What's the use

[natalie yog]

So after 7 weeks I'm still getting the head and eye pains that come and go during the day. It's so hard to unread all that crap I've googled about brain aneurysms and unruptured aneurysms especially when people's medical stories basically tell you you're screwed. I'm just so annoyed with myself I had a great day last week then it comes back. It's literally the first thing I think of in the morning and the last thing at night. Now my cbt waiting list has been extended to 30 weeks so that's friggin great too.
Sorry about the rant but I'm at my wits end.

[Blonde123]

Aw Natalie.
I thought since you'd not posted in a few days relating to this, that you'd felt better. As you know I'm exactly the same, except my head pains have gone (well for 2 days) but now I feel my eyes are hurting me. It's like they're straining. No floaters, blurred or double vision, just like they're about the pop out my head! Is this how you feel?

[natalie yog]

Yes. My head pains are sudden and dull (some are sharp) seem to last for a couple of seconds every hour every day and it's the same with the eye pain. I seem to notice floaters more too it's very annoying. I've had my eyes tested and been to the Dr and no one seems worried but me.

[Fishmanpa]

What if, in the meantime while you're waiting for your CBT, you took the initiative and downloaded a CBT program or worked on-line on one? There are many free available that include workbooks designed to help you cope better. There used to be one here but I don't see it anymore. I personally used it and found it quite helpful. In fact, some of the techniques I use almost daily in common everyday stress situations and they work great!

Positive thoughts

[mark84]

Fishmanpa's suggestion is a good one, the CBT you can get online isn't far behind what you'll get anyway.
Have you asked about medication?

[natalie yog]

I'm on Propranolol 40mg three a day. Fishmanpa I'll definitely look up downloading cbt sessions thanks for the suggestion.

[GoWhiteSox]

natalie- if you want to get a head start on cbt pick up the book feeling good by dr. David burns this book is the basis for the cbt method of therapy and it alone has helped lots of people..im not familiar with uk health system but is there a way you could see a neurologist soon? That may help..dont give up..

---------- Post added at 17:36 ---------- Previous post was at 17:34 ----------

also look into massage therapy..i am convinced that there is a connection between chronic neck and shoulder tension and head pain

[Blonde123]

Big hugs Natalie. Give it time, at least you've been checked out. Maybe try some distractions - works for me, my house is spic and span haha!

[MyNameIsTerry]

Natalie,

You are entitled to choose your provider in England as of late last year. Is there a possibility of choosing another close service with a quicker access time?

[natalie yog]

Thanks Blonde123 I'm going to try and do some things to distract me.
Hi Terry I've gone to The Swan Centre in my home town that isn't supported by the NHS but helps women who are going through a hard time. They do counselling and different therapies and there wait list is 4 weeks plus they give 12 counselling sessions. If I waited for the other one they give 6 sessions then you go back on the list.

[MyNameIsTerry]

With the NHS now, your GP refers you to a service for assessment but you are still entitled to select the NHS provider in England. So, for me I have 2 in my city and I could choose one at the other end of the city and travel a bit more. I was just wondering whether you have a similiar option because I don't think the NHS have done a good job in broadcasting this change.

[natalie yog]

NO the dr gave me a leaflet with the details on and that's were I found the phone number for the nhs cbt.

[Blonde123]

So after 4 days of no head pains I've had an afternoon of them. Irritating shooting things which come and go. Starting to get me down now. How's everyone else getting on?

[natalie yog]

Still the same :( Sorry yours have come back. I'm seeing my own Dr tomorrow who has finally come back from holiday. I'm just going to tell him all my worries and whatever he decides I'm going to trust his judgment and try and get on with things. So fingers crossed. I keep getting messages off people telling me to get all kinds of scans. I'm not sure how I'd feel asking for one. My cousin had a scan (won't say where) to give herself piece of mind only to find out she didn't have the thing she thought she had but had something that they can't operate on at all until something happens. So now she said it was the worst decision of her life because now she feels like she has a ticking time bomb in her waiting to go off.

