My daughter won't go to the doctor

[Annalise345]

My 20 year old daughter has been complaining of headaches, tirdness, blurred vision and heart palpitations for a few months now but won't go to her gp as she states its stress (final year at uni) and she's worried they'll dismiss her as being a time waster or a hypochondriac. I'm anxious she go as she's had health problems in the past( years of anorexia and bulimia as a teenager) and I'm worried the consequences of her ed might have something to do with these symptoms, particularly the heart palpitations. Am I being overly worried or should I speak to her again? It's really beginning to affect her now in that she's sleeping much more and struggling to do her work

Would she consider going to the opticians first? Maybe if that is ruled in or out for the cause of the headache and blurred vision she may be more willing to heed the opticians advice to get further reviewed by gp.
Doesn't help with the palpitations, but I would get her to see gp if you can. It might well be stress but she should listen to her body. No good gp would dismiss these symptoms.
Hope things improve soon.

sounds more as if she is worried about what they may find rather than being a time waster.
Does she wear glasses? The symptoms could be her eyesight but she needs it checking out.

Those symptoms coukd indicate many things but low iron sprung to my mind. I had ALL of those when my ferritin and B12 levels were very very low.
Perhaps suggesting ut coukd be as "simple" as something as this may encourage her to go.
It isn't as straightforward as just taking iron tablets from over the counter as iron deficiency can be many different types of iron that targetting/boosting specifically.
A simple blood test will rule this out or confirm.

My daughter had her eyes tested a few weeks ago and all was fine but thanks for the suggestions. She's a strict vegetarian so the low ferritin and b12 could well be the reason! Thank you!

She needs to go to the doctors. Physical problems cause such issues to arise, not stress. She should have a blood test done.

It's so hard to get them to seek out help when they are away at uni. Is she registered with a doctor there or back at home? If there is something wrong it could affect her studies and, if diagnosed, the uni would take it into consideration.
It definitely sounds iron/B12 related to me, having myself suffered with low levels of both as a vegetarian. I had to make myself eat eggs and fish purely for health reasons. Perhaps you could send her some supplements?