Yeh it ms getting worse.Walked three miles today and can’t hold my head up now and the teeth pain and headaches are terribleLeads to not being able to rest or sleep last night was terrible too!
Hey are you fine bunch still doing the daily guess the song quiz?
Hey Marionfromhappydays Pop in to the docs and they can't refer me for a head and neck scan as it's against practise policy (to down the physio route to which I've been)
So asked for a private referral and now need to see two consultants
ENT for the sinuses and teeth pain and an endocrinologist for a neck scan for the pain on the front of my neck and pain in the back along with a lump that protrudes from the vertebrae area when I tilt my head back
😒 Thats a shame, I guess your GP could refer you to a NHS consultant but it would take months.
Especially with the current situation with covid and NHS it's quicker to go private but the costs start racking up really quickly. If you can afford it I would go the private route but can imagine its going to be thousands and not hundreds if scans are needed 🤔
I just had a CAT Scan …outside London …Thorax to Lumbar region…..that was £895 …..then there wa the consultant radiologist’s report on the scan, then a separate head MRI would probably be similar.Not cheap….and you would also need to allow fees for the consultant who prescribed the scans.
Try asking your GP…you might have to wait a while…but you’d save a lot.
I don’t think you can just pop in to a Private unit & say Hey, I’d like a scan…you need a Consultant to refer you & explain which part of the anatomy is presenting with what symptoms… ..& ask for a detailed area to scan. Sadly GP’s are not qualified to read read scans & know what needs doing…that’s what consultant radiologists do…then they report back to whoever ordered the scan.
Go & speak to your GP…if he doesn’t have any new ideas, ask him to refer you to an NHS consultant & if he doesn’t comply ask him to explain why as you are in Constant pain.
You can in fact self refer to a Private consultant ….but with problems from teeth, to neck to head…which specialist would you choose?
You do really need to have a serious talk with your GP & explain how much discomfort you are experiencing …& if he still feels unable to refer you…ask him to whom you might self refer…but starting from an initial consult it could become very expensive….but on the other hand a consultant may make a quick diagnosis - but I’d take the GP route first.
But unless you are referred on the NHS……Every specialist…from the Consultant requesting the scan, the hospital where you have the scan & the radiologist who reads the scan….explaining his/her findings to the referring doctor…,charges a fee. …for my recent scan the total bill was nigh on £1500.
Your GP will get a copy of the radiologist’s report…..but you pay for it.
In a private hospital…if you see a doctor & he gives you an injection, you pay the doctor’s fee & the hospital charges for the facilities, & the injection…so if you do decide on the Private route..,DO ASK the consultant’s secretary for a detailed breakdown of what you are taking on…it adds up very quickly.
In fact these days, most Private hospitals require full payment in advance for scans …..I received an account from my consultant…but I had to pay the hospital before I had the scan.
So as I said before…do discuss your condition with your GP before you make any expensive decisions.
In fact, have you thought of seeing another GP for a second opinion, that maybe all you need to do.
My private scan previously only cost me just under £500 that was for my sinuses It came back clear but felt at the time there was something else there and asked them to refer it on to be looked at by another specialist and I would pay the extra cost
Was told I would have to be referred again through my doctor to another consultant/specialist
Yes that is p the way private medicine works & it is very expensive these days, which is why you should seriously try to get a f2f appointment with your GP.
Why don’t you list all your symptoms, send them to your .GP &explain how they are affecting your life,& see if he comes up with a different treatment.
But looking on the bright side …if there had been something that needed treating & was missed two years ago…..I think it would have shown itself in some way by now don’t you?
AgedCrone I really appreciate you taking time to reply and advise thank you!I don't have a good relationship with my doc through problems with my thyroid
lately private blood tests revealed I have Hashimotos and i am a poor converter of Levo/T4 to T3
Had an awful time with doctors and trying to get answers and just want a full scan with my thyroid included too
I am having similar problems and going down the private route because I’ve been told that presently the waiting time to see an ENT Consultant on the NHS is between 18mth - 2 yrs. That’s a long time to be in misery!
I never thought of that jacobite! I don’t know whether Thyroid problems are hereditary but my mother had that issue. The trouble is getting to see anyone these days, including your own GP, to be able to get a blood test.
I don’t trust docs very much at all. I know my own body and how it behaves better than they do. I’ve just been prescribed two medications privately by my ENT consultant and it worries me because there is a warning about interactions between these two medications and he has no idea of my medical history, (my records are very limited because I’ve lived in the US for 25 years). Also, knocking one’s immune system for 3 months with antibiotics during a raging pandemic concerns me a lot, especially when the antibiotics are being used to reduce swelling and inflammation and not for a bacterial infection.
