Problems with my GP

[Suncliff]

I am 65 years old, female with autoimmune thyroid, secondary adrenal deficiency, psoriasis ... For the past 8 years plus I have been visiting my Doctor with concerns about my health. I have an endocrine specialist but he hasn’t been helpful.

I recently discovered this and subsequently other sites which explained B12 deficiency. I talked to my GP about starting injections ASAP since my eyesight is getting worse. He offered B12 tablets and a B12 blood test. I said no thanks.

I have just started self injection. I was frustrated because I couldn’t get the website in English and had to get a friend to interpret the German.

I have a very poor relationship with my GP and I cannot change to another doctor because in rural Wales there isn’t any choice. My endocrine consultant doesn’t see me and just instructs my GP. I suspect they think I am a hyercondriact.

I am prescribed omeprazole daily.

I feel very let down by my GP and my Consultant but I know I have to work with them. Please help me get my very foggy head around this problem since I rely on them for my blood tests and I will need to tell them what I am taking. I’ve only had 2 injections so far, one every other day, so my symptoms are still strong.

Thank you for all the advice I have got to date. This is my first post, I have been reading replies to other people’s posts.

[Curlygal]

Hello, I'm sorry to see you haven't had any replies. I wondered what specifically you wanted help with, is it the relationship with your GP, understanding the condition, or managing treatments and symptoms? Also why did you turn down the B12 blood test?

Best wishes 😊

[Suncliff in reply to Curlygal]

Thanks for responding. I am really struggling with my GP and I cannot change surgery because there is a shortage of GPs in our area. I turned down the blood test because I know I have B12 in my blood because I eat plenty of red meat and dairy. What I don’t do is convert it active B12 because my gut lacks acid. This is because I have an autoimmune thyroid and I take drugs to reduce acid. I offered to pay for an active B12 test (not available on NHS) but my GP didn’t understand why it would be needed. I have started to self medicate and so far it seems to be going fine. I think I’m a little better but nothing really dramatic ... we will see.

My major concern is my GP he should know my condition and my prescription drugs inhibit B12 absorption. I feel very let down by him but I know I cannot confront him. I am concerned about other people with what is the fairly common condition of autoimmune thyroid, not receiving an inexpensive B12 injection once a month or so and thus preventing debilitating symptoms which in my case have made me bed ridden for weeks and suffering from loss of eyesight etc.

I’m looking for a way to change my GPs behaviour and to get him to follow the already accepted procedures and practices.

[Curlygal in reply to Suncliff]

Sorry for not replying sooner! There are members on here who can advise about how to approach your GP regarding B12, but it sounds as though this is unlikely to work on your particular GP? (It might be worth a try though?) Sadly not many GPs know much about it, and very few are willing to be more flexible about treatment, or indeed listen to their patients!

Personally I had a go at trying to persuade the GP and was totally unsuccessful. I quickly decided it just wasn't worth the emotional energy and began self-injecting. Thankfully the nurse had already taught me how to do it myself. I now inject weekly and I like the fact that I'm totally in control.

I did read your reply below and guess you may have given up thoughts of talking to the GP?

Whatever happens I hope you are soon feeling better. Best wishes 😊

[wedgewood]

Omeprazole will cancel out your stomach acid , thereby leading to very poor absorbtion of B12( look up side effects of taking P,P,I.s Proton Pump Inhibitors, of which Omeprazole is only one .) .Your Doctor should know this . Therefore , giving you tablets is useless. If you have to take Omeprazole for whatever reason , you will need injections of B12 . Glad to hear that you have started self-injection . It might take some time for you to feel the benefits , but don’t lose hope . Also you need to take a folic acid supplement to work with the B12 . say 400 ug.

You can get an app to do translations , which would help you when ordering from the German online pharmacies . One of them ,mycare.de has a site in English , but they are not supplying the UK until the New Year . Amazon.de has a site in English also .where you can buy B12 ampoules .Best wishes .

[Suncliff in reply to wedgewood]

Thanks for the reply. You confirm what I thought was the case. Plus the autoimmune thyroid reduces the acid in the gut. I offered to pay for an Active B12 test but he didn’t seem to understand how that might be needed. I am taking a multi vit but it only contains 200 folic acid so I need to increase it plus I think I need potassium. I brought 100 amps of B12 so I can probably learn German by the time I need to reorder (ha ha!) It was all going okay when I received a refund and my order was cancelled. They were out of stock, I reordered and the order arrived about 4 days later. That was why I needed to get it translated.

I’ve had 3 jabs so far and I’m feeling slightly better, probably be a my sleep is better. I’ll review it after 3 weeks and maybe post my experience on here to encourage others to do the same.

[wedgewood in reply to Suncliff]

You are certainly getting it all together . Your feedback will be very useful .

[Cetus]

I can relate to most of what you write as I have had a very similar experience with my GP. There are various tests other than B12 you can have but my GP refused to provide any of them.

In the end I got worse and worse, like you again, so I simply took B12 (tablets and later injections) because I was becoming too cognitively dysfunctional to manage my life - although doing this will confound any later tests.

I believe a lot of people our age feel better on B12 but that doesn't really prove to doctors that there's a strong case for taking it because my specialist thinks I am getting a placebo response from it. Grrrr!

[Suncliff]

I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t care what my GP thinks about me cos whatever he thinks it doesn’t come close to what I think about him!

I thought modern day medicine was based on science but he has used words like ‘nervous’ and ‘believe’. I remember being given a piece of litmus paper in our science class and testing for acid and alkaline. If you don’t have acid it your gut no matter how much B12 is in your digestive system it won’t become ‘active’. That is why some people need it via injections. It is not placebo it is science.

I want to wear a badge saying I will not tolerate verbal abuse from medical staff!

Glad I got that off my chest since I have to be so pleasant and polite when I go to see my Doctor. Hopefully he cannot tell what I’m thinking!

[Cetus in reply to Suncliff]

Suncliff If you are stuck with your GP and want to push him along a bit then you could ask some pointed questions such as "Have you seen such a condition before?" and "What experience do you have of this condition?". Before moving on to suggestions that neglecting the possibility of a B12 condition runs the risk of allowing something serious to develop.

I like to take some bullet points on a page with me and leave a copy for the GP to remind him what we discussed. Unfortunately he tends to ignore a lot of what I say but hopefully it gets documented so another doctor can later see how the symptom progress.

In the end, rather than have a drawn out battle I got my own B12 just as many here have had to do.