Re: Trusting your doc/gp
Bootles
You've asked a very good question, and I have to respond because I am in the same boat.
Over the years, I'd visited my GP a lot about various different symptoms. Each time I always worried that the GP was wrong, because let's face it: tabloids like the Daily Mail are full of horror stories of a GP dismissing a mole as benign, it turning out to be melanoma and the patient dying within a few months.
Anyway last year I decided to visit my GP about ongoing "men's issues" and an absent pulse on both feet. The latter is never a good finding. I saw the GP half expecting her to find the pulse and half expecting her to not find it, and refer me. Well, said GP confirmed there was no pulse there (the dorsalis pedis pulse) but said she wasn't worried because I'm not a current smoker or diabetic. (A gross amount of illogical thinking, considering I smoked heavily from 15 to 23)
Long story short, I decided "nah, they've never been wrong before, let's just trust them" - even though at only 25 I was having to rely on Sildenafil to get an erection (I'm not on any medication that could cause this, and the issue was present even when masturbating - a classic sign of "organic" erectile dysfunction).
I then saw a new God Send of a GP regarding some allergy tests I'd had done. She was going through my notes when she was horrified to see the notes relating to absent dorsalis pedis pulse + erectile dysfunction. She insisted I see a Cardiologist.
Today, I saw said Cardiologist. At first, he suspected a cholesterol problem, but he was able to access my GP notes on the system, and saw my cholesterol was only 2.1. So he ruled that out, and then said this is probably an autoimmune/vasculitis problem.
Most people know that "Doctors close ranks" - they'll never openly judge the practice of another doctor in front of patients. Today this cardiologist actually used the word "negligent" when referring to the initial GP who confirmed my absent pulses. That's quite a big step for consultant to make. He said to me that my symptoms were not normal for my age, and thus I'm being referred urgently to a vascular surgeon. (He did say that, despite my young age, 50% of cases are caused by plaque build up in the arteries regardless, but other rare causes such as Buerger's disease would need ruled out). I am also unfortunate to have a rich family history of circulatory disease on both sides.
So, needless to say, my trust in GPs is very poor. The consultant was truly astonished the GP hadn't referred this initially.
I've been saying so many prayers, being thankful that I'm finally being taken seriously and this is getting investigated.
The cardiologist also gave me this tip: He said that if you feel concerns are not being taken seriously by your GP, say to them you're having "serious quality of life issues". The consultant said (and I quote) "this makes the GPs go weak at the knees".
Good luck & I'm sorry my input isn't exactly positive!
Last edited by RadioGaGa; 22-08-19 at 23:00.
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Healthcare Professional with Health Anxiety
Worrying about Brain Tumours since 2012!