Feeling so ill and sick of my GP practice

Digestive health
1

Hi all, Convinced i have gallbladder problems doctor wont listen!!!

Just joined today and looking for help please.I've not felt well since October infact i've felt very unwell my symptoms started after being out all day on my motorbike, that night when going to bed i put my head on the pillow and got a horible cramping feeling in my neck and thought i'd strained something riding my motorbike. A couple of days later i woke up with a terrible burning pain in my upper back which i left for a couple of weeks before going to my gp, i decided to go as i still had this pain and was feeling very off. My gp ran loads of blood tests and everything was normal apart from my liver lft's were 55 normal range up to 50. He wasn't to worried though as it was 55 five years previously and i'm a little overweight. After another couple of weeks everything went away.

I then started with a continuos pain in my right side in January that has never gone away. In March one evening while watching telly i got a horrible burning sensation just slightly above and to the right of my belly button for about 10mins. A couple of nights later i got a severe pain in my chest and a couple of days after that i woke up with a severe burning that went right across my upper back. Ever since then my upper back pain has been continuous particulary in my left shoulder blade it's that bad it's like someone pushing their thumb into my back. Since March i've also felt nauseous and lightheaded. I feel particulary nauseous after a bowel movement and break out in a cold sweat. I'm also getting a ballooning feeling in my right side, and constant gurling in throat.

So symptoms

Pain in right side continuos since January.

Upper back pain continuos since March.

Nausea continuos since March.

Nausea and cold seats after bowel movement continuos since March.

Lightheadedness continuos since March.

Gurgling in throat continuos since March.

I've been to my gp probably 10 times since March and said i'm really feeling very unwell and had to ask for every single test i've had so far and suggested everything to him when he's the doctor. I asked for an ultrasound right from the off in March and didn't get referred for six weeks. No blood tests offered until i asked. Gvien Omeprazole and Cyclizine.I asked to try an IBS med but made no difference.

Test results from ultrasound of gallbladder, bile ducts, pancreas and kidneys normal and all blood tests normal.

I went back to my gp Monday and even had to ask for referral to the hospital because i know ultrasounds are not 100% reliable and my gp said i will referr for you pice of mind but i dont think it's your gallbladder, oh yeah well what is it then doc. I even asked for a chest x ray and at my local hospital you can get that immediately if you go with a form from your gp but no he's done a refferal for that.

Things i've done is only eaten tuna in spring water, healthy living soups, veg, salad, and fat free yoghurts since March and it's made absolutely no difference to my symptoms. I've lost 3 1/2 stone in these 3 months.

Sorry for the massively long post but i've never felt so ill and i'm worried,scared and frustrated.

2

Hi! You should ask for a HIDA scan( it will tell the % that your Gallbladder is functioning ) my abdominal ultrasound was also clear ( no stones) but the HIDA scan was abnormal , good luck to you! I really hope you can find what is wrong with you👍🙏

3

Try to get a referral to a gastroenterologist...I think you might be wasting your time with the gp. Gallstones don't always show up on ultrasounds.  Best of luck to you.  

4

Hi Thanks for replying, i'm guessing my gp referring me to the hospital will be to see a gastroenterologist. My concern is the waiting times and then more waiting times for tests the gastroenterologist might request. Everything i've read states ultrasounds aren't 100% definitive but the sonographer and my gp were adamant everything was totally clear including sludge.

5

Thanks hopefully i will have one offered. Did you have your gallbladder removed? What was your %

6

No matter what they told you, ultrasounds don't pick up sludge.  I was told I had a few inconsequential gallstones, but when my gallbladder was removed, it was filled with small stones and sludge. 

I understand that you're worried about time, etc.  but you do need to find out exactly what's going on...

7

Hi, iI agree i told my gp an ultrasound is 100% accurate. Luckily this is all going on whilst i'm taking a break from work as i couldn't work whilst feeling this ill. I'm so frustrated with my doctors lack of urgency as i've had the side pain since January and all the other symptoms since March all none stop.

8

I completely understand.  I was ill for over a year, not too much pain, but diarrhea and nausea.  I lost 30 pounds.  I had my gallbladder removed in 2009.  I had to exaggerate my pain to get it removed. Unfortunately, I have bile salt malabsorption, which wasn't cured by removing my gallbladder. But, I'm on medication for that.

