I'm worried and angry and would really appreciate your thoughts on two things...

[emkana]

Mid July I was diagnosed with having a Strep A infection "down below". Doctor (female) prescribed penicillin for a week. Towards the end of the week I still had symptoms and went back to tell doctor about it - she just brushed it off really and sent me away. I went away for a week, then when I came back I went to see another doctor (male) at the same surgery who was obviously embarrassed to have to deal with "lady problems", he didn't examine me and said if it was "only a bit of itching" then I should just buy thrush cream over the counter. I then re-registered with a surgery closer to me and went to see a very nice doctor there. He took another swab and saw that the Strep A was still there. He prescribed penicillin again, but now 10 days later I still have symptoms and the doctor said I might have to take them for a while longer, and maybe try other antibiotics if no improvement soon. Today I got a phonecall from the surgery to call me in for an appointment with the doctor I'm actually registered with, but haven't actually seen yet, to talk about my diagnosis.
... thank you if read this far! Here are my two questions:
1)I'm angry about the doctors at the first surgery for not taking this more seriously and treating me properly, thereby making it drag out. Should I write and complain, esp. about the one who didn't even bother to examine me?
2) I'm worried about them calling me in, why would they do that? Bit scared what that might mean. Anybody got any thoughts why that might be?

Thanks for reading and for your thoughts!

1. Yes. Complain. She should not have sent you away when you still had symptoms. Shoddy.

2. Don't know why they'd call you in, but it could be that they want to test you for something else, seeing that the orginal diagnosed infection didn't respond to two lots of anti-biotics, one of which was a stronger dose than the other.

Don't worry! When is your appointment?

Thanks Caligula. Who should I complain to? The surgery itself?
My appointment is Friday pm. I was alright about it really, but when I told dh he looked as if somebody had died, so that really freaked me out then!

CAn I answer number 2 first.........I think that maybe your new doctors is being efficient and want to ensure that you have proper follow up care for this infection, especially if the antibiotics are taking a while to work, so dont get scared.
As for number 1 its up to you, if you feel that you were'n't given proper treatment by your original GP and that this caused you to register with another (I think thats what you are saying) then a letter to the practise manager explaining your position might be called for.
Hope you are well soon

1. Yes, complain.

2. I'm guessing here, but they may have sent the swab off to analyse what antibiotics are effective for the strain of strep A you have, since you have been taking penicillin for a while and it hasn't cleared the infection. If they have found the strain is resistant to penicillin they will prescribe something else. They may want to explain this to you rather than just asking you to come in to pick up a different prescription.

I don't think it's an STD, apparently you have to have sex to get one of those . No, seriously, they actually routinely tested for those and it was clear, and there was no chance of that anyway as I'm a very virtuous married woman, I'll have you know.

I do think the doctor was embarrassed or couldn't be bothered with it or whatever. He looked like he was sucking on a lemon when I told him what the problem was.

Emkana, the patient's association have a very good helpline, where you can tell them what happened and they can tell you whether it's worth complaining or not, and if so, what sort of complaint to make and how to go about it.

Thank you all. If anybody would like to add anything, I appreciate every thought!

It may just be an infection that doesn't respond to penicillin. You should have been prescribed another antibiotic as soon as you went back in that second time. So yes, I'd write and complain.