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I think my GP is a bully, but am also very scared

9 replies

Pushpinia · 30/09/2008 17:07

Forgive me venting all this on here but I feel like I'm losing it a bit and it sometimes helps to write things down.

Over the summer I took antibiotics and got very ill as a result. I was told not to worry by several Drs but then my own GP rang me and said I needed to treat the illness as it was very dangerous.
So I took more medication, and felt better for a while - then it came back. So I was given another lot.

meanwhile I'd been researching the illness (C difficile) and found out a lot about it - including that it is not uncommon to relapse, about 30-50% of cases do - and that after that another relapse is even more likely.

Anyway I took the next lot of a/b's and again it responded, but then it came back yet again. I was losing the will to live by this point as although it wasn't making me very ill, I was feeling like a social outcast and unable to forget about it and get on with life.

I realise that people have worse diseases and so I am sorry to moan about something so pathetic. But it messes with your head a bit.

Anyway I am now on a different sort of dose which is supposed to do the trick, but i don;t know if it will or not and I am freaked out.

I wasn't doing too badly until this morning, when the GP rang me and said that if this course doesn't work, he had no idea what to do next. He kept On and On about how I was a weird medical anomaly and usually people fight it off within a week, and he has never seen two relapses (I've joined a forum for sufferers and many of them have had it recur a few times) and that the next step would possibly involve admission to hospital and IV treatment

I know that this isn't the only option, there are pioneering treatments and research about all sorts of other ways to get rid of the bug, but he seemed unaware of all that and kept dismissing my web research. He was basically being extremely dramatic and alarmist and to be honest, it felt aggressive.

I felt like he noted I was feeling scared (I had said so) and used it to take a big old power trip at my expense. He was saying how 'lucky' I had been so far and that it could do terrible, awful things to me if we didn't treat it very strongly. He also said there were no treatment protocols if the ones we've already tried, fail. Nobody knows what they are doing.

He also mentioned that I have had a lot of a/b's in my life and kept talking about 'resistance' etc. I felt as though he was trying to drum out every ounce of sanity I have left - it has been nearly two months since I started treatment and most of that time I have not felt ill really.

my mother thinks it will sort itself out without major a/b's every time 0 in fact she thinks they make it worse as they kill off everything - and keeps telling me off and getting really impatient with me when I am stunned by what my GP says and really upset and scared. She can't just be sympathetic - actually I think she is worried despite her vehement denial of this.

but even if he is being a twt (he has history, he told me that it was my fault I got mastitis because I breastfed) I am still shtting myself (excuse the expression) because I've never, ever been an in patient at hospital, I can't leave my children, and being in hospital also makes it more likely I'll pick it up all over again as the place is rife.

I am completely terrified. I was feeling ok thinking along the lines my mum suggested - ie the gut will make its own balance right if you just leave it and take probiotics - but then when the GP said all that I fell to piece and haven't been able to do anything all day. It is horrible for me and has a knock on effect on the children too.

I am so sorry to rant like this, i just needed to elt it all out and i don't expect any replies - I'll be Ok. Just feel scared.

OP posts:
Evenstar · 30/09/2008 17:29

No personal experience of C diff, but do hope that you get some helpful responses. Would it be possible to see another GP in the practice if you feel uncomfortable with this one. I had a horrible unsympathetic GP years ago and it is awful to feel like this.

EustaciaVye · 30/09/2008 17:32

Perhaps an admission to hospital would be the best thing as then you would have a team of medics looking after you and not just one.

He sounds a bit out of his depth but he has admitted that your case isnt like one he is seen before. What would you like to happen to make recovery faster?

Pushpinia · 30/09/2008 17:39

Thankyou for reading and being so kind.

Yes I think I am going to try and see a different one. Bedside manner is quite important really isn';t it - I was coping Ok till he said all that.

Eustacia - no, I would be terrified - nobody in the hospitalknows either, and most nurses don't even know that the hand gel stuff doesn't work on c diff. Apparently up to 20% of in patients contract it. I'm better off here.