Regarding the thyroid issue….my mother was very late in being diagnosed with it. It was only on a trip back from the States that I took her to the doctor and demanded a full blood count and X-ray to find out what was causing her misery. Her doc told me “It’s just old age”. I persisted and got her the necessary tests which diagnosed her with thyroid disease and then I immediately changed her GP. In the US we voted with our feet and walked out on docs who poo poo’d one’s ailments or who tried to make money by prescribing expensive drugs!
Thanks for the info about Thyroid UK…I will be checking that out.
Some private scanning companies do not interpret the scan, they merely do the scan and pass it on. Some charge extra for interpretation. Some do both, scanning and interpretation.The price for just a scan of my lower back was almost £1000 in Edinburgh, with no interpretation, they just passed it onto a named GP (there is absolutely no way my GP could have given even a preliminary opinion on the complexity of my vertebrae).
Another company wanted me to pay up front, then be given a date. When I pressed for how long I would need to wait I was told several weeks.
The NHS eventually came up trumps and I was referred to neurosurgery, who operated on my back 13 days after the scan. I'm so pleased I waited on the NHS, but I guess it depends on what your problem is.
Take cafe and make sure you know what you are paying for and that a radiologist will do the interpretation.
I am lucky in that I have attended the same private hospital for 15 years now, & each consultant that I have see has been recommended by my rheumy or another consultant I have seen…I would never go for scans unless I knew the referring doctor…except in an emergencty of course…most private scan companies don’t have a good history locally.
Unfortunately in my area all the NHS hospitals are at full stretch & are cancelling so called “elective” surgery daily,…..the largest hospital has a large number of Covid patients…so I would not go near there…..even if offered a f2f appointment.
It’s a very difficult time all round for urgent scans or surgery…this time last year the hospital I usually attend was commandeered by the NHS & took over all cancer chemotherapies….which at least meant continuity for very sick patients.
If its your teeth you could have an OPT taken? Did they take one where you went? What xrays was taken? Refferal to hospital in my area you take the slip its free. OPT privately in my area around £125+ but that gives you a full view of all teeth and jaw? I'm just thinking if it's cheaper to rule that out first.
I have a disk from the private scan in January 2020 I asked for just a few months ago but haven’t looked at it The report was sent to the ENT specialist I went to them sent on to my doctor
There was something mentioned and I will have to look out the letter again (two small something or other in my sinuses)
Where do you live in UK Jacobite? I’ve just had hip replacement surgery with Patient’s Plus and would recommend them. I think you can search online for their costs; of course it will depend if they are in your area or in travelling distance if they are of use to you though. I used their Southampton hospital.
So sorry to hear you are in pain! There is nothing worse to bring you down. Ring and write to your gp and contact local health and your MP Iam not a political animal but the MP was suggested to me and boy did it hurry my shoulder replacement! Good luck. 🎄
Hi I had to have a head MRI last year to diagnose Epilepsy my GP said he had to refer me due to waiting times & I couldn’t wait having up to 3 seizures a day. The MRI cost £450 consultant fees £250 then an EEG £650 & different consultant fees for report of £150 plus results consultation of £150 so it soon adds up. I was then transferred to NHS. Could you be referred to head & neck team? Or possibly Rheum could refer you there? Good luck x
I had some MRI scans done by a company called Oryon based in Wimpole Street in London back in August - it wasn’t a head scan though, I had a lumbar one done first which without going to check my paperwork cost around £300, I went back a couple of weeks later to have my sacrum and pelvis scanned. The pelvis was expensive because it took longer and the sacrum was about the same price as the lumbar region but together they cost about £900. I left there with a CD of my scans the physio was sent reports for each x-ray. They were very efficient and kind.
I also found this place where you can self refer if that’s any help, their prices are quite open and they seem to offer them from a lot of different sites in the U.K.
Should add I was referred by my physiotherapist - after my (now former) GP had refused me a regular x-ray! Too busy, too much backlog! So perhaps you could get a private referral that way - or just go to one of the self referral ones although I found it difficult to know which part of me needed scanning - in the end we started with the lumbar which threw up the need for the sacrum and pelvis. All areas were problematic in the end.
There are certain private centres in cities (eg Harley St and also Waterloo Station in London) where you could get a scan done in offpeak hours for about £200. I had an MRI done on my lower back at Waterloo but I had to have a referral from a health professional - my osteopath referred me. You could get the dentist to do this. It is fortunate that the scans are cheaper in offpeak hours such as weekends and evenings as this is when most people can go. If you need more than two scans, it might be worth financially getting a whole body scan done which would give you really good info about your whole body. I wonder if ultrasound would be as good as MRI. I had an MRI done on my shoulder on the NHS and the pain of holding my shoulder up was hell. Try to find this out before you commit. The ultrasound only takes 20 minutes and the sonographer will tell you the results whilst it is being done. Good luck.
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