Doctors Saving Money And Guessing

[annieigma]

Hello,
My 22 year old granddaughter has been feeling extremely tired for several months, She has two children and no known problems prior to this. she has been to the doctor several times, had blood tests for aenemia, diabetis etc. and all were clear. there is coeliac problems in the family, and on friday she went back to the doctor to return the tablets he prescribed, which were for depression, and the info inside said they had side effects of an increase of suicide in people aged between 20 and 25 ( how do these get into the public domain? and why did the doctor prescribe them if He thought she was depressed?????) She returned them and told him she was definetly not depressed, asked if she could be tested for coeliac, and was told she had had enough tests and people have to sometimes learn to live with problems.
She is a young mother with two children, she needs to be feeling well and awake, not tired and run down. she has no financial or marital problems and is very outgoing, and enjoys life, but gets tired very quickly.
I find the doctors response unethical, and cannot understand any doctor saying you should learn to live with a problem, because they don't know whats wrong.

Sorry if i am ranting on, but she also looks pale and ill, and appears to be losing weight. this is not something that she can learn to live with. Anyone else had similar symptoms or suggest the next line of attack?
thanks,
annie.

[rockyracoon]

I'd change my doc if that was his attitude, in the meantime she could eliminate gluten from her diet and see if she feels better, if she does, she'll have some ammo to take in for her next appointment.

[Jeza]

Nothing similar at all, but my doc once told me 'We all have our cross to bare' I changed him as your G/Daughter should.

[annieigma]

Thanks jezza and rocky,
thats exactly her opinion, get a new doctor, and hope to find one that cares, possibly a young doctor, keen etc.

[FrogNog]

Ask him for the test and failing that, a second opinion.

[Cloverjo]

Could be Chronic Fatigue. My son has had similar problems, and similar attitude from some (not all ) doctors. Unfortunately they only diagnose Chronic Fatigue when everything else has been ruled out.
There is a centre that specialises in helping people manage CF near us. Is there one near your granddaughter? She would probably need a referral from the GP, though. I hope she finds a solution.

[bednobs]

hiya, in the meantime your granddaughter can test herself for coeliac disease by following an exclusion diet and seeing if it makes a difference

[Prudie]

I understand how worrying and frustrating this must be but her symptoms could be depression, it often has nothing to with how financially or family secure you are. Presumably he prescribed them as he thought this might be the cause. Did she not take them because of the info? I've not taken them myself but thought that potential suicidal thoughts were listed on lots of antidepressants? Don't you think it's worth a try if she's carefully monitored?

[Fusion5]

Hope they tested her thyroid.

This seems to be the attitude by Gps. If can't find the answer, whack the patienT on the happy pills. Makes me so mad.

[ummmm]

And remember that they list all side effects no matter how small.

[Canary42]

Get another GP or a second opinion. At about her age my doctor told me I worried too much about my health - I replied "Well somebody has too, and it's obviously not you".

[Mamyalynne]

If her close family have Coeliac, I am surprised and saddened the Doctor did not do the test if only to rule that out.

As regards ' how do these get into the public domain?',there are a class of Anti Depressants that have the rare side effect mentioned,( they are perfectly legal) however strange he prescribed them at all without telling her why he felt she needed them.


She should seek a second opinion from another Doctor withing the practice or failing that change surgeries.


Chronic Fatigue as mentioned above is a distinct possibility.

[Caran]

40ish years ago I moved house and changed to a new doctor. I asked for a prescription for the pill. He said he couldn't prescribe it for me as HE was a Roman Catholic. He quoted the Popes encyclical at me.
I changed doctors smartish after that.

[Daffy6543]

The side effect of suicidal thoughts is an extremely rare one, they have to put it on the list as they risk being sued if they don't. When you think of the amount of people who take antidepressants and the amount of those who commit suicide you will understand how small the risk actually is. Antidepressants can also be prescribed for certain conditions that have nothing whatsoever to do with depression. I was offered them (and antiepileptics) for nerve pain.

[ummmm]

And my nan was given them to increase her appetite.

[squidgirl]

she is entitiled to a print out of her blood results-she may need to pay a fiver or so. take the results to a different GP or research the results online, sometimes boderline results can make you feel tired although to a GP they are nothing. Having this print out you can look to see if he has carried out enough tests and what the results are. Often vitamin deficiencies can cause severe fatigue yet these are not screened by GP's. A lack in vit D, B12, B6 ect can cause extreme fatigue and feelings of being unwell as can a lack of minerals. Is she getting enough sleep? is her sleep disturbed? is she eating well? is she suffering from stress? sometimes lifestyle changes can really make a difference. I would reccomend a B Complex supplement for energy, or pharmaton which contains ginseng or boots A-Z. You can also get vitamins called Forceval prescribed by her GP. His attitude stinks and a coeliac test should have been carried out-although i must point out they are not always accurate. Take a gluten free vit supplement and eliminate gluten completely for a month see what happens

[Hypognosis]

Pursue the coeliac disease route first, dince you have family history of it. Did the GP write that into your notes?

Rather than completely ditching the GP you otherwise trust, find out if your surgery has an "any doctor" policy. Try before you buy, so to speak.

Chronic Fatigue is an umbrella term for one of a series of (mostly) auto-immune disorders. My staff welfare officer got me to ask my GP to refer me to the Louise Coote Centre, St. Thomas' Hospital, Southwark. It took three GP visits to persuade my GP who, I suspect, had me down as a hypochondriac, to give me a referral to see their specialists. I got a diagnosis but you gave to go back every 12 months to report progress with the prescribed medicine. I only revisited once before the rail fare to London became unaffordable (I was too tired to travel, in any event).

Anyway, the hazard with horrible conditions like this is that, if the GP sees you more than about three times in any given year, they start guving you short shrift, like you are some kind of shirker. Mine wouldn't even allow me to get my lower back x-rayed. Thanks to fakers, I've had to put up with chronic pain for 20-odd years.

GPs prescribing anti-depressants is a new concept to me. Not so long ago you had to be referred to a psychiatrist first.

Suicidality warning: possibly rooted in cases whereby patients were too physically tired to get out of the house. Given prozac, they're restored to full mobility but they then use that to jump off a bridge, as if they've planned that for months. Truth is that it triggers all kinds of impulsive behaviour. I asked for it, once but was declined (same GP as above!)

They run campaigns trying to get men to report symptoms to GP sooner but, with uncooperative docs like mine was, is it any wonder we stop bothering?