[MyNameIsTerry]

NO the dr gave me a leaflet with the details on and that's were I found the phone number for the nhs cbt.

Have you self referred then?

If you Google your area with CBT services, anxiety self help, etc or look on your local NHS or council website, it will tell you which providers you have in your area. Then you can choose under the new guidelines if you are in England. I think NHS Choices has a search function on it too.

GP's should be giving people a choice of providers or telling them their rights thesedays but it doesn't seem to be happening from the threads on here.

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=169814

[Blonde123]

Let me know how you get on Natalie. So many of us seem to experience the same thing. In a small way this makes me feel better as we can't all be seriously ill. I'm gutted mine came back, I've now woken up thinking right will they start again today. It's awful �� I think they started again because I had to go on a training session on the dreaded C disease. I wasn't looking forward to it and immediately felt uncomfortable and that's when the twinges started. My eyes are fine now so I'm not sure what that was about? Let us know how you get on at the Drs xx

[natalie yog]

I will my headache is more left sided this morning and has been going around my left eye too. It drives me nuts.

[Fishmanpa]

Have you found one of the free on-line CBT resources yet?

Positive thoughts

[natalie yog]

Yes I've been searching but a lot if people on here say it's not as good as doing it face to face.

[Fishmanpa]

Yes I've been searching but a lot if people on here say it's not as good as doing it face to face.

Well... you can take that at face value and do nothing or give it a shot and do something. "Not as good as face to face" is still WAY better than nothing at all!

It comes down to the inner fortitude to take action and help yourself. No one here can really do that for you. There's a saying about aiming for the stars... you may not hit one but it's a heck of a lot better than shooting at the ground.

Positive thoughts

[ricardo]

Natalie

Sorry to jump into your thread but can I ask why are you waiting for a CBT course if your main concern is head and eye pain.

I ask as my own daughter has had these symptoms or worse for 7 years,seen numerous specialists and now we think we know what is actually wrong with her.

Symptoms of head and eye pain could be caused by a multitude of things.Our own doctor initially said my daughter's symptoms were anxiety.

Do you have a Moorfields Eye Department in any of the hospitals near you, as they would have far greater knowledge than a G.P.

[natalie yog]

I've been suffering from anxiety/depression/health anxiety for years and have been diagnosed by my dr. I've been through self harming, attempted suicide and other things since I was younger. It's just that this year my health anxiety has affected me more than usual and that's why the dr directed me to get cbt to get to the bottom of what started my anxiety.

[ricardo]

I've been suffering from anxiety/depression/health anxiety for years and have been diagnosed by my dr. I've been through self harming, attempted suicide and other things since I was younger. It's just that this year my health anxiety has affected me more than usual and that's why the dr directed me to get cbt to get to the bottom of what started my anxiety.

I am sorry Natalie, I didn't know the full picture. I hope you get the right help ASAP xx

[natalie yog]

It's ok nothing to aplogise about.

[Blonde123]

How did you get on with your Dr?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yes I've been searching but a lot if people on here say it's not as good as doing it face to face.

The NHS & NICE have stated that based on reviewed studies they have accepted evidence that CCBT is as effective as CBT face-to-face as long as there is remote therapist support. So, if you look for one, look for that element.

It's not going to be for everyone, some people will need face-to-face and doing CCBT means motivating yourself more as you don't have the appointments to force you there, but ultimately CBT is all about the person and them working very very hard.

Face-to-face CBT also seems to bring about some issues of it's own such as watered down CBT but if you look at CCBT packages such as CBT4PANIC (one example I have read about on their site) they do use full CBT i.e. they incorporate Cognitive Restructuring which is a very importanr element that never got a mention in my 12 sessions! :doh:

[ricardo]

CBT is hard work but more importantly one needs to feel comfortable all the time with the therapist as one is opening up intimate details to a complete stranger. if you don't gel with the person, stop it and ask to see someone else.