Your doctor's lack of urgency reveals to me a lack of medical knowledge and empathy. Your gallbladder's not going to get better. And, as it worsens, it impacts your other organs, liver, pancreas, intestines.  However, while you're waiting try to eat low fat, frequent small meals, if you can.     

9

It doesn't sound like any of the symptoms I had. My attacks were sporadic so I'd go a couple of weeks without one then have two in the space of a week. No continuous pain or nausea like you have. Maybe a stomach or duodenal ulcer? I can't identify with neck pain at all and the back pain was a horrible aching feeling. I also felt like my stomach would burst during attacks.

I ate a low fat diet which helped and I'm on 40mg Omeprazole following surgery. BRATs diet may help: bananas, rice, apple sauce, tea and toast. This is used in some hospitals but obviously is not for long term use.

Sorry I can't be more help. Ask GP for second opinion??

10

Sorry to read about your bile problems.

This is the thing since March i've not had a meal with anymore than 3% fat and still have these nagging constant pains and symptoms. I'm just eating one meal a day so i'm going nearly 24hrs without food and the pain never changes.

I'm not one to complain but when i get a to the bottom of it i will be changing my doctors practice and complaing to the authorities.

I was saying to my partner lastnight that in all the times i've been to the doctors since March not once have they taken my blood pressure, oxygen levels, temperature, listened to my chest all the basic stuff. They've not even asked for a urine or stool sample which surely is pretty basic stuff for someone with stomach pains and other issues.

My brother had stomach pains 3 1/2 years ago went to his doctor in November all the tests done straight away confirmed gallbladder and gallbladder gone by January.

Now i'm not worried about cancer but with the lack of urgency when i'm complaining of feeling very unwell how do they know and in over three months of this i'm still in the dark.

11

From what you describe it does appear that the practice is negligent. Is there any way you can go to another practice?

12

Hi Thanks for the reply. My gp put me on omeprazole in March and they have done nothing. He did maybe suspect an ulcer as i herniated a lumbar disc and had been taking prescription antinflams for it.

My doctor last Monday eventually said would you like a referral to the hospital, i had to really bite my tongue as he should be telling not asking. He also went on to say i don't think it's your gallbladder but i will refer you for your piece of my mind. I really felt like saying so you think i'm making it all up!

13

Hi, Yes i will be changing gp practices to my partner and little boys one as soon as possible. I will stay put at the mo as my gp has refferd me to the hospital.

14

Another thing if anybody could help is the more i do the pain gets worse, sitting makes it worse and i get a little relief if i stand or lay on my left side totally stretched out.

Thanks

15

I hope that you get some help soon!  Please do let us know how you get on!

16

I was refused 'emergency' appointments at my GPs three times when I was having painful attacks and told to attend an urgent care centre where you sit among people who have appointments. You're there for at least two hours, waiting for a gap in the appointments, whilst feeling sick and not knowing where to put yourself for the pain before you even see a doctor.

My GP retired and now his surgery seems to be staffed by locums, so you see someone different every time and don't get the chance to build up any sort of relationship. It really is dire.

I had open cholecystectomy in February and a liver resection in March as they found cancer. Went to my GP on Friday for first time since March and she couldn't have been less interested. She claimed not to know anything about gallbladder issues??? I suspect I know more than she did about the gallbladder. I had to repeat myself several times as she didn't seem to grasp my medical history, even though it was on the screen in front of her and I came out wondering why I bothered to go in the first place. She didn't examine me, just took my blood pressure.

I feel like you get thrown out of hospital asap because they're short of beds and there's no back up. GPs are rubbish. I could type in symptoms to a computer and read a diagnosis to the patient then prescribe what is written on the screen. I hear they are training doctors assistants now with less than two years training. God help us all!

17

Thats terrible treatment, Gp's make me sick they get paid vast sums of money and do nothing but moan. I can understand it must be a frustrating job when people turn up with every cough ache and fart they have but honestly how can they earn £100000+ and paramedics £22000+ is beyond me!

Glad you got sorted but if your gp had been on the ball your gallbladder woulld have been sorted and your liver cancer spoted earlier.

How long did you have your symptoms before you got diagnosed? What tests did you have? Was it gallstones or gallbladder not working properly?

Thanks

18

I had a growing lack of appetite from the spring of 2016. I was also feeling tired. I'd visited GP complaining of that the previous year. I was diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency. I took a course of vitamin D for six weeks and I did feel a bit better. Interestingly the liver processes vitamin D.

