I can really sympathise with this article posted on 'The F Word' although I think broadly speaking IBS sufferers get a better time of it. Perhaps this is because it is an illness which effects men (although it mostly seems to target women).
I understand the frustration of going to a doctor and having your condition dismissed as non serious or trivial. Luckily the doctors at my current practice are much more sympathetic and are taking the time to help me work through my difficulties with IBS. I also understand the pain of cystitis, having once rather unfortunately been forced to resort to visiting accident and emergency because of it.
I'd suffered from the infection in the past and at the time had been told by my doctor to drink cranberry juice to stop it happening again. Some time later I found that I had a minor infection again and tried to get an appointment at my doctors to get some antibiotics. My doctor couldn't see me that day and probably not the day after that. With no where to turn to, I drank cranberry juice in the hope that this natural remedy would sort me out.
I woke up in the middle of that night with the most agonising pain both in my urninary tract and in my kidneys. I didn't really know where my kidneys were before that night, but right then they were so red hot with pain that I could have surgically removed them myself.
Barely able to move, I had to get my friend to take me to the local A+E. I remember sitting there with a large bowl for fear that I'd be sick. I was taken into triage by a male nurse who had a slightly dismissive attitude when I told him my complaint. To be fair to him, I'm not the sort of person who roles around in pain making a fuss so perhaps I didn't look as bad as I felt.
What frustrates me about the whole incident is what happens next. I provided a urine sample, he used one of those dip tests. I watched him do it and I can remember him almost starting back with shock when he saw the result, after which his attitude was totally different. He told me that I had a 'raging' infection and ushured me through to one of the waiting rooms. I had blood tests to see if it had entered my kidneys which apparently it hadn't. To this day I'm not pursuaded of that, why they hurt so much if they weren't infected is beyond me.
The doctor who eventually saw me asked me what I'd been drinking and I told her I'd had a lot of cranberry juice. She told me it was the worst thing I could have done and that drinking sugary drinks makes the infection worse!
I still feel that a little minor but permenant damage was done that day. What irritates me is that it could have been avoided if I'd been able to see a Doctor straight away or see someone else who could deal with the problem.. Why if cystitis is so easy to diagnose can the test and antibiotics not be offered by nurses working in GPs practises? The infection moves so quickly and becomes unmanagble so quickly that early intervention is crucial. In these times where GPs are more stretched then ever surely the responsibility for dealing with such a common yet easy to diagnose and treat ailment could be handed down to Nurses? Also why was the information I was provided so contradictory? Some Doctors have told me to drink Cranberry juice, another has told me its a bad move.
The next time it happened I didn't even wait for the next morning to try and get a GPs appointment, I took myself straight to the NHS walk-in centre and got my antibiotics.
The F Word - Cystitis
This website I have linked to is website discussing feminist issues. It contains information that some readers might find triggering.
No comments:
Post a Comment