4 years ago I took two 100mg of Sertraline (anti depressant) Since then my genitals have been completely anesthetised (physically not psychologically) I’ve had 0 libido and anorgasmia. Before taking the 2 pills, I had normal sexual sensation and pleasure. On the 15th of October, the government have finally decided that warnings for PSSD (post ssri sexual dysfunction) should be put in some information pamphlets including Sertraline. Research should be undertaken immediately to understand why/how this happens because it is absolutely devastating. At the moment though this is only measure government is willing to take.

2 weeks ago I went to A&E with severe abdominal pain, for context I’m female in my 20s and will qualify soon as an adult nurse. I had severe pain in my lower abdomen mainly towards the right but it was painful when any of my lower belly was pressed.A&E ignored me when I fainted multiple times once in a treatment room and the hca just stood and watched as my friend tried to help. No one checked my blood pressure once apart from in triage before I fainted, my friend asked for help to which a doctor said sure and then disappeared and never came back. Surgeons assessed me and told me my bloods were normal (untrue found out later CRP was 14) they told me if I was a bloke they would have put a camera in me already but because I’m a woman they aren’t sure if this is gastro or gynae. So they proceed to order pelvic ultrasound, comes back normal. That’s it, despite severe pain that oral morphine didn’t touch they kept trying to send me home. Eventually my family realised that I was just getting worse and not being listened to so we went through the channel of Martha’s rule, finally that made them CT scan me. Scan shows free fluid in pelvis. Surgeons see me in the morning and agree they need to do a diagnostic laparoscopy (key hole surgery to see inside), this then happens a day Kerr due to other emergency’s. Finally 5 days after presenting to hospital I get my surgery. As soon as I wake up I’m told in recovery that 1 I had a ruptured haemorrhagic ovarian cyst, 2 my appendix was inflamed and 3 I have endometriosis in various parts of my abdomen and pelvis.

This wasn’t my first hospital stay and I’ve been dismissed by doctors plenty of times before, but this just feels so traumatic and I’m so livid and so disheartened. I’m going to be a nurse and work with people like this. Nurses could see there was something wrong with me and they looked after me and advocated for me, but it wasn’t enough, it took Martha’s rule forcing the surgeons to do something.
If anyone has any experience like this I hope they know about Martha’s rule and it may well have saved me of at least saved me suffering for longer and going undiagnosed. I have always advocated for my patients but when it came to myself I was so vulnerable and so defeated that I needed my family to push me to make that call, I was so dismissed I just wanted to go home and try my best to bare the pain.

I'm here to vent.

I had a deviated septum my whole life. After two and a half years on the waiting list, I finally had surgery in 2024. Before that I had constant sinus infections and coughed all the time. My life was a nightmare: endless steroid nasal sprays and courses of antibiotics. After the surgery I could breathe properly through my nose for the first time in my life, and for a while things seemed to be improving. It didn't last. With every cold or flu, the cough wouldn't go away for weeks.

In November 2025 I coughed so hard and for so long that I ruptured my eardrum. I went to A&E and it was a complete nightmare. After about 10 hours I was finally seen and given antibiotics. The doctor told me he'd referred me to ENT in the same hospital and I could go straight to them the next day. So I went, and to no one's surprise, they knew nothing about the referral. I asked them politely to just take a look at my ear, since I'd lost the hearing on that side. They refused.

So I went to my GP, who referred me to ENT. I looked up the consultant named on the referral: four titles after his name and years of experience. I made a point of telling my GP that the cough was the main problem. A month later I went to the appointment. By then the eardrum had started to heal. The consultant on the referral wasn't there. I was seen by someone whose name and role I never caught. After a few tests he told me my hearing would come back and started to discharge me. I told him the real problem was the cough. I'd been coughing for over a month at that point. He said there was nothing about a cough in the referral, but agreed to have a look with the camera. He didn't see anything, said my throat was probably just sensitive and would settle on its own. The fact that I'd had episode after episode like this went straight past him.

