A reminder that doctors are human like the rest of us

I was going to copy and past the text but figured it was quicker to put the link! more-distractible.org/2010/...

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Thank-you very much for posting this. There is so much that is true to my observations of the doctors I've seen. It was good to read a doctor acknowledging it.

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Glad you enjoyed it, Im now reading the rest of his website/blogs. Im liking this guy

I've sat in an appointment with a consultant for an hour, and had him apologise so profusely to me, for being at a loss as to what aspect of my lung disease is causing my symptoms. They are only human, and all knowledge and medicine/surgery has limitations. And not everything is fixable - I would struggle to work in a profession where so many people demand to be fixed, and expect nothing short of perfection all the time.

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I always feel bad when im at the point where i stop handling things well, when i cannot face more needles, nebs, o2, wires, tubes, BP cuffs etc and i just stop being able to be my usual rational self and will just cry when they do things that hurt me, i always feel guilty coz i know id hate to stand over someone and repeatedly stick needles in them till the cry, i think it must be a really hard job sometimes. Some of them are not good, and i think its important that they try to remember ""our perspective"" too, and it is hard to sit back and say ""yeah - ok, you don't know what to do with me, and that means that i just have to accept this for now at least"" but i think it is important for us to remmeber that it must be hard to say to someone who so badly wishes you had an answer that you just dont know!

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wow!! Thank you for posting this

I know recently I have been very frustrated with different people I have needed to see and getting ""This is beyond me - its going over my head"" etc. I always keep contained though and never openly show them how frustrating this is - it must almost be embarrassing when they have to turn around and say its beyond them . I then tend to rant at home and share experiences on here. I have met some fantastic people though - there are now 2 GPs and obviously my cons and their asthma nurse I will see. While I get a lot of ""I'm out of my depth"" with the 2 GPs, they work hard to reassure and do what they can, so thank you

I put a ""thank you"" card through the door for my normal GP a few weeks ago after going into meltdown whilst there - just to show that his efforts were appreciated!

Thanks again Laura x

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I've been meaning to give my GP a thank-you note for a while - thanks for reminding me of this.

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What a powerful post!

I think it has helped me to regain perspective that despite several mumblings the past few weeks, some of my doctors are actually really good but just at a bit of a loss as to what to do next. I saw one of my two regular doctors while picking up a prescription today when I felt exhausted, fed up and constantly coughing. She asked how I was, apologised that she couldn't get hold of me this morning when I requested a duty doctor call, knew quite a lot about me as a person (job, likes, medical history) and was genuinely interested in what the cons said. I have also realised just how much my other regular GP has done behind the scenes (apparently I have been discussed at a difficult case meeting and he has been speaking to my cons too). Today she said to phone if I still don't feel better by Friday and she will fit me. I think I need to send a thank you card to them too.

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It is such a good post and certainly gets you thinking.

I am very lucky that my GP is very understanding and supportive, he phoned me today to see how my consultant appointment went that I had earlier this week.

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Need to send a thank you card to mine, definitely! He's been amazing, and I'm not the easiest patient though I try not to be a pain. Should have done it before.

Thanks for posting the article nursefurby. Read a few of the other posts - that guy is amazing; although I have an excellent GP already I'd be v happy to have him as my doctor. Wonder if we could persuade him to come over here and retrain as a resp cons?

It's a good article. As I said I know I can be frustrating - I don't mean to be, and certainly try not to be, but I'm not easy to fix and I can get that it's frustrating for a doctor when that happens. My old cons also got frustrated with that, I think, and I can appreciate that now, but at the time (and still a little now) I feel that he didn't express it very well; he may well not have meant to as I think he's basically a nice guy even if I find him a bit frustrating, but he did end up kind of transferring some of that frustration onto me.

I get that some patients can be annoying and frustrating in many ways (as I say, I TRY not to be but probably don't always succeed!), but at the same time - they're the doctor, it should be part of their job to deal with this professionally. Yes, they are human too, but if someone is ill and a bit worried they're probably not at their best and may not put things across very well or even get frustrated with the doctor when they really are frustrated about their illness - I hope I've never done this or been rude or anything but I do get nervous and talk crap, and I'd hope that a good doctor would understand that and not get annoyed with me because of it. I kind of feel like part of the doctor's job is to be 'the bigger person' where possible.

Like Soph I agree they should be able to see our perspective (and the author of that article can clearly do this) - my frustration specifically with doctors can come not necessarily that they can't sort my problem, as I understand there's only so much they can do, but when they don't even try to understand my perspective eg acknowledging that my symptoms might be affecting me even if they are less severe than someone else's, or not immediately life-threatening.

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My gp is officially awesome. I rang today to leave a message to see what he'd advise (was reluctant to book yet another apt cos I seem to live there at the min!) about stomach issues in relation to long term steroids and the other stuff I'm on. He was at the practice which don't to phone apts, but within 20 mins he'd phoned back and issued a prescription!! He had said the he was going to ring today anyway to see how things were now and also how my cons apt went last wk.

Just thought I'd share