How long for urgent referral?

[Mindstorm]

I saw a GP on Monday and was told that she would change my gynae referral to urgent given my ongoing pain and discomfort, they are also writing to colo-rectal to request I am re-seen urgently rather than waiting until June. I was originally given a date of April 29th, begging at the gynae secretary saw this moved forward to April 14th. The surgery have just rung me and said I have an urgent gynae on April 29th, when I questioned this they were vague and said that was the soonest they have access to.

Any ideas on how long the wait for an urgent appointment should be? I am going to call gynae and talk tot hem about now having an urgent referral and see what they will do.

[Mindstorm]

In all honesty they are pretty clueless about what the issue is; endo was just suggested by an really thorough A&E Dr who said the way I reacted to pain meds (i.e. they didn't work well) suggested it was a gynae not bowel problem. I have ongoing left side abdo pain with some massive flare ups (4 A&E visits since November when this all started). Each flare up I get is getting worse and taking longer to taper down to a low level everyday ache. Was initially a few days, this time it has been a couple of weeks.

Colo-rectal are involved as when I first went to A&E they said they thought my bowel had switched off or I was constipated (I dispute this but now take macrogol every other day). I also had similar issues a couple of years ago and a lap was done to see if I had endo but they just found adhesions on my bowel which had pulled it out of line. I have had the results of a Barium enema which say nothing unusual. They don't want to see me until June. Luckily I got the GP to write a letter to say I need to be re-seen urgently as my life is severely affected by the pain. I will ring to chase this next week.

I spoke to gynae and they said as I had an appointment already they need the same letter as colo-rectal to look at moving my appointment forward - apparently only they can do this from their end a GP surgery can just book regular appointments. I have, however got an ultrasound for the end of this month but at Walsall hospital not New Cross. I have no idea what that is all about or who it is for but I am saying nothing - the more things they have on file the better I am hoping!

When I was told the BE was normal it just about broke me. I was so hoping for something so they could start treating me so I can get some power over this thing. Rest assured if I get an endo diagnosis I will fight tooth and nail for specialist treatment. I did try contacting the Birmingham Endo Centre from your post to ask a few questions but never got a response.

[Mindstorm]

Thanks. I don't have a name just an appointment time as it was all done by phone. It's someone at New Cross, Wolverhampton. The lap I first had was by J Pepper at Walsall Manor. He is listed on local private hospital websites as their endometriosis go to guy. I saw a Consultant from his clinic who suggested endo and said I needed the lap so I only saw Dr Pepper for a quick chat before the lap and afterwards when he told me what he had done. He did fit a Mirena at the time which he talked me into against my better judgement. I had it removed after 6 weeks of spotting and breakthrough bleeding which was unbearable.

I emailed the Brum centre to see if they took NHS referrals and what the wait time was and if not what was the cost for a private consultation. Simple enough I had hoped to get a response.

Symptoms wise I am a hayfever sufferer, I have been on the pill for the best part of the last 20 years but when I came off it in 2011-2012 I did not have heavy periods but had some pain. When I am on my 7 day pill free it takes 6 days before I get a bleed and I have noticed that this is getting heavier and have had some clots. I also seem to finish only to get some fresh blood the next day. Pain is worse on my pill free week; am in need of new pills next week so have an appointment to get those as I am not allowed Dianette for any longer so will be discussing my options for something suitable for someone who may have endo and I am planning to not have the 7 day breaks.