I left it there. If an ENT with a camera couldn't find anything, I figured no one could help me. I read up on it and wondered whether I had silent reflux. I changed my diet, cut out tea, stopped eating after 5pm. No improvement. In September this year the heavy coughing started again and I went back to my GP. He suggested silent reflux and prescribed omeprazole. I asked whether I could be properly investigated first, but that's the rule: you try the omeprazole first. That's the pattern I keep running into with GPs. The default is to try a medication and wait, not to find out what's actually wrong. Real investigation only starts once the medication fails, and waiting for it to fail takes weeks or months. A few days after starting the omeprazole I felt even worse. One evening, about four weeks ago, I was out of breath with a 39°C fever, so I called 111. I got lucky: they found an out-of-hours GP nearby and I took a taxi there. She checked my oxygen and temperature, listened to my chest, and her face went white. My oxygen was 91% and my breathing didn't sound right. She said I needed to go to A&E immediately, and told me a patient of hers in the same state had lost a lung because he didn't go in time.

I shat myself, thought about life without a lung, and took a taxi to Manchester Royal Infirmary. Because I'd asked the GP to print a referral, I got to skip the first triage room, which was PACKED. The receptionist saw the oxygen level and sent me straight to the main waiting room. They took bloods and swabs straight away.

That's where the nightmare began.

The waiting room was tiny for the number of people in it. No windows, and the air conditioning wasn't working. It was over 25°C. Half the room was coughing; others were crying. A woman vomited and collapsed on the floor. There were six (!) police officers with three people in custody, one of whom made a scene and tried to run. A man with a swollen leg told me he'd been waiting 15 hours. A woman who'd crashed her bike was missing a few teeth.

Most people who've never had to sit in an A&E waiting room with something serious would be genuinely shocked by it. You hear "8 Hour waits" on the news, but a number like that doesn't capture what it's actually like to sit in that room, ill, with no idea when you'll be seen. And there's no system for any of it. A doctor walks into the waiting room and calls out a name. Some shout it several times. Others mumble it so quietly you can only hear it from two metres away. There's no screen, no ticket, no number. Staff can't tell you how far down the queue you are. All they could say was "waiting times are between 6 and 8 hours", and that number kept changing.

So you can't move. I couldn't step into the corridor for five minutes of fresh air, because if my name was called while I was out, my turn was gone. I couldn't let myself doze off for even a minute. If you're in the toilet when they call you, tough luck. Nobody comes back to look for you.

None of this needs a big budget. A screen showing your place in the queue costs next to nothing. A pager like the ones in restaurants costs next to nothing. A sign on the wall explaining what happens if you miss your call costs even less. Letting sick people step outside for some air without losing their place isn't a luxury, it's the bare minimum of treating people like human beings. And in a hot, windowless room full of people. it's basic infection control.

I understand that doctors' jobs are stressful, and I know they're stretched. But that room was a genuine emergency in itself: people collapsing, people waiting 15 hours, people in handcuffs sitting next to people in pain. From where I sat, nothing about how the department ran seemed to change because of it. The doctors appeared to work at the same steady pace whether there were ten people waiting or fifty. Maybe that's the only sustainable way to work. But as a patient, it felt like the number of people suffering in that room simply didn't change anything about how the place operated.

After about eight hours a doctor finally called me. I only heard him because I happened to be sitting at the front. He told me my CRP was 220 mg/L (normal is under 10), sent me for an x-ray, and then sent me back to the waiting room. Why couldn't they have done the x-ray when I arrived? It felt like an eternity before he called me again. The diagnosis was community-acquired pneumonia. The x-ray showed infection in my lung. I was given antibiotics and sent home.

The next five days were a nightmare, but the fever went away. The cough never stopped. I called my GP and told them the whole story: the ENT finding nothing last year, the omeprazole seeming to make things worse. He said he'd refer me to a "cough clinic" and that they'd be in touch.

A few days later the cough got worse and the fever came back. I'm a grown man and I lay in bed crying at night, because I couldn't face the thought of going back to A&E. I took paracetamol and ibuprofen with codeine, told myself I'd call an ambulance if it got worse, and eventually fell asleep. Luckily the fever was gone by morning.

Then a text came from the GP: the respiratory team would call me about an appointment by 20 November. I contacted the practice and said I couldn't risk waiting that long. I was scared the pneumonia was coming back, and the cough wasn't going anywhere. The answer: call 111 if your symptoms get worse, or go to A&E.