He said we will have to refer me to a GI surgeon (that's something else I forgot - people can have their colon removed in extreme cases - mostly that's old people though who are already vulnerable) or consultant just because they have more knowledge than he does. I also spoke to a guy in microbiology last week who was very sensible and not at all alarmist. He was nice.

I just wish, wish with all my heart that someone experienced would come along and say 'look, you'll be fine, take this, or do this, and it will go away'.

Just someone to take the feeling away that I am responsible for my own treatment as I know more than most of the Dr.s I've met so far. i also would like to have him say something encouraging and positive - as it is I feel like he expects me to hand in my notice and leave the planet within a week or two. That's what he made me feel like.

OP posts:
Pushpinia · 30/09/2008 17:41

Ithink it doesn't help that I'm on my own. I'm scared for the children. They know I;m upset and it makes them worried too. I can't even think straight to do some shopping, we keep running out of bread and milk and stuff.

It's so stupid. Yet when I haven't spoken to the gP for a while I usually am Ok, trying to make the most of every day as normal - on or off medication. Usually healthwise I am fine but then the symptoms start to return after I finish the meds.

OP posts:
pipsy76 · 30/09/2008 17:54

Hope you feel better soon. I would like to start out by stating I am not a doctor but do occasionally work on our dedicated c diff isolation ward. By changing antibiotic policies and increasing staff education c diff has been dramatically reduced, staff are aware to wash with soap and water rather than gel around c diff and patients with this condition are barrier nursed on a dedicated ward. Probiotics are a good idea. Yes patients unfortunately do often relapse. Where I work Metronidazole is usually used first line for c diff followed by or with oral vancomycin which may be given in quite large doses but is generally well tolerated as is not absorbed orally. I have seen many patient successfully treated with oral antibiotics which would not necessitate hospital admission. I would have thought a consultant microbiologist or GI surgeon would be best placed to advise on treatment. Wishing you a speedy recovery!

Pushpinia · 30/09/2008 18:00

Pipsy thank goodness you're here - can I just chain you to something and ask a few questions before you go please?

I was given metron. and then a second course of that, which made me feel very sick so I switched to vanc half way through it. Vanco has been lovely - no sickness or anything, really easy to take - but am now on a pulsed dose of that as the first course of it didn't work. Well it did, but then it came back about 10 days later.

I am so sorry if I implied that standards were poor on wards. I have heard some shocking stories about hospitals on the forum and I am really glad to hear your place of work has implemented proper education and training.

I wondered about the IV thing because vanc doesn't even work IV does it? but metronidazole just made me really sick so am not about to take that again if I don;t have to...

Thanks so much for answering.

OP posts:
Pushpinia · 30/09/2008 18:02

Oh and which probiotics do I need to be taking? I was told they were a good idea but don't know what to take...sorry to ask so many q's

I expect you thought you were home from work this evening

OP posts:
pipsy76 · 30/09/2008 18:41

I have seen both vanc and metronidazole used iv in c diff patients, vanc levels require close monitoring to ensure safety when used by this route. Another somewhat surprising option I've also seen with metronidazole in c diff is giving it pr (rectally) ( this was in patients with no iv access and unable to take oral meds but I guess if you are not opposed to using this route you may overcome problems with nausea! You get good plasma levels by this route)I know we were investigating the effectiveness of yakult as a probiotic at one point so it may be worth a try. PS on my first post I intended to put consultant gastroenterologist where I wrote GI surgeon, oops! Good luck. Pipsy.

Pushpinia · 30/09/2008 19:22

Thanks

I do feel better just having written it all down. It can be so hard to stay positive among all the depressing possible scenarios, but I have to try and remember that I have friends with cancer and friends who are struggling with their mortgage

The world isn't all about me. You're bound to get some dodgy stuff happen at some point really...

Pipsy I'm going to ask to be referred asap if things do go wrong again. Then at least I mgiht get some accurate decisions being made by people who know what they're doing. i think it's good that the gP admitted he was baffled, but it made me feel rather vulnerable!

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