I am worried about contacting the doctors too often.

[SipTesa]

I got lucky enough to get a doctor surgery in a local small village even though I am outside the catchment area. I am worried about contacting the doctors too often and them no longer taking me as a patient, and ending up having to sign up with a new doctors surgery and the horror stories of not being able to contact them, having to spend half an hour on the phone every morning for the chance of getting a call back.


I want to talk to the doctors about multiple non-related problems that I have suffered for many years, such as my back pain, my memory, a reoccurring wrist pain, bouts of sudden extreme tiredness, just to name a few things.
They are well aware of my anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues, for which I am currently in the 2ndary care waiting list, but adding all of these other things could make me a nuisance to the surgery.

Any advice for me?

[NoraB]

Haven't you seen any other doctors with these symptoms?

[SipTesa]

No, only the bad back which I have had previous minor surgery on.

[Magic]

I thought anyone who wanted to see their local GP could do so now. Without a call back. If you cannot get to the surgery surely they could do a home visit.

[SipTesa]

No thats the opposite of what I want to do, I'm worried about being too much of a bother to the doctor's.

[Anglo]

I've worried about being "that guy" at the doctors. What I did was made a list of all the things I wanted to talk about, I booked an appointment and asked for an extended appointment since there are a few things I need to speak about, then I was open with the doctor and said "a few things have been bothering me but I didn't want to come to the doctors for each little thing but now that there's so much it's getting to me a bit so I made a list of what I want to ask you about" then I simply went through the list one-by-one.

Thankfully my doctor was understanding about it and I think framing it as not wanting to be a nuisance by visiting the doctor for multiple times for each little thing made it more understandable that I suddenly have a list of things I want to address in a longer appointment than a standard one.

How about you try that? Alternatively, could you try emailing your doctor and explaining the situation? Maybe mention there are a few things that have been bothering you for a while but you didn't want to see the doctor for individual niggling things but now there's quite a bit and you were wondering if you could come in and talk about it. Maybe even send your doctor the list via email. I don't even know if you can email the doctor in this country but it's something you could look into.

[pulisa]

I think it's a good idea to ask for a double appointment if this is possible? I understand about you not wanting to get tarred with a frequent attender tag and that you don't want your MH issues to influence how any physical problems are addressed.

You may find that the practice has the policy of offering one appointment for one issue only whether by telephone or face to face if you're lucky but it's worth asking about?