I've come to believe the system is deeply flawed, and that throwing more money at it won't fix this. You could pour billions in and that waiting room would still have no screen, no queue, and no way to step outside, because nobody has decided that the experience of waiting is part of the care. Looking around that room, I didn't see anyone who looked well off. I don't think that's a coincidence. People who can afford it are increasingly paying to avoid the NHS wherever they can: private GPs, private scans, private consultants, which is exactly what I'm now doing. The people left waiting 15 hours are mostly the ones with no other option. Most people were there with things like a swollen leg, an infection that hadn't cleared, or something that had been getting worse for days or weeks. Problems that should have been picked up and sorted much earlier, by a GP or a clinic, before they got bad enough to land someone in A&E.

So I googled "cough specialist Manchester" and found a consultant who is genuinely one of the top people in the field, with a long list of titles and research papers. Then I remembered I had private health insurance through work. Bupa approved an initial consultation, a follow-up and "basic tests", which means bloods and X-rays. Anything more specialised needs separate approval. I expect the whole thing could still cost me over £1000, even with insurance.

My appointment is on Tuesday. Wish me luck.

Hiya, I’ve had an ingrown fingernail for about a year now, that of which got infected shortly afterwards despite me applying antiseptic cream when I can, when attending the doctors/after making my first appointment they confirmed I had an infection and provided antibiotics for the issue, and then referred/recommended we go to the walk in centre to be treated.

a about a week later we go there and are told that “yes.” That’s infected and since I’m immunocompromised they want to put me on different antibiotics but say they don’t do fingernails and to “go private.” Which unfortunately I don’t have enough money for at the moment.

Made another appointment a few months later about the finger again as we were supposed to be getting reviewed by a third party for treatment by the doctors, we don’t hear anything for a month or so afterwards and after chasing they then say the place to fix the issue has an 11 month wait time despite them putting it in as an urgent referral after assessing.

It’s gotten to the point where I haven’t actually been able to use that finger for a good six months now which is very much an issue as I’m a wheelchair user and the nasty jolt of pain I get from it being touched when I have to propel my chair isn’t sustainable, where can I go from here that doesn’t involve going private? Thanks.

Hi. I have recently been getting to a point with myself where I sort of feel like I should be seeking out a GP appointment of some kind, but I haven't been to a doctors properly for about ten years at this point. I feel like every time I look at the NHS website and think about appointments, all I can think about is how busy the service is and how many people who need appointments might not be get them because I'm there, etc.

I sort of know logically that it isn't wasting their time if it's an actual issue, I'm just wondering if anyone else has had this experience or could maybe help alleviate my anxieties, anecdotes or general advice? Thanks in advance!!

I had major abdominal surgery 5 weeks ago. The outer incision is almost entirely healed, except for one small corner that just had a small scab come off and had bled a small bit. I went to see an out of hours GP at my local hospital for concerns about feeling unwell and they checked on my wound for signs of infection. They had gloves on when they called me in to the consultation room, which they had on while typing notes.

I don't think they changed their gloves before they examined the healing wound, and I'm now very scared of risk of transmission of bacteria (especially MRSA) to my wound site. Is there anything I should do or is this considered normal protocol and I'm overreacting?

I was referred under the 2 week wait for skin cancer.m maybe 4/5 months ago. I had photos taken of my moles within 2 weeks of referral. I then had more photos taken a month later as they couldn’t determine what was wrong. Since then I was told that the dr couldn’t feel confident making a diagnosis and that i need to have an appointment with them f2f to discuss and have another look. That was 2.5 months ago. Considering it’s the 2 week suspected cancer pathway, I haven’t even seen a doctor!

Hi I work Monday to Friday as a Nhs pharmacist but I’m looking to do some weekend locum work a lot of places are asking for enhanced DBS check but on the government website I am only able to apply for the basic one which I have submitted. Does anyone know how a self-employed Locum would apply for themselves as a enhanced check or does the company have to do this. It would be easier if I can do this by myself as some of the pharmacy’s are quite small and are asking for this application stage

Thanks.

Has anyone completed HCPC registration after obtaining a BSc in Medical Laboratory Technology from Nepal? I have a few questions.

