Confessions of a GP

[Sazzle]

If my GP thinks like that he does a really good job of covering it up. He always gives me a pep talk and tells me how hard I am trying and what a brilliant person I am at my job and what a difference I make to others. He knows I am not a malingerer at all and how I won't let this ruddy thing ruin my quality of life.

I do know where the pros are coming from for some people though. I do know a lot of people who do like to stay in the sick role as they don't have to take responsibility and put their big boy/girl pants on but that doesn't go for all of them by a long shot. I do have some patients who really make me proud with the effort they put in to try and improve their quality of life.

[diamondintherough]

This book really angers me and i aint gunna buy/dowload it coz i dont wanna give that Dr a penny in profits from the book.

[tentimes]

I'm a counsellor by trade, and I will never forget the time I went to see an older GP, just before I went off to do my counselling qualification in England. I was telling him about it for some reason (and I had already done some certificate training), and he said to me "Well, you know what it's like then" [rolls eyes][tuts] "listening to all that moaning, all day... you just switch off, don't you". I will never forget it. I also worked in the surgery down the road and sort of knew him, so I suppose he saw me a bit as a colleague rather than "just" a patient.

I worked in GP surgeries for years. During that time I found that about 80% of the traffic in a GP seemed to be people just abusing the service. These 80% (nominal figure) probably make up a minority of society, but they do abuse services and don't just go to the doctor when necessary, like you or I would. We are talking stuff like coming to the surgery demanding to see a Dr at 8.30am on Monday morning because the cat had eaten their valium etc. It was the same families and frankly we spent most of our time dealing with social problems.

I say all the above as some sort of defence of what I am about to say. The result of this constant onslaught of pushy abusive patients wasting the resources was that many (my guess is the majority, given my experience working in 3 different surgeries and seeing exactly the same thing) of the doctors just get pissed off and then get a glazed look over their eyes, just trying to see the day out and wishing they had never become a GP. There are another group who just get on with it, then another group who care too much and always ran over time with their patients, always the last to finish up a surgery. It's this last group and the second last group that I hope I see when I go to the doctor.

I heard similar stuff to what you quote in the book all the time in the coffee room. I can see it from both sides. Unfortunately though, I have now been badged with the problem patients as I am an informed patient, and Doctors really don't like that in general.

[DRM]

Never been so mad in all my life! I thought there might be a few older doctors who thought this way, but this man claims to be 30 and recently trained. Have been trying to track him down online to give him a piece of my mind, but is difficult to find. Would also love to make a formal complaint to his employer, NHS if he wasn't hiding behind a pseudonym. UKFM are among those trying hard to raise awareness and knowledge of FMS & I believe this man has really damaged the reputation of all us sufferers.
If you haven't read it don't, it won't make you happy!
Love and empathy to all x

[evie15]

I really wish I hadn't opened this thread tbh.

It is making me feel paranoid that this is what my GP's believe of me. I already always think 'do they think I am making this up?' but now I am thinking as to whether I have seen SLS on my files and I think I may have, I'm not sure. I hate going to the gp anyway.

To think this is a young doctor too and this is his and his peers opinions of us is really upsetting.

The only good thing is I have read a condemning review from a doctor on amazon who says he is upset if this is how GP's really think and behave.

I really am in a bit of a dizzy over this.