How do I find a private GP?

[KatyMac]

I have googled - but there isn't much

I am going mad trying to get some help for DD

It seems to me that it is sensible to cover all the bases and pursue two courses of action if your mother antennae are twitching: the psychiatric/psychological route, and the physiological one. It sounds as though you don't feel you have enough information to decide what has happened and what to do about it.

The reason I think this is because I suffer from a chronic disabling condition, but I am told that it is all to do with pain gates and so on, and that medication will sort it out. But in my heart of hearts I know full well it is mechanical. So I take all the tablets and manage my pain in the way I am taught, going along with the doctors like a good patient, but I am still going to explore all the options in relation to the mechanical issue as well, because logically, on the available evidence I have, I reckon people with my condition are actually fobbed off with the pain gate theory argument.

I think if you cover all the ground like this you are doing the best you can.

Sorry, I have not read the othe threads fully....what do you believe the cause to be then?

I think it's really difficult for a patient to accept a "it could be this" diagnosis. I felt like a hypochondriac for years because the GP didn't know, I was reluctant to go back when I was ill. Being diagnosed with something was a relief.

School nurse!

I agree with Ingrid in general, but if all you need is a referral, anyone will do. You do have to know what and who you want though.

Katy, have you looked at this site www.healthcentre.org.uk/medical-centres/find-great-yarmouth.html ? There is an enquiry box on the right for you to send your details.

Any private GP should refer your DD for a private scan, as long as you know who you want to see and where.

Alternatively, my own GP referred me to a private GP so that he could refer me on for some scans etc when I was urgently trying to find out if I was fit to fly a few months back. I don't expect your own GP would do this for you, but perhaps their surgery would know of someone - can you get a friend to ask so it's not you asking?

When you say:

I just 'feel' something is wrong; last time I felt like this it was Pleurisy, the time before it was chicken Pox

But there is something wrong isnt there? No-one is disputing that, only they have suggested a diagnosis that you dont have confidence in.

The fact that a scan is not felt to be needed in your DDs case could be taken as evidence that every single person involved in your DDs care is sure of the diagnosis. Its really easy to order a scan/xray/other investigations 'just in case', and the fact that no-one who has seen your DD has wanted to do this implies that they are confident about her diagnosis.

How do you feel about the possibility that you could go private, and get exactly the same response as you have had from the NHS?

i know it isnt totally local but all i could find on Yell.com

I would say try a private paed/paed neuro not GP. If you can find someone helpful who will refer you for the scans you may find that you can be referred back to the NHS for those so you only pay for the consultation and not the tests.

Katymac's dd has been seen at great ormond street for this IIRC, they came to the same conclusion,

scurryfunge I really do not know but I struggle with a diagnosis which is a form of post traumatic stress disorder when it happened so abruptly on a Thursday morning in singing class

I am more inclined to think it to do with the long run of bad health she had over the preceding 6 months culminating in Pleurisy (& steroids for over 20 days)

But either way, blood tests, ct scans or an MRI would make me feel more secure than a diagnosis/prognosis that changed thus:
it will be gone by teatime
it might last a day or two
it will be a week or so before it gets better
it might be 2 or 3 weeks
maybe a month
well a couple of months
Possibly a year

"we don't know" would be a hell of a lot more honest

I personally feel that Katy has EVERY RIGHT to have her daughter scanned.

How would you all feel as a mother that your child has not had all the range of tests available.

For all we know Katy's DD may have a brain tumour or something really serious, that hasnt been picked up (hope to god I am so wrong) but as a mother I would be demanding that all possible tests had been done also.

They came to that conclusion without running test to rule out any physical condition. It's completely understandable to want those tests before accepting the diagnosis.

No test is going to give you that though Katy. Medicine is a science, there's no time limits to any illness, nobody knows how long a cancer patient has, no one knows how long a MS patient will go between relapses, no one knows how long a cold will last. This isn't going to help.

It is perfectly possible for a diagnosis to be made on the basis of the history and the examination.

