At a dead end

[Hannah221b]

I've been in pain in my flanks since Sunday night (with it flaring up badly on Monday morning) and it feels like I'm at a loose end. My boyfriend called 111 first thing Monday morning because I was crying and couldn't move and I was told to go to the doctors the soonest chance I got.

I saw my GP the next day, was given antibiotics but was told literally an hour ago that I don't have an infection and to stop taking the antibiotics. I haven't been told anything else about why the heck my back and sides are in pain, and I've just been lying in bed and struggling to do everything because I can't look after myself properly besides getting water and toast and get to the loo.

I don't know what else to do, because I'm already taking the highest dose of cocodamol that my doctors recommended. I don't have the money to get to the hospital, and I don't have any friends nearby who can take me at the drop of a hat because they live too far from my town.

I've had plenty of issues with going to the doctors or A&E and being told huh it's nothing take some painkillers, and it ends up 4-6 months down the line with me finally being diagnosed with ADPKD. I just feel too worried and scared that as soon as I get there they won't see anything wrong with me when I 100% know there is something wrong with me otherwise I wouldn't be feeling like this.

[Painintheass]

Hi Hannah,

You don't necessarily have to agree with what a GP tells you, you don't even have to go back to the same doctor. Is there no other GP clinic near you that you can into and get checked, I e found that when you get to a dead end it's that the GPs that have usually have given up and fob you off with pain killers.

You mentioned that it's something called ADPKD and so you have cysts on your kidneys, but have you not been assigned to a kidney specialist by the GP ?? I've read that there is a drug that can help slow the growth rate of the cysts that you should ask the GP about but I'd have thought that you main concern at this point would be to keep going back to your GO or another and push to be seen by a kidney specialist. As your condition apparently only gets worse, which I am terribly sorry to hear and I hope you do find the help you need.

Bottom line, you need to persuade the GP into getting more specialised help, and demand that what they have been doing isn't good enough. If you still struggle you can meet with the practice manager of the GP and make a complaint, which I've done, which really helped me get results.

If I was you I'd research official NHS complaint procedure, I got in contacts with my hospitals Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) and they got me what I required within 48 hours and were super polite and helpful.

Hope you get the help you need, and never give up and don't take no for an answer from a GP, they only have general knowledge, they aren't the experts, you o it need them to get to the help you need.