I've been dealing with severe rib and back pain for nearly a year. Rocking back and forth crying, can't sleep, feels like my ribs have been kicked with a boot, knife-in-the-back pain. The pain is almost certainly musculoskeletal in origin, and the symptoms align with an issue with the rib cartilage.
I have been seen by a GP registrar about 4 times with this pain who seems a bit out of his depth. He examined the wrong body part and seemed to be looking for heart and lung problems rather than looking at the area that actually hurts. He checked me for cauda equina when the pain is nowhere near my lower back, and checked my knee reflexes, obviously looking for a spinal issue. Again, the back pain is up near my shoulder blades, not my lower back. Now I understand certain things need to be ruled out, but he seemed to give up looking for a cause after my organs and spine were deemed to be fine and I wasn't about to become paralysed. One of my ribs is moving around and popping and grinding, and it moves about with very light pressure, but I couldn't get him to even look at it.
He also forgot to check my blood pressure at my first appointment, so I had to make another appointment and go back for that. Then he called me after my blood test results came in and asked me to make another appointment for more bloods. I called to make that appointment and was told there were no notes or requests regarding any further blood tests, so that was weird.
At a follow up appointment, he said he wanted me to get a chest x-ray. The senior GP who supervises him was sitting in on the appointment and actually piped up at this point and said she didn't think I needed an x-ray. It would be unnecessary radiation, and she said the area in question wouldn't show up anyway as cartilage isn't visible on x-ray. I said I'd prefer not to get the chest x-ray.
He seems to think it's just a muscle strain, but the symptoms don't match that at all, and what muscle strain lasts a year with no improvement? I was prescribed ibuprofen gel which doesn't do anything. Co-codamol doesn't help either. I had a follow-up phone appointment and he asked if my pain was any better, and I said "No, it's not better at all, it's still horrible." and he replied to that with "So you'd say it has improved, then?" Um, what?
Well, I got an x-ray appointment letter through the post anyway and he also called me to pressure me to get the x-ray. I gave in and did it, since I wasn't going to get any further assistance from him until I did what he wanted. So I got the x-ray.
I had another phone appointment with him the other day and he let me know the x-ray results came back normal. As expected, really, I didn't think it would show anything, and neither did the senior GP! He asked if the pain was still bothering me and I said yes, it's as bad as it ever was and that I almost went to A&E the day before because I was in agony. He told me to keep using the ibuprofen gel (that does nothing). I brought up the popping ribs again and that I am concerned the pain is from the cartilage at the tips of my lower ribs, and he told me that the x-ray was normal and that issue with the cartilage would have shown up on an x-ray.
CARTILAGE IS NOT VISIBLE ON X-RAY!
I gently mentioned that as far as I understand, cartilage doesn't show up on an x-ray and I'd need a different type of diagnostic imaging for that and he wasn't receptive to that. He repeated that the cartilage would have been flagged on the x-ray if something was wrong with it. He ended the call telling me to call back if the pain gets worse. It can't get any worse than it already is, it's 10/10 pain.
AIBU to complain to his GP supervisor? I honestly don't feel like he's competent and I don't want him to handle my care anymore. At the same time, I feel like I'm being mean. But really, how does he not know cartilage isn't visible on x-ray?