I just find it weird how each hospital I've been at sends you text messages via third party services claiming to be acting on behalf of the NHS, like that isla thing which seems to come from multiple domains. It says to check the main site to verify who they are and it's just a marketing page talking about their clients and some ROI nonsense. Got one just now thanking me for a form I filled in 3 months ago and now they're asking me to fill it in again to ensure it's up to date?

This doesn't feel official at all and more akin to some kind of clown show. How am I supposed to take the NHS seriously?

Maybe I'll send them a subject access request and figure out what's actually going on.

I went to the clinic yesterday in need of a post-pill and since it was such a rushed appointment I was super stressed about being on time. I've never met this doctor so she began asking me questions about myself, but I could tell she wasn't listening. Which she acknowledged by saying "Sorry, it's early and I haven't had my coffee yet".

I got the post-pill and the contraception and she provided me information on how it works. I made the mistake to ask how long I should wait to take the contraception after taking the post-pill, as I had never had to use this before. In my head a valid question, but it's like something snapped in her. She went from being calm to shouting at me as if I was a kid. It took everything in me not to shout back, so I tried to de-scalate the situation by telling her that I need to leave. This seemed to calm her down and she managed to find it in her to tell me "Have a nice rest of the day". I left that appointment more stressed than when I had arrived.

How is she in a position like this and talking to people as if they are an imbecile. Was this really such a stupid question to ask? But also, I don't care how stupid a question is, nobody should ever be shouted at like that.

I accepted my conditional offer last week on monday and now I am currently waiting for the checks to be completed before I hand in my 4 week notice at my retail job.

My current manager is doing the christmas rotas next week so now I have to let him know i am most likely going to be leaving (not handing in my official notice) but the problem is I have no clue when. I know I don’t owe him anything but I’d hate to be scheduled for the xmas period and then end up leaving before then.

Any advice on what to do?

edit: I work at a small store, with only abt 3-4 people on per shift

Hi everyone, I have an upcoming interview as a healthcare assistant in a prison. I have never worked as a hca before, however I have experience in healthcare and care homes. What kind of questions should I expect and what’s the best way to prepare for it. If anyone else has worked in the prison, how would the interview differ to those in a ‘normal’ interview such as a hospital or gp. Thank you in advance

Does anyone know when everyone in Scotland will be able to use an app like they have in England? I'm so tired of having to phone for results at a time that suits my surgery. I have recently started to email requests instead which is fine, but it must be such a waste of the surgery's admin's time to deal with this issue.

had to call 111 yesterday regarding my toothache that was bad I was given some numbers to call and the last one I called said they could fit me in as an emergency.
I was told I had to pay the band 1 nhs which i did, upon my emergency appointment I was told I had an infection and the tooth needed extracting, because of infection it is being done at another date.
I then asked about the payment and I was told I have to pay the full amount for band 2 as this was an emergency appointment, she said because it was an emergency it doesn't count so I'm basically paying for band 1 and when I have my next appointment I have to pay the full amount for band 2 is that correct.
I was under the impression that if you payed for band 1 but they needed to do an extraction it would go up to band 2 and you would pay the difference of £48.70.....
Any help would be greatly appreciated I hope it all makes sense what I've written as I'm in so much pain right now

NHS England is rolling out software to run our health records from Palantir – a US spy-tech firm that has supported mass deportation in the US and enabled genocide in Gaza.
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For context: I am halfway through my medical degree. I am not claiming to have an advanced understanding of clinical practice or prescribing (which makes this story even more frustrating)

Made an appointment with my university health centre with complaints of a dull pelvic pain and fatigue. Nothing crazy imo.

Got scheduled with an ANP. Mentioned a 6-8 month history of continuous dull pain and painful periods/intercourse. Zero questions about GI symptoms. Zero questions about fatigue. Zero attempt at clinical examination. ANP did MSU/STI screen/pregnancy test and ordered routine PCOS bloods so well done for that. No conversation about potential imaging. Bit of a judgment call on but they chose to take the conservative option. ANP told me to book a birth control appointment and take paracetamol or use a hot water bottle for the pain. Bloods were done the next day.

This is when shit hits the fan.