I also had a routine check up and found my cholesterol levels had gone up significantly despite no change in diet (I'd always eaten fairly healthily and was even a vegetarian for a number of years). I think the GP thought I'd been scoffing pies as she clearly didn't believe I'd not made changes to my diet. She told me to make healthy changes to what I was eating with a further cholesterol test in six months. My gallstones turned out to be cholesterol stones.

In July I developed pain which was mainly central then. The pain lasted four days. I had a bout of feeling shivery as if I had flu. Couldn't get a GP appointment so ended up at UCC. The doctor there thought I had kidney stones as there was also, coincidentally, blood in my urine sample. Went home with painkillers and antibiotics, which seemed to do the trick for a while.

During August, I had a few more attacks. They weren't as bad as that first one and didn't last as long. I had some diarrhoea but thought I'd just eaten something that disagreed. I did wonder if I had an ulcer as my mother had had a duodenal ulcer.

Then in September, I had a really bad attack, which also lasted four days. I couldn't sleep or eat for the pain. I had nausea but wasn't sick. I went to UCC again (no GP appointment available again). The doctor diagnosed gallstones and I was referred to triage. I was given painkillers and the pain subsided so I was sent home with instructions to attend for ultrasound next day. Ultrasound showed gallstones. They said they'd get in touch.

Exactly a week later I had another bad attack. I was shivering again and finally I fainted with the pain. This time I got a GP appointment and he referred me to triage again. I was badly jaundiced and spent a week in hospital. I was catheterised, on oxygen and IV fluids and antibiotics. During my stay I had an MRI scan and an ERCP to insert a stent to keep bile flowing into my bile duct.

I returned early in November for a second ERCP to have stent replaced. Both ERCPs failed to remove the larger stones. I went home and expected an appointment to come through.

A week before Christmas I had a five hour long attack. Again there was no GP appointment but the practice nurse referred me to hospital. The pain was central and upper right quarter, also pain in right shoulder. Found out then that

I wasn't even on the waiting list so I signed up to have any HB surgeon perform my op. I also said I could be available at short notice. I was desperate by then.

Mid January I got a call asking me to attend for a pre op assessment next day with laparoscopic surgery within ten days (a Saturday as they'd had to schedule more surgeries due to increasing numbers of patients with gallstones).

The following Saturday I duly turned up, nil by mouth, to be told there was no point removing my gallbladder by keyhole surgery as I had numerous large stone in my bile duct. However they found me a bed and I had open surgery that day. I was in for a week, then discharged.

I was home a week when my temperature started to spiral.

We rang the GP. No GP was available! He was off sick.

We rang the hospital. As it had been a week since discharge, I could not be readmitted.

We resorted to 111 service. They made an appointment at a UCC for me.

We were just setting off when the hospital rang and said to come in after all. I should have realised something was wrong then.

I was put on fluids and IV antibiotics again and was supposed to stay in for five days until the antibiotic was finished.

Next day I was told histology had found a T1 N0 M0 tumour in my gallbladder. This means the tumour was in the wall of my gallbladder. They remove lymph nodes close to the gallbladder as a matter of course during surgery. Histology said the growth hadn't spread to them and they could find no metastasis. I had a full CT scan to check for visible metastasises elsewhere, but there didn't appear to be any. They sent me home after three days.

I was discussed on the Monday at the Multi Disciplinary Team. On Tuesday I got a letter with an appointment for Wednesday.

Five weeks after my gallbladder surgery, I had liver resection through the same incision.

I was in hospital for a week then discharged.

It good to be without the pain, though my rh side is still tender and I get very tired. But I'm up and about caring for my four year old grandson and doing a bit round the house again. I feel better than I have in years.

19

I should point out that gallbladder cancer is extremely rare. I would not wish to frighten anyone. I'm so lucky they found it when they did as most aren't found until they're inoperable. I will have six monthly checkups for two years followed by three years of annual checkups.

20

Wow you really have been through it. I'm so glad it all worked out for you and your on the mend.

What worries me is my constant symptoms and having to wait for a consultation at the hospital and then having to wait for whatever tests they want to do after the consultation. This is going to talk months. I'm already missing out on things with my 4 year old as i don't feel well enough to do things.

I suffer from bad anxiety and this is causing havoc!