. I suppose he just isn't particularly gifted in the art of communication.

Unfortunately is the only doctor at the surgery. I'm going to try to register with a different one.