with the overwhelming knowledge we have to gather to understand and the negative and/or uninformed medical views on our condition it is easy to see why we become frustrated wrecks, however this weekend i read lyndsey articles on how to become an expert patient and found it so informative.
yesterday i was having a bad day and although this is not really the time to speak with others, i couldn;t help asking if i could speak with the pharmacy at my chemist. we went through my medications and my concerns and checked to see if any of them could be causing some of the symptoms or were clashing. she was such a lovely lady, she had lots of advice to offer and reassurance especially, none of my medication were clashing. she also confirmed she did not agree with long term use of opioids, but reassured me using them on occassion was not determental. She also recommended i spread meds out further throughout the day, even those prescribed for the morning as most have side effects possible fatigue and as i suffering worsting fatigue this may well help. we also talked about immune building foods etc. it was a lovely experience. she was genuinely interested. she even asked me to come back in two weeks to discuss progress. today i am going to my gp and hope to have the same positive experience. for she is a nice person, but has not been offering me a range of health services, just wanted to say thank you lyndsey. <3
hi what a lovely positive experince and blog that was , i got to get my med sregularly and my pharmacy have now got alittle room on the side in case you would like to speakm to the pharmacist about anything in private which is lovely thay are very well informed and often as well informed or more i some cases than some gp's mine are all lovely who work there they always greet me by my 1st name ( prob as i am known behind my back as the carrier bag patient lol as i have so much medication to collect every month ha ha
nice as well that she has asked you to update her in 2 weeks time it really makes you feel positive too when you get that sort of response from people
i hope that all the advice she gave you works and you feel alot better and i hope that you have a good appointment with your GP and that they back the pharmacist
love to you diddle x
Hi there......when I was working (in a doctor's surgery) I regularly picked the brain of our local pharmacist who had a wealth of information and consequently often referred patients to speak to him for any help they needed. Pharmacists often have the time to explain about medications when perhaps the patient doesn't like to ask the GP or have the time on an appointment.
On an occasion the pharmacist could see an alternative medication could be better than one prescribed and have a word with the GP. Probably a lot more people could benefit with having a chat with their pharmacist and forget that they are in integral part of the whole process. Go see him/her if you need to instead of waiting ages to see your GP if it's something the pharmacist can help with.
sometimes people forget how useful it is to talk to a pharmacist. they tend to know more about the drugs than doctors and give a different view on things. mine likes to have a chat every 6 months for a review.
Glad you had such a positive experience, its lovely when someone takes the time to explain things and be interested in what is bothering you. Take care, love Angela xx
OMG i was not successful with my GP, feeling upset now. i look exhausted and obviously in pain.
after explaining how i was feeling, the sores in mouth, my heads and fatigue she seemed to switch off. i feel like she is treating me as a blanket diagnosis and not
1. tried so hard with my gp being positive speaking as a team. mentioned fibro action and their recognition under the red kite standards. how fibromyalgia requires a multi discipline treatment team. then asked for referrals to 1.an incontinence clinic? she said there is no such dedicated clinic but gave me a chart to measure input and output of urine.
2. i said about the daily pain and could i have referral to guys clinic, she said she was too busy at moment but will look this up and get back to me.
3. i said about the increased fatigue and increased number of infections suffered this year and recent low folic acid in bloods, whether i could go to the Royal london hospital immunology clinic. as some of the side effects of vaccines could be systemic lupus and a number of other diseases, gp said there was no such department but 9 vaccines in one day could have created something known as the gulf war syndrome. however no one is clear on causes behind this. ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh
4. then i say could i get some pain relief from one of the homopathic hospitals. she just went quiet then said, we don;t offer that service on nhs.
i ask her what she thought was the difference between fibromyalgia and me. she immediately said we don;t use the term me any more, instead we say cf.
she took my blood pressure which was 151/105 then again 158/99 so said lets keep with blood pressure pills
need to read lindseys notes again as they made complete sense and i obviously did not manage this right.
i know GP recently got a letter from dr sarah myhill (prof findley neurologist, runs a cfs clinic at Queens, does not rate myhill) and my GP does not agree with her test results etc.
i feel so frustrated i obviously got the approach all wrong........... bloody hell cognitive's.
thank you Lynn-FA ,you;ve cheered me up. rome wasn;t conquered in a day and all that xx thank you.
It can take time. One thing to try and remember if you go back is to have maybe 1 or 2 aims for the appointment for you. Decide what your top priority right now is (whether it's pain management, testing, other conditions, etc) and focus on that.
Your GP doesn't know as much as she thinks - as Lynn pointed out, some of what she said was incorrect.
On the other hand, homeopathy being provided on the NHS is controversial because of the lack of science behind it and the lack of evidence in many areas that it does more than placebo. If you want to go for it, do so, but take on board that what it does is more about consultations and placebos than actual active ingredients.
Thanks for posting the original blog! I'm glad my articles helped give you ideas of what to do, where to go, at least.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Still no help with GP after going to the hospital!! :-(
How do people with fibro cope with the physical demands of having a child?
Prednisolone confusion
Terrified of starting Gabapentin
well seems like thats the last of my friends gone!!!
