Hi everyone. Last week I finally received a copy of the post-appointment letter from my Endo, which I had been waiting for 2 weeks. I was referred by GP because my symptoms were not improving on 100 mcg of levo and there was no other treatment the GP could give me.
So, here I am excited, opening the envelope in hope. I can’t give a name to the “piece of writing” I've read! In the first line he calls me a pleasant lady (thanks for that!) and then just writes about general things. He mentions some of my symptoms and notes he doesn’t understand why I have them. He says I live with my husband and do a full-time job as an office worker. Then he says I do not smoke or drink. Finally, he says “my impression is this lady has got hypothyroidism” and that he will see me in three months. What a piece of cr@p is this?!
That’s a type of letter my next door neighbour could write. No clear diagnosis, no test results, no advise or recommendation. Just wanted to know if that’s a type of letter everybody receives from doctors and I shouldn’t have expected something more sensible?
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Tginger
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Firstly 2 weeks is pretty fast for a letter to be done, can take lots longer, secondly yep that's the type of letter many people get, it's usually full of mistakes and you wonder if they actually listened to anything that was said at the appt !!
Thanks for replying! I simply don't understand what the point was of me going to this doctor. Waste of my time and NHS money. No wonder so many people do private tests and self-medicate.
The post appointment letter I got contained one incorrect medical fact, one incorrect number for a previous TSH blood test result and an incorrect reporting of something I said to the endo. I didn't bother going back when I was sent a follow up appointment as neither did I agree I was overmedicated as the endo suggested in the post appointment letter. I cancelled the appointment because I felt it was a waste of my time and a waste of NSH resources to attend the appontment.
It's not just endos. It was the same with my cardiologist - two cardiologists, in fact! Full of errors! But, all the time I was with the second one, he was talking into a dictaphone, giving all the information for his secretary to type up, and what he said into the dictaphone was correct, so that means it was the secretary that made the mistakes, no? But, as you say, over-all, a complete waste of time.
I had a letter from a cardiologist reporting I had hyperthyroidism and that I no longer had any heart issues. This was despite the fact he was still waiting for my test results; I’m hypo and I still have heart issues to this day. I was ‘delightful’ rather than ‘pleasant’ though. (Are they medical terms?) Not even sure that was right - grumpy is more accurate. 🤸🏿♀️🥛
I don't understand why consultants are using words such as 'delightful' and 'pleasant'? They have no relevance in consultation follow up letter. As you say you want diagnosis and recommendation. Why would someone seeking a resolution to their symptoms be interested in what a consultant opinion was on them as a person!
I was going to wonder men get the character analysis too (does anyone get this awful bloody woman?) and then I remembered the local rheumatologist thinks my 29 year old son is delightful too. Just as well, so he is.
The 'delightful' and 'pleasant" are code. You sat there and did not argue, you do not smell or swear. "Delightful" in particular means you made him smile or laugh. "Lady" means you could string a sentence together and "woman" means he did not like you. "Female" means he has no feelings either way, and "distressed" means you cried or looked like you were going to cry, giving him reason to recommend treatment for depression. I got one that said "informed female" which is code for she argued with some degree of correctness (thanks to this site!) and probably taught him something he did not know, not that he would ever admit such a thing!
They now know you have access to their letters and are much more polite than they used to be, but the code is understood by the GP.
I am hoping for one that says "challenging" which is code for she actually made me engage brain!
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