Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Katymac]

...& NICE guidelines as they are for doctors and I won't understand them

Which is quite condesending and crap really

& I won't need vagifem once my HRT has established
& you can't have continual progesterone - that would be silly
& you really don't understand what is going on in your body

& they should have taken out your womb too and then we wouldn't be messing about with all this

So I feel a bit crap really

[Tinkerbell]

I got told the same rubbish by a 30 something female  GP re not needing both systemic HRT and Vagifem.
She was very condescending and insistent and said she would only prescribe Vagifem for one more month, I didn't go back to her!

[Bobidy]

This makes me livid! (I am in the throws of PMT forgive me). I am so sick of uninformed, rude, patronising, dismissive doctors. Why won't they go into these consultations with an individualised discussion based on that particular lady's symptoms.

Honestly, I went to my doctors (3 female ones) at least 20 + times in the space of 18 months (feeling ridiculous) with loads of horrible peri symptoms and not one of them mentioned anything to do with peri/meno based on the fact that I'm 44 and not had a night sweat!!! Which of course means I'm just wasting their time, unless I wanted their prescription of amytripoline!!

What I realised is that as a general practitioner they know a little bit about a lot of things. They have been to Uni like many of us, learnt about some stuff, got a degree and a job that pays £60k/yr and if you are lucky when you see them they have learned about your particular problem. If they want to, they can carry on reading about medical advancements or not. They seem incapable of reading a couple of pages of NICE guidelines that is for sure.

I do think at some point doctors are going to get slammed for negligence for the way they handle peri/meno and how they prescribe for it.

I made the connection between symptom peaks and dips during my monthly cycle and then wondered if it could possibly be related to meno stuff. I stumbled across the Menopause Doctor website and read loads of reliable, current, medical information, including the NICE guidelines. And guess what, there are more than 2 symptoms and the medication has moved on in the last 30 years!!!  Yes I was able to read and understand the information without having a BSc degree, who knew

I decided to see Dr Newson to see what was going on and in 10 minutes got my diagnosis and a plan going forward.

I went back to my own doctors for my iron tablets prescription and they were arsey they I'd been to see Dr Newson without a referral!! It was all I could do to not tell them exactly what I thought! Who the hell do they think they are, God? I'm an educated, grown woman taking responsibility for my own health at my own expense. I should be able to get the same service from them for free, we pay their flipping wages!!!

FYI you can self refer if you ever want to pay for a private consultant of your choice about anything. You don't need to be in Bupa etc. Then you can go under their NHS care if you want to afterwards. That's what I did with my hysterectomy consultant but I'm now having the op on the NHS.

Please dont be put off by doctors, there are other ways to get good care. It is really important to get it right. It's your health that is the most important thing.

Sorry for the rant
X

[Turkish delight]

Sorry you had to go through that!

Some Docs have such a massive ego, it far surpasses their bedside manner.

It's your menopause and the treatment shoud be your choice.

See another GP if you can.

TD

[Ladybt28]

You're in good company Bobidy, that's the kind of rant I have with GP's in general oh and Consultants in hospitals (where my sisters and brothers-in-law seemed to have spent an inordinate amount of time).  You sound just like me...rant away.  Yes we are grown educated women...who can READ!  I often get the feeling that they think we shouldn't be allowed to.

Why shouldn't you know your body, this stuff and say so! x

[CLKD]

Years ago one could not get a referral to a Consultant, privately or otherwise, without a GP letter.  Because often patients simply aren't honest, or they forget past symptoms/operations/problems.  Yep.  Really.  As a Medical Secretary I saw a lot of it.  Patients wanted a 'cure' so conveniently forgot to tell the Consultant however, in the GP's referral letter ........ also it's good to keep the GP in the loop.

However.     I seethe with rage and frustration when I read here how ladies are not being listened to.  If this is the tip of the iceberg there must be 1,000s out there without support and therefore without hope  . 

