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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think this GP is a total idiot!!!

247 replies

ButterflEi · 31/07/2009 13:30

hello

so i went to see one of the GPs in my practice today as i am wanting to take control of my weight issues and was looking for advice.

the GP asked me general questions about lifestyle etc and what i eat on an average day which i answered thinking to myself that finally i was going to get somewhere (i have struggled with my weight since i was about 15, im now 27). he said he would refer me to a dietician but that could take a matter of months for that referral to materialise.

the conversation went as follows:

me: so can you help with what i should do in the meantime??
idiot GP: i would sggest restricting your diet as much as possible
me: ok...meaning what??
GP: dont eat
me: huh? you mean eat less??
GP: no dont eat
me: dont eat??
GP: yes dont eat. excercise and dont eat.
me: is that not called ANOREXIA??
GP: no it is a medically sanctioned diet plan
me: no it is called anorexia...thanks for nowt.

i then stormed out in a bit of a huff and went home. i have since called the surgery and made another appointment with a different (nice lady) doctor for later today!!

i just wondered if IABU to think that doctor is a complete incompetent arse or is my fat addling my brain??

OP posts:
PuppyMonkey · 31/07/2009 13:32

Don't eat for several months? It does sound a bit difficult, that one. Are you sure you didn't misunderstand!?

timmette · 31/07/2009 13:32

YANBU if he seriously said that then you should make a formal complaint - someone else might take him seriously.

Pikelit · 31/07/2009 13:34

You must have seriously misunderstood this one! Or he was making the always dangerous mistake of bringing irony into the proceedings.

Anorexia, incidentally, is not what you have just described. Oh that it were so easy!

Original poster
ButterflEi · 31/07/2009 13:34

puppymonkey i asked him several times what he meant he said numerous times "no dont eat!" im not sure how else to understand him when he repeated it like that!!
timmette my sister said exactly that!!

OP posts:
Iklboo · 31/07/2009 13:36

The trouble is with a formal complaint is that unless it was written down it may well be taken as a 'misunderstanding' or a he said/she said. A formal body or evn the practice is likely to say that they can't comment on the contents of a conversation or what might have been construed from it

timmette · 31/07/2009 13:36

Someone more vunerable than you could stop eating and become ill - very stupid man. And what a waste of time.

alypaly · 31/07/2009 13:37

so is my gp
went to the hospital for a smear yesterday, phoned gp for a telephone appt. Told her wat hospital had said... and then she said what wud u like me to prescribe... so i said a cream and a pessary please..ie Canestan combi so she said ok and at the end of the conversation she said i will leave u a script 4 canestan duet. There is a canestan duo but shew hasnt a clue and then she asked me what i wud prefer to use for haemarrhoids. So i said proctesydyl as i have tried anusol HC.
She said i will leave a script for protesedyl pessaries. Pessaries go in another orifice not the same as suppositories. I think some gp's need to g back to med school or retire!!! no faith in medical profession

Pikelit · 31/07/2009 13:38

Lawks! Could someone call the Punctuation Police?

Northernlurker · 31/07/2009 13:39

Right well your GP knows you aren't going to starve yourself. I think you've just got the receiving end of a bit of medical frustration there. You asked how to lose weight and he's told you how he will arrange for help for you. If you want him to sit and plan every meal with you when he's got quite a lot of sick people to see then you are going to be disappointed. Insulting his professionalism and intelligence is out of order imo.

moondog · 31/07/2009 13:42

I think you've misundeerstood. The obvious message is to eat less.
I also think it is acriminal waste of a GP's precious time to deal with stuff like this. Also the dietician.

You need to do as he suggests.

Eat less
Exercsie more

Why do you think you need adietician and a GP?

Sherida · 31/07/2009 13:42

Your GP IS an idiot. A lot of them are. I've suffered migraines for 25 years, full on paralasys, blindness, inability to talk etc and I'm medicated for it. I wanted to talk to my doctor about different medications and ways forward. What does she do? Gets up Google, types in migraine, prints a page out and gives it to me! Honestly like I haven't done that at home.

I'm also struggling with weight issues, and have recently started slimming world lost half a stone in a month . AND I was cheating!

Good luck, and am quite cross on your behalf.

Paolosgirl · 31/07/2009 13:46

What a load of tosh, Northern. Firstly, the GP does not know that she is not going to starve herself. Secondly, she did not ask him to plan every meal for her, she asked (quite rightly) what she could do in the meantime - a sensible and appropriate question, that GP's are (usually) only happy to answer. Thirdly, she is quite right to query his professionalism and intelligence when he responds to a perfectly sensible question is such a way.

alypaly · 31/07/2009 13:46

By Pikelit
sorry no time for punctuation today. Been on here too long today. Have become addicted. Must go and do some packing for hols. Will improve my grammar next time

unavailable · 31/07/2009 13:47

Piklit - How fab to read the word "lawks"
(whatever the thread)!

moondog · 31/07/2009 13:49

Yes Paolo, and he told her

Stop eating [so much]
Exercise a bit more

There's really not much else to say.

SerendipitousHarlot · 31/07/2009 13:49

Right, hold on though Northernlurker .... if you are overweight, you are told to go and discuss with your GP before starting any kind of weigh loss programme. And, to be frank, having to ask someone for advice on losing weight makes you a bit self conscious anyway.

So I think his sarcasm was out of order, personally.

moondog · 31/07/2009 13:51

She;s discussed it, he told her.
Time to throw out the biscuits and get on with it.

TrinityRhinoIsInDetention · 31/07/2009 13:51

what on earth would you be expecting him to say though????

he was a twat and he should not have said that at all
he needs a shake I think

BUT what do you think he needs ot tell you?

wastingmyejumication · 31/07/2009 13:51

moondog, that's like suggesting a depressive 'cheer up'.

tbh I wouldn't go to a GP unless I already knew what was wrong and what needed doing/prescribing/referring to, esprecially as they're only going to google it anyway or get it wrong.

moondog · 31/07/2009 13:53

No it's not.
Not at all.

TrinityRhinoIsInDetention · 31/07/2009 13:54

not the same at all wasting

considering depressives dont need to be sad

bunching them together makes no sense

weight loss does have an actual treatment

eat less exercise more

Original poster
ButterflEi · 31/07/2009 13:54

pixilet i know true anorexia is more complicated than simply not eating but the isorder is ruled by food- or the lack of- and having a doctor basically saying 'yes you are fat so no more food for you' if i was in any way mentally unstable i may take this as a lead for me to develop the disorder. it is the doctor saying it is ok for me to starve myself to lose weight that i find a bit off

OP posts:
giraffesCantRunA10k · 31/07/2009 13:54

Anorexia is a loss of appetite

Anorexia NERVOSA is the eating disorder

moondog · 31/07/2009 13:55

I love the erroneous assumption that all Gps do is google something and print it out.

bronze · 31/07/2009 13:55

hes a total idiot

but thats not anorexia thats just starving yourself