[natalie yog]

My mums actually went in with me to see the Dr and was disappointed with the treatment I got. I was there for 5 mins told him about my headaches and eye pains he prescribed me carbamazepine which I found out from a pharmacist couldn't be taken with my other tablets because it could make me seriously ill. I asked him about a referral and he said couldn't remember giving me a leaflet and just gave me another one circling the number.
To topit all off I told him my worst fear was having an aneurysm and he said it could be one and see him in two weeks if the pains get worse. My mums (who is a nurse) told me I should transfer to another dr since every patient only got seen for 5 mins each before me and I didn't see the Dr until 2 hrs after my appointment time. He didn't remember that HE prescribed me tablets.
We talked to the receptionist and she said I was the 5th person to ask for a transfer since last month. So I can't say my mind has been put at ease at all and was disgusted that a dr who thought I could have a unruptured aneurysm let me walk out of his surgery without any tests.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I've seen that happen at my surgery about prescribing meds they shouldn't. On several occasions the pharmacist in the chemists across the road has come out and refused to issue them and told the person to go straight back and tell them it's not possible. It's pretty worrying but it's excellent to see that pharmacists make checks against our scripts if our GP's can't be bothered.

At my surgery, all you get is 5 mins at AM appointments. My GP has also told me to book PM's as they are double slots...at a whacking 10 mins! But waiting 2 hours for your appointment is bad. I used to wait up to an hour 2 years ago but back them the appointments went on for as long as needed as opposed to the conveyor belt we seem to be on thesedays.

It sounds like he hasn't done a very good job in reassuring someone with HA about the potential of something against the more likely common problems that he probably expects it could be. I think sometimes this is because they have so little time so are just rushing us out of the door and maybe they just dont think how their worrds could affect us...but then many GP's have no understanding of mental health issues. For a GP to not refer you and just throw leaflets at patients smacks of a sloppy practice because they do this in other regions BUT the services also state a GP can refer you themselves which means they will be getting contact from those services. A GP practice found itself in the national newspapers last year and the NHS stepped in because they were pushing their patients off to ring a number for mental health issues. It's like some practices are trying to wash their hands of those patients.

[natalie yog]

Thanks Terry. The strange thing is I've only seen this dr 4 times in 3 months and I haven't been to see any dr in over 10 years so it's not like I've been bothering them every week. So I'm definitely going to go to another practice that my granddad goes to and has had no complaints.
The other thing was the Dr said don't worry I'm not experimenting on you the pharmacist was surprised that I've been put on so many tablets so quickly. Also to take my blood pressure he couldn't roll my sleeve all the way up and just said "Oh this will do". So he did it over a rumpled sleeve.

[MyNameIsTerry]

:doh: They are not supposed to do it over a sleeve and you will find that noted in best practice on the medical websites. I know it happens but it can influence the results and it's advised against and even clinical research studies have been conducted to prove it is not advisable. So, he sounds like a crap GP. It's an old fashioned practice I think but it could still be ok so unless he saw something of note, it could be fine.

It's good that you have another practice to go to with a good reputation, it's not easy otherwise as you can end up with another the same or even worse. I'm loathed to change mine because there are so many "one man bandits" around and my GF has to wait a minimum of 3 weeks to see hers because of that. At least mine has about 10 GP's and they operate a daily walk-in service in the first few hours of the day to get around the delays.

Given you have HA, I think you must be doing really well to have visited so few times.

[Blonde123]

That's shocking Natalie. I work with Gps and the national recommendation is 10 mins per consultation so why they're doing 5 is beyond me. That's a rush job at best! No Dr worth his career would let a patient who he genuinely thought had a life threatening illness walk out the doors without sending them to A&E or similar. Don't be worried or upset, be angry and find a new GP who will listen. Big hugs xx

[natalie yog]

Thanks. It felt like a real let down especially when you're basically putting your life in this person's hands.