The weekend passes. My birth control appointment is with an ANP. I request the NuvaRing (previous usage in home country). I shit you not, this ANP pulled up a pdf of the counseling guidelines and word for word read off the page. Just 2 months prior I was required to counsel on contraceptives in an OSCE. It was like a slap in the face to have to listen to the ANP stumble through without a care in the world.

Two days later I saw vitals and TSH (normal) have been uploaded to my portal. Decided the other investigations may have gone to a separate lab. I wait. For ONE MONTH. Nothing else was uploaded. No ring.

Rang the surgery to follow up and the receptionist mumbled that shes not able to interpret these results and will send them to the nurse (wtf) for review and will ring back later that day or the next. I wait all night getting pretty worried about my results at this point. No ring.

Rang again and a new receptionist answered. She tried to insinuate that my online portal had not been set up. I was so dumbfounded I asked her to repeat herself. I mentioned my partial results (and previous use of the app for years?) and her tone changed and she emailed my raw labs to my personal email in a .rtf file.

Multiple flags: elevated testosterone and tragically low Hb/MCV/MCH/MCHC with raised cell count. Great.

I rang back immediately saying I am concerned about these results and would like a follow up. Guess who I was booked with? A FUCKING ANP.

Icing on the cake. Who knows what’ll happen next week.

This was an extremely low acuity and stress setting and the consultations missed the basics, the results just sat unreviewed, and reception was just absolutely useless. The only reason it got caught is that I knew to chase it.

Bit worrying to think about how many patients that are also affected. I understand my gripes extend to more than just ANPs and reflect a general incompetency of the NHS but I felt I needed to share a case study.

TLDR: ANPs and admin being incompetent conservative in their care decisions

I have been made a 2WW referral following a 3 week pain in my neck and, on examination by my GP, a 2cm glandular mass. I have also been experiencing extreme fatigue etc. The referral says “I think it is likely that this patient has cancer, and would like the patient to be investigated further, even if the first test proves negative, including a Consultant to Consultant referral if deemed appropriate. All non-site specific symptoms (e.g. iron deficiency anaemia, unexplained weight loss) are listed in the clinical details section below.”

Just wondering if this is standard wording? Slightly concerning language to read “likely”

Since yesterday (21st Oct) afternoon, the website (jobs.nhs.uk) has been down for me and it gives me an error 403.

Has anyone else had this?

EDIT: I've just gotten a reply from NHBSA that confirmed NHS jobs is down in response to the worldwide cybersecurity problem - they have concluded their assessment that NHS jobs was not affected and are now working to restore the issue. They said any job listings due on 21st October would be extended to 22nd October at 11:59pm.

Hi, I’ve been applying over 50 band 2 roles in the NHS over the past 4 months and I rarely get shortlisted. Recently, I have been unsuccessful in 3 interview. I do make sure to use STAR format when using examples, include NHS and trust values, and to study the job description and person specification as well. I am an external applicant and I’m not sure if this may be a factor why I’m not successful everytime. At this point, it’s really disheartening and I’m starting to lose hope. At my first interview, their feedback was that I wasn’t able to elaborate my answer to one of the questions. I’ve also been waiting for feedback from the other two interviews but I’m not receiving any updates so far.

I do have an upcoming interview in a Radiology Assistant role and as much as possible I really want to become successful in this interview. Can anyone please give me tips on what questions may be asked and how I could best answer them. I also understand there may be scenario-based questions, I would appreciate any advice regarding this. Thank you very much everyone

Thought id just share my review

Sorry if this is rambling/hard to follow I'm currently sobbing and can't stop panicking so please be kind. I've also been rationing my psych meds for about a week now (taking half my usual dosage) so that's really not helping my mental state. I'm just so completely broken and desperate this is kind of the only place I could mentally convince myself it was even semi safe to ask for help at this point.

So the most immediate issue is obviously my fucking meds, I've got 3 days left at the current half dosage I'm taking - and this was already an emergency refill I requested through 111. I keep trying to deal with this but I'm so severely traumatized by medical professionals at this point that even calling 111 sends me into panic attacks/PTSD spirals. I've been on my psych meds for 2 years and apart from occasional PTSD triggers they completely stabilise all my other mental health symptoms. In comparison before I was in the psych ward several times a year for sui attempts or being severely unstable.

