A bit of a rant about my recent NHS experience...

MamaMoo_2

I went to my GP on Thursday with severe pain in my abdomen and back. I was diagnosed with a kidney infection, and given antibiotics & painkillers. Felt better the following day, and so at my follow-up appointment my GP was happy for me to just continue with the course of antibiotics.
I was in pain all Friday night, however, and come Saturday morning I had developed jaundice. I spoke to a friend who is in training to be a nurse, and she told me to seek medical advice immediately as it sounded like my bile duct was obstructed. I decided to go and see the GP out of hours service.
I explained my predicament to the doctor there, and also mentioned my friend's diagnosis. I was told that I was not jaundiced in the slightest, and that all my symptoms were normal for a kidney infection, however, I was prescribed a different antibiotic.
I went home, and still felt no better. I woke up on Sunday in a lot of pain, and was vomiting up anything I consumed, even small sips of water. My husband called a paramedic about 2pm.
The paramedic made me feel tiny. He told me that I wasn't jaundiced at all, and said that passing blood clots with Lochia at 2 weeks postpartum is perfectly normal (it isn't) he said my itching was all in my head as I had no rash, and told me my urine was dark as it was my body expelling the bacteria from the kidney infection. Basically told me to drink water (slowly) and avoid any other food or drink,
At this point I felt like a total hypochondriac, and so I just sat about and tried to ignore the pain.
By 10pm I had a temperature of ~38 degrees, and was very dizzy. I phoned an out if hours GP who did a home visit. He diagnosed me immediately with Cholestasis, and booked me into the surgical assessment unit at my local hospital, where I'm currently residing, having had an ultrasound to confirm that I do in fact have obstructive jaundice caused by gallstones.
Just quite peed off that for 24 hours, no medical professional believed that I was jaundiced, even though my family had all noticed, and I was made to feel like such a melodramatic hypochondriac :mad:

Azari

You really don't have a lot of luck with the medical profession, do you?

whitewing

Yes I had itching without a rash when I had cholestasis. It's more common in winter, apparently. It was the weirdest sensation because I didn't even want to get dressed,just looking at fabric (clothes, sheets etc) looked so uncomfortable and uninviting.

Hope you are better soon.

kazzah60

mama moo
sending you best wishes for a speedy recovery and HOPINg nothing else goes wrong for you!
Karen

Francesanne

I think under the circumstances & being in pain on Friday night, I would have got my husband to take me to the nearest A&E dept. on Saturday morning. Do hope you're feeling much better now.

debsue

To be honest I feel you just like to "rant" (?moan) about your NHS experiences, you appear to be unhappy with most things, your midwife, your GP, the paramedic etc but when advice is offered you dont really take any notice. I suggest if you are so unhappy then pay private. I hope that you are better soon and Im happy that you have a healthy baby (no thanks to the NHS). Take care, get well

RazWaz

I feel for you, it took 2.5 YEARS to get them to listen to me after being told the pain was all in my head. Having my gallbladder removed soon at last.

mountainofdebt

I have come to the conclusion that medicine, regardless of what we are told, is not an exact science - its a game of opinions and probability. Once people understand that they won't think of doctors as gods and will treat them as such.

paddyrg

Medicine is a process of evolution - people break down, doctors make a series of educated guesses based on what they can observe and hope to get you well. Much of medicine is about keeping you alive whilst the body mends itself, with a bit of refined butchery to remove bits that can't be patched up. On the one hand it is sophisticated beyond belief compared with 100 yrs ago, on the other people keep finding new ways to wear out and break down. Sadly, it isn't like 'House' where Hugh Laurie will make some quips before solving everything, it is a messy process of trying to fix a massively complicated system with crude tools.

The NHS in particular is INCREDIBLY GOOD at providing free at the point of service healthcare to everyone. Yes, like every large organisation they have problems, but spend 6 months in the developing world and you will realise just how fortunate we are. It really saddens me when I see the NHS getting slated for so many things when it really is a collection of modestly-paid experts all trying to do their best to make people live longer healthier lives. NHS resources are finite, so as opposed to ordering a full set of scans and tests for every person who sees their GP, they start with the most common known causes for a set of symptoms and work onwards from there. It is absolutely not an exact science, and without infinite money less so again. But the motives are good.

Gothicfairy

I feel for you, I really do but the one thing I think above everything else is that this wonderful NHS is free and 9 times out of 10 they get it right.
You would probably get the same treatment and attitude in other countries only it would cost you a hell of a lot..I know people in the US that have lost their homes due to hospital treatment costs and I also know people who are living with terrible things because they can not afford the treatment.

As has already been said, it is not an exact science and for every one that is wrong many many more are right and we need to get some focus.

MamaMoo_2

I totally understand that most things that go on in the NHS go right, it just annoys me that I always seem to get it going wrong.
Yes, my midwives for both pregnancies have been awful, but when my mom was pregnant back in 2002, she had the loveliest midwife going. Perhaps that's where I got my high expectations from. And I must say, the midwife who has done most of my home visits since I came home with my son has been lovely, extremely helpful, very reassuring, and offered some great tips! The only post-natal home visit I had that turned up late, and was rather unhelpful, wa the one I encountered whilst pregnant.
I've also said that despite my current GP having a crap booking system etc, and some awful GP's, the doctor I have seen most recently has been very caring, helpful and professional.
Unfortunately, my main issue here is that I had all the symptoms of obstructive jaundice, but kept being fobbed off with being told that what I was experiencing was actually side-effects (despite a lot of my symptoms not being listed as known side effects of the drug) in fact, when a friend of mine, who has just started her first year of nursing at uni, saw me on the webcam on Saturday, she asked me about my symptoms and said she thought it was cholestasis, and told me to go to the out of hours service. I just find it hard to believe that two seperate medical professionals couldn't see that I'm yellow (it's not subtle either. My dad actually asked if I'd tried a cheap fake tan as I looked like Lisa Simpson.)
If I hadn't pushed, I'd probably be in a lot more pain than I am now, as I would be extremely dehydrated and not on the correct medicines.