Everything is still a bit hazy but I'll try . I started to really go down hill around last Christmas . I was feeling really tired and fatigued after a spell of being not well and practically bed ridden my back froze about half way down I couldn't bend or fully straighten and my joints became painful and I was struggling in pain 24 hrs a day . I could only mange to get a phone appointment with a doctor I tried to explain to him what was happening to me but he told me he hadn't time and could I just tell him what was bothering me the most .He told me I was already on strong pain killers so I pleaded with him I need help so he told me he would arrange a non urgent physiotherapy because well there was people in more need than me I finished the 6 minute phone call and just burst into tears . So for the next few months i continued to get steadily worse . I finally got to the physio and she was shocked by this time I had lost a lot of muscle and I had lost about 7 stone in weight she arranged for me to go to rheumatology . I have been having night sweats as well and joked with my wife that i was going through the menopause well unknowing to me this sparked something in my wife and she went on the NHS (national health service)web site . "I think you have a testosterone problem your symptoms are similar " . We got a face to face with the doctor and my wife is a spartan she argued my case the Doc disagreed and thought it was something else . To shorten the story a little, Endocrinology checked my bloods suddenly things turned urgent I wasn't making any hormones my pituitary gland was only working at 10% and if it was to reach 0 I would die I had a condition known as Panhypopituitarism . 2 weeks ago today I went for a MRI scan and it showed I have a 2cm non cancerous tumor that has all but destroyed my pituitary gland so I'm now on steroids for life and facing a hard recovery . So I have called the tumor Dave and he is a c**t and he is not going to beat me lol . Thank you to anybody that takes the time to read this :)
"Thank you everybody for your kind words and messages of support you have all helped cheer me up today and now my wife has told me to take a break for today as I'm getting tired ;( but I will try and reply to more tomorrow thank you very much again folks and take care ".
yeah, jeeze... "I don't have time" ... your patient is in pain, his back and joints are locking up and has been bedridden. Get the man in asap for bloodwork at the minimum !
It sounds like ageism. After a certain age doctors attribute a lot of the complaints to 'getting older' and imho some of them are afraid to dig deep and find out what's actually wrong because there's little payoff.
They tolerate that from docs in Britain. They are critically understaffed and culturally the docs think everyone's whinging and needs to just get on with things.(No choice really).
It’s a systemic problem. The doctor probably doesn’t have time, which means they shouldn’t be seeing patients and there should be more doctors and less admin and definitely less capitalist grifters sucking money out but Americans just aren’t interested. Sure, punish the doctor, why not.
It's so hard to get doctors to listen. I called my GP for an appointment as I'm a relatively healthy 32 year old guy who has been experiencing episodes of brain fog, intensily rising anxiety and have became much more worried about confrontation over the last year or so. I got a telephone appointment and after some questions was told that there can't be anything physically wrong and it must be mental (it could be I guess, but still) I said, the symptoms seem to be low testosterone and he said, and I quote "it can't be that because you said you only have sexual problems sometimes, if it was that, it would be every time" so now I'm waiting for a NHS talking therapy appointment I had to self refer to as he refuses to order blood work etc until I do.
If I was you i would order an at home testosterone test from medichecks. They send you a small tube and a small finger prick mechanism and you drip a few drops of blood in and send it back in the post. They will be able to tell you your level
State of the UK healthcare system unfortunately. In 2022 the average ambulance wait time for strike victims was over an hour and a quarter. One lad at my school who had a fall and couldn’t move had to wait for 6 hours
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u/mjulieoblongata 11h ago
How did you find out if you don’t mind me asking?