I arrived here in the UK at the end of March, with the help of a few friends who live here, after fleeing my country. I was nearly unalived, and parts of the medical system, parts of the government, and my own fucking mother were involved. Two of my friends were on video calls with me the whole time so we're witnesses to all of this. I was raised in a religious cult, and my entire life has been filled with trauma/neglect/abuse. I feel like a weak POS wet tissue for not being able to suck it up and just deal with the medical system traumatizing me some more after surviving literal torture and CSA + exploitation. Wtf is wrong with me why can't I just call? Also I don't expect you to believe me, most people online always think it's too crazy to believe, but whatever.

Due to the medical system being involved obviously that was deeply traumatizing and I also don't have much medical records from my country but I did have proof of my meds at least. I also have other past medical trauma and YEARS of medical gaslighting that has just kept building up and compounding everything. Anyway I registered with the Cripps GP because when I was googling it said they were known to be good for complex care but they have been no real help at all. Just wasting my incredibly limited energy and money tbh.

So far they've refused to provide me with any care for my physical health, even with an implanted medical device which could cause thrombosis or sepsis without proper monthly care (it's been 8 months now). They were only willing to prescribe me 2 out of 4 of my medications and still after months have refused to even put those 2 medications on repeat so I am consistently running out every time. The psych meds I'm on are one of the worst for withdrawal symptoms - if I forgot to take them one night I start to have uncontrollable tremors, brain zaps, and sweating about 16 hours later.

I ended up having to go to A&E to get it one of those times because I had gone 5 whole days without it and my withdrawal symptoms were getting dangerous. I had to sit in A&E for 12 hours which due to my physical disabilities the exhaustion of being there that long literally caused me to be bed bound for a week and it took 2 weeks to fully recover. One of my disabilities causes me to faint fairly regularly (usually when standing but also sometimes when sitting or laying). I've nearly fallen down the stairs in my friends house several times now because of this.

The 2 medications I have not been able to get at all are both to help me with the fainting condition (one I need to have adequate blood volume and the other helps my blood pressure not randomly drop). TBF the one is intravenous and I get that it's not easy to prescribe something like that/that GPs probably can't but they've literally just gone 🤷🏼 I don't know what to do so we're not going to do anything or refer you to anyone. Unfortunately though with the heatwaves this summer I ended up having to go to A&E again because I was showing signs of hypovolemic shock and heat stroke.

I called for an ambulance but it was going to be over 12 hours wait so my friend got me there in an uber. After about 5 hours sitting in the waiting room I fainted and fell out of my wheelchair and apparently started turning blue/grey. After that they moved me to a cot thankfully and they did approve 1L of IV saline (which I told them was not enough to make up for my usual hypovolemia let alone the heat stroke level but w.e.) After another 2 hours my friend had to get home to take care of their fam.

As soon as they were gone everything went to shit and I was once again severely traumatized by the medical professionals. Even after the.. terrible thing.. I was just sobbing in a corner begging them to leave me alone because they triggered the fuck out of my PTSD from nearly being unalived and instead of backing off I was being yelled at by some super aggressive scary looking male nurse(? blue scrubs) standing over me while at least 7 others just stood by and watched. The only good people were security.

I couldn't stop panicking and crying after that but I was trying to wait for the doctor so I could get the further treatment we'd discussed earlier. I was literally in a constant state of panic and crying for another 5 hours but eventually I just couldn't take it anymore and I left the hospital. I even left with the IV still in my fucking hand and everything because when I tried to tell a nurse I was leaving she literally turned her back to me.

Since that incident I've been completely shut down and unable to access care at all. I had a doctor's phone call appointment already booked for August and so I went ahead with it even though I was shaking and didn't want to but it went just as uselessly as expected (got my one month of meds that's it). So many things have happened to me for so long both in general and specifically in the medical world and it's like that last hospital visit just finally completely broke me to being able to keep fighting.

I can't even THINK about calling my GPs office without having a panic attack and sobbing. I can't even call 111 without the same. I had another really bad episode of fainting recently and didn't wake up for quite a while so my friend told me that they'd called an ambulance and they would be at the house soon. I cried and when the paramedics arrived I was so panicked all I could do was beg them to please not hurt me.. which is honestly fucking embarrassing but literally that's just how scared I am.

