Best way to gently ask GP if their original diagnosis was correct

[sincitylover]

I get the feeling that GPs don't like patients questioning their diagnosis - I was diagnosed with lichen planus on my hand a few months back but think it might instead be dermetitis herpeteformis which is what you get when gluten intolerant/celiac (have many digestive symptoms)

Have appt with gp this pm and want to broach this

How do people think the best way?

Many GPs start off with a 'best fit' diagnosis and are happy to work to different ones if the treatment they've prescribed isn't working or other symptoms present. Did you tell your GP about your digestive symptoms or are they already aware of them? I would see what they say and broach the subject of dermatitis herpeteformis with them

Hi,

I know this problem well, & it does depend very much on your GP, but you are right, a lot are like that...so much so, it was even included in a pain management course I once went on..... their take on it being, that some GPs would rather label you a complainer, than accept that they can't help you, which is why most of them joined the profession in the first place, so if they can't fix it, it must therefore be YOUR fault

thankfully my current one is great open to my making suggestions & will test, my old GP was dreadful, so bar changing your GP, maybe try something like the following aproach....as it leaves it open for the GP to save face, in the light of new info, if that makes sense

Celiac is diagnosed with a blood test, so simply asking if he/she thinks its possibly connected to your stomach problems, & could he/she please book you for a test.....(fib a bit) as you recently saw your, aunt/uncle/neice or who ever, & they have diagnosed celiac & have told you it can be hereditary,

good luck

How have you come to this diagnosis instead of the GP's original one? Is it, as Pixie says, that the treatment isn't working? If so I would go down that route and I don't think any doctor would be upset with that approach. Good luck, I hope you find a solution to your dermatitis

i went back to question a diagnosis adn the gp smirked at me (and the student with him) and said 'i thought you would be back' he then opened a text book and showed me a picture and said 'there thats what you have got'. he told me i had herpes on my face, and there was enxt to nothing i could do.

i was really miserable for a year with this huge red thing making its way across my face.

i changed doctors when pregnant and the doctor rediagnosed and was lovely. i think i cried! i no longer have a huge sore on my face.

worth questioning imo

British GPs are really bad at dermatology - basically because dermatology in the UK is very undeveloped. So I would definitely pursue this if I were you.

thanks I have been diagnosed with IBS in the past and will mention that - he seems a nice enough GP have only seen him once and he spent a long time with each patient which is quite unusual in itself.

Have been using steroid cream but its still quite angry looking and also there are lots of tiny blisters which I don't think he saw last time.

I need to be assertive without being too push I suppose.

i agree with bonsoir. but dermatitus is devastating, my self-confidence plummeted.

incidently my skin responded to moisturising with aveeno or dr hauschka and cutting back on spicey food, red wine etc. diet is crucial.

well went to gp but he was running over an hour late by which time had to leave to collect dcs. (frustrated emoticon)

So will have to rebook for another time - what an anticlimax!

Not sure how I came to that 'diagnosis' prob was googling digestive issues came to celiac (sp) /gluten intolerance symptoms one of which is a blistery rash.

Will update when I get next appt.

Does it look like tiny pinpoint blisters ? I had that - nothing worked on it, and it was terribly, terribly itchy. I also had joint pain. Which was eventually diagnosed as coeliac disease. Went on a GF diet, and my skin cleared up too - I now know it to be dermatitis herpetiformis

yes it does and also have joint pain and stiffness (which I put down to middle age)

Sounding more and more likely tbh. My hands were the worst pain in joints, and if I get glutened they are the ones that react fastest.

Many GPs aren't aware of the true picture of coeliac disease btw - they still think of it as something that presents with terribly thin, malnourished small children. The truth is that it can develop at any time (my SILs mother was diagnosed in her 70's), and you can be thin, fat, or normal weight, and may have joint pain, anaemia or other things as your primary symptom. I never realised I had a GI problem till it wasn't there tbh

have ordered a home test and when it arrives will get my friend (who is a med student) to do the finger prick.

Either will rule it out or answer alot of questions

DS1 was originally dxd with contact dermatitis when he was 5yo. Then IBS at 6yo. Then the symptoms were eventually connected when he started bleeding internally(!) and he was re-dxd as coeliac with dermatitis herpetiformis when he was 7yo. He's now almost 8yo, has been on a GF diet for almost a year, skin problems gone, and he's grown 4inches (!!) in the last year after not growing since he was 5yo. I would broach it with the GP by saying that your current treatment isn't working, and could there be a possibility that your skin problems could be connected to your bowel problems?