If every professional who had seen Katymacs DD feels that this has been done correctly, and that there is no need to investigate further, than I think that it has to at least be considered that that is a reasonable approach.

but BST, who is to say that diagnosis is the right one?

If they are sure it is not the eyes then I would insist on a scan.

On what basis do they suggest PTSD?...was there a trauma?

What about 60% of people being diagnosed with Conversion disorder being misdiagnosed?
What about 75% of patient with it for over a year who are then hospitalised and a neurological disorder is found?

If it is conversion disorder then it is

But if it isn't???

GOSH hospital only checked her eyes
A opthalmoloogist I met socially is investigating
An Optometrist thinks it worth checking
A GP Thinks it worth checking

But what if it isn't

I emailed Maudsley hospital who phoned me - "my daughter is too young to treat at their dedicated unit but they will look into it for me - where did she have her scans & what was the result?.....What do you mean she hasn't had a scan you don't diagnose this without a scan"

If the GP that you mentioned thinks that it is worth checking then are they referring for further investigations?

I have read your story as well but haven't ever posted as didn't feel I had anything constructive to offer but cannot believe you are having to go through this.

I didn't realise you are in our neck of the woods (we live norfolk/suffolk border!)...I presume she was seen initially at James Paget? Have you seen anyone at N&N at all? Its totally not the same thing but we had a huge huge battle with GP's and ENT clinic over DS when he was tiny...I knew there was something wrong but everybody kept saying it was all in my head and I was creating a problem when there wasn't one and he was a perfectly healthy child. He wasn't at all-he was getting ear infections every other week,couldn't talk properly and snored louder than an old man. Eventually after over 12 months of fighting we got seen by a private ENT consultant at Bupa in Norwich (which is now Spire) and he said he needed tonsils/adenoids out within 2 mins of us entering the room. He had it done and was a different child...mums do sometimes know best.

I agree though that I would think it was best to get her seen by a Neurologist rather than a GP...You can self refer to Bupa/Spire and they were more than helpful when I contacted them. DH had medical insurance which we used but from what I remember from the invoice the initial consultation wasn't a huge huge amount of money if thats any help at all.

Failing that could you not just contact the N&N directly rather than go through GP or James Paget...someone has to listen to you.

Is there another GP in the practice? Try the school nurse, however, if you have a opthalmologist investigating your daughters condition already then they should be able to fill the request form in.

I'm off for a nap

I will be back honest....

Keep going Katy I think it's awful the way you have both been treated and cannot believe they haven't given her an MRI if only to rule out other possible causes! I am very on your behalf.

Hi Katy, I've followed a few of your threads and I'm truly shocked at the appalling treatment (or rather, lack of treatment) your daughter has been subject to. I don't possibly see how the doctors can be so sure of their diagnosis when so little has been done to exclude neurological or other physical causes.

I have been having bad headaches recently, probably caused by stress, we think now. I went to my GP, who did a whole series of blood tests to exclude the obvious stuff, called me back the next day and then sent me straight to a neurologist, who sent me straight to get a CT scan because sudden headaches can be symptomatic of haemorrhage or brain tumours. So I had the CT within 24 hours of first going to my doctor, and we knew from then on what we were dealing with.

So why was my experience so different from your daughter's? Possibly because I live in Germany rather than the UK. In Britain 'take a paracetemol and sod off' seems to be the GPs' response to most things. Your daughter absolutely needs an MRI/CT, and how dare they try to say that you have 'problems' when you are simply making the point that her treatment has been inadequate. No way is the NHS a gold standard - it's a fairly hit or miss pile of crap, to be honest.

Surely a private neurologist will see you without a referral. If not just come to Germany (only a semi joke, but flights easily available), where you can be seen by a specialist within hours.

over investigation can also be an issue. A CT scan exposes one to radiation does it not ?

MRI's are better at showing the structure of the brain/other tissues, there's no radiation involved but are more expensive then a CT scan.