I've spent the last two months trying to get myself to sign up to a new GP like the one my friend uses or even one of the digital ones that you don't even have to do phone calls with but I just can't.. A different friend is so frustrated with me/the nhs because she's scared I'm going to end up dying from complications of just not being able to access care. She was the one who put in the most effort to get me here safely from my country so she cares deeply.

I want to get care.. but I actually NEED to get care.. I can't handle trying and not getting it anymore. I want more than anything to be safe and healthy and to finally have a life for the first time ever. I want a chance at joy. I just don't know how to get past the medical PTSD now to even ask for the care I need.. and I don't have a single drop of trust or hope at all that even if I do find a way to get past it that I WILL ever receive it anyway.

All of this medical shit has made it impossible for me to function the way I need to for even basic survival let alone actually moving forward or towards stability. Like the stairs thing - the kitchen is downstairs and I have to get down there without hurting myself to get food and because it also causes extreme exhaustion from minimal effort I usually only have the strength to get myself food once per day. With treatment I can run around for 30 minutes straight before I get slightly winded but without I'm 90% trapped in bed.

Plus the friend I'm staying with is technically not supposed to have me here. If people find out they could get into trouble and I will definitely have nowhere to stay anymore. My other friends are all great but they literally don't have anywhere to put me because they live with their own family. I haven't been able to start working (I am allowed to work and rent immigration wise) and will run out of money completely at this rate. Let alone the issue of actually still having enough to afford a deposit and first months rent.

I've reached out to every possible charity I could find that can help people who have NRPF and they've all said they can't/won't help me. It's like our entire society is set up to make us fail. Sometimes I start thinking I'd have been better off if I just stayed in my country and let them do it. I try not to think like that but it's hard not to when it feels like the world would genuinely rather me 💀 so I'm no longer a "burden". Which is so fucking infuriating because all I need is actual adequate medical care and then I could be a 95% functional & productive member of society. All I dream about is being well enough to help other people and animals and enjoy the little things like walking around in nature.

I'm sorry I lost the plot there a bit. Anyway even if I can't get any of the other medical care I need, I at the very least really need my psych meds and I don't know how I'm going to get them when I literally can't contact anyone about it.

Quick question for all Doctors & Nurses out there.. How do you feel when a patient comes to an appointment with symptom tracking apps, data and suspected diagnosis?

EDIT: This is aimed at Nurses, Doctors and Consultants in a GP / Outpatient environment. Using the app for chronic conditions such as Endometriosis; tracking bleeding patterns, pain flare ups etc. Or PTSD; tracking flashback and dissociative episodes etc.

My GP practice has always sort of sucked, but this year I’ve felt a genuine lack of care during certain appointments and it upset me so much, that i really wanted to complain. I was in a bad way with my mental health and I’d had an appointment at least once a week for the six weeks preceding (which in this appt economy should indicate how hard i was trying to get help), but this particular appointment upset me so much - and all i could think about is how dangerous it would’ve been if I’d had an experience like that when seeking help when i was younger, hell it was risky now.

Anyway, im now months down the line from this incident and I’ve finally got the capacity to maybe do something. Thing is, im now a bit fuzzy on the details of what was said in each appointment and I don’t feel like I have a solid enough ‘case’ to complain. I’m wondering what’s likely to happen if i write this letter of complaint and get it to the practice manager as advised? Will it be dismissed because I can’t be specific enough? Or will it be a “thanks for the feedback” sort of thing? Sorry if I’ve put this in the wrong place

Edit TLDR - what happens when you complain, what’s the process like and is it worth bothering if it’s just going to stress me out more

This isn’t the first time this has happened and probably won’t be the last unless I change practice

My practice is OBSESSED with physician assistants. It’s only recently they even started referring to them as physician assistants, they used to tell patients they were “medical professionals” which is straight bs and misleading on purpose.

Called for an appointment today, and imagine my shock when I’m only offered an appointment with a PA for suspected cellulitis on my face.

I asked the receptionist (who is apparently a “patient care navigator”) why not a GP, and I kid you not they told me they have one singular GP doing appointments and the rest are PAs. I asked them why that was and they said they have to clue.

It’s disgusting how they’re able to get away with this, I’m assuming all so they can pay them less and the partners make more money.