"Guidelines are that: guidelines.  We don't have to take any notice".  Until the Government of the day make Guidelines compulsory, then NICE is simply a stealth Tax.

I need to go rinse out my mouth   

[Katymac]

She is a woman of my age so I expected better

Andshe directed me to patient.co.uk which seems to be at a level of 8 year olds and also it's mainly wrong

So I'd rather not change my GP but I need to do something
Refer to a meno clinic on he NHS? Private? Sit in a corner and rock?

[CLKD]

Do you have a Practice Nurse who might be more helpful?

Is there a Pharmacist in your area, they have private rooms these days - have a chat and see if there are surgeries that support menopause better than others?

[Katymac]

It wasn't even that they were guidelines it was that I couldn't be expected to understand the big world's and concepts as they were for doctors

[Bobidy]

Sorry, yes I should have said. If you do go private you can go to your gp for a referral letter and copies of blood test results etc. That's what I did for my private gynocologist appointment. Expect the Dr to have a strop. FYI I'd been messed about for 7 years by the NHS gyno team who had lost information, couldn't decipher each other's notes, didn't send me copies of letters etc and I'd had enough. I'm sure they aren't all like that,

For the meno stuff I knew I was going nowhere with the doctors after 18 months. I checked for a local NHS meno clinic and there wasn't one. So I decided if I was going to pay and go private it might as well be with one of the best, even though it is over 2 hours away. I'm not rich btw and not working at the mo. Dr Newson is very sympathetic with ladies about lack of gp knowhow with meno stuff and is doing lots to educate them. She thinks we shouldn't have to pay either and the service should be the same everywhere for free (although this may reduce her profit margin of course ).

A private consultant will always send you and your doctor a report so they know what is going on.

Do see if there is an NHS meno clinic first and just have private as a back up plan. You are paying for 30 mins of their time so go prepared with a list of symptoms, dates, blood test results, and questions to make the most of your appointment.

Once you have a plan you can always go back to your gp for free.

X

[Katymac]

Tbh I don't care where I go geographically and I'll pay if I have to

I feel so indignant at the way I was spoken to

Any recommendations for ipswich/suffolk - I suppose I can do Essex and London too - I mean it's not like I need time off work

But if I get a plan does the gp have to comply?

[Katymac]

And I have no blood test results as I have had no blood tests

[Tc]

Oh katymac. Was this appointment today.?
Sounds very familiar.
As you saw on my thread I had similar experience with consultant this week.

 I was also told topical treatments for VA aren't necessary on HRT.

Opposite to you though I was told I MUST only  take continuous progesterone.

And like you I was asked by a gp  "why on earth did they leave your womb,?
Radiologist asked me why I chose to keep my womb. I didn't.
I was offered 1 surgery only for my cyst  I wasnt given any options other than BSO. If I had been I would e chosen to keep the good ovary or if that wasnt possible I might have chosen to go for the hysterectomy as well if I'd been given all the facts and options.
Something I now feel very cheated and angry about. It was the same consultant who Ive now lost all faith in due to Monday's fiasco and it makes me wonder if her failure to see women as individuals with individual needs and able to make informed choices led to me having an unnecessary surgery or the wrong surgery for me. I cant think about her without wanting to punch a wall at the .moment.

same as you I'm now looking at alternatives . As I said on my thread I. Not going back to see that consultant. Ive got appointment with gp next week to ask to be referred elsewhere.
I will be reading your thread with interest to see how you get on.
I know how you feel. I 've been boiling mad for days after my appt. I'm sure its   the reason I've now come down with a horrible  virus.

[Katymac]

I asked to keep one ovary but they said it wasn't advised

I have a bladder prolapse and a rectocele - I have a pretty good idea what would have happened without my womb

[Tc]

Did they say why you couldn't keep one? I wish I knew why they took the healthy one out
Did your prolapse and rectocele happen after the BSO?