Please mind the gap...

....In our GP’s knowledge about common illnesses.

(As a side note, I’d like to say that I am very dedicated to making this blog about positive experiences and to help women in the same/similar situations. But today I’ve pretty much had a blow to the skull, so you’ll have to excuse this rant.)

I had my GP appointment today. Let the disappointment commence. First, she looked at my blood results from last month, and told me that they were borderline. This means that it is POSSIBLE I have an abnormality. We already established this during my physical examination, but apparently that can be overlooked.

Dr Mc-Angel-now-Bitch, proceeded to read me the letter from the ultrasound tech. Ah yes, it would appear that I do have polycystic ovaries. Shocker. But still, my bloods are “borderline”, she kept saying that over and over again like the actual cysts on my ovaries didn’t matter.

We had a little chat about where to go from here. She won’t refer me for another scan because she doesn’t consider the cyst on my left ovary as “large”, despite concerns made clear by the ultrasound tech. So I just have to hope that this cyst doesn’t continue to grow and end up bursting inside me.

I spoke to her about my abdominal pain, but she said that paracetamol can often help (!!!) and that it is an unfortunate side effect of my syndrome. Apparently there isn’t much else she can do about that. I got the same response regarding my weight & excess facial hair. It’s just something I’m going to have to live with, like we can all take these clearly abnormal physical issues in our stride. And that doesn’t include what it does to me mentally.

The next issue is that I don’t ovulate. Her answer was to put me on a contraceptive pill, which will give me a “bleed” every 4 weeks. I wasn’t born yesterday, doc. I know that this bleed will not be a result of my body releasing an egg, which won’t be fertilised and give me a natural period. This bleed will be a “fake” bleed, brought on by the hormones from the pill. I feel as though I’ve been completely fobbed off with this pill that will do nothing except MASK some of the symptoms of the illness, but not actually fix the problem.  Let me be clear, I don’t expect someone to miraculously cure me of this illness, but I would like a little bit more help than to be given the Pill. It is a pill with testosterone in it, and that does not make sense to me. Why would I pile something into my body that I already have too much of?!

My fertility isn’t really an issue for the doctor because I already have a child. I can understand this. There are a lot of women that are desperate for a child and are not yet lucky enough to have one. I am grateful for my son every single day. HOWEVER, I just want them to acknowledge that perhaps I’ll require a few months of Clomid if I want to conceive again. To be disregarded for any future assistance because at 21 I had a child seems ridiculous to me.

If there is anyone out there that has any ideas about where I go from here, please help. A little bit lost at the mo... xxx

Lesson we’ve learnt

Unfortunately, I think that GPs are not given enough information, or enough time to deal with every single patient effectively. The NHS is a free service, but for me to get some proper help with my illness I’d have to go private (which we cannot afford!).

The best person to deal with your health is YOU. I’m not in the position to pay for private healthcare but if you are having the same kind of problems with hitting dead ends with doctors, PLEASE look into finding a decent specialist in your area and pay for a private consultation.

My best friend has been through SO many difficulties with GPs (her problem is thyroid related) and she was forced into going private and spending so much money just so that she was able to get out of bed in the morning. I’m going to ask her to guest post on this blog to give you all a bit more info into her life & story, but if you can give a few minutes please check out her blog for more details.