Dodgy advice from GP

Former Member

My girlfriend saw a GP today for a check up and to get some conraceptive pills. She said the doctor seemed quite inexperienced and said several strange or stupid things. One was regarding taking pills back to back, where he said "research has shown it's possible to take two to three months back to back, it should be okay to take them back to back for longer periods of time, athough research hasn't been done on this" [what?!].

He also suggested that, despite her being fine with her current pill, she should try a long term option like the implant or injection, because (his words) "we have to meet a quota for them".

Finally when she asked whether it was safe to continue with her current pill since she'd heard long term use could increase the risk of breast cancer, he replied "Where did you hear that? Is breast cancer something you're concerned about?" - well, duh. And then he suggested he would be more worried about becoming pregnant than getting breast cancer in the future.

Is this a common experience? She was clearly worried by his incompetence and some of his advice was either not in her best interests or downright dangerous. Should/can something be mentioned to someone to prevent other girls with slightly less sense believing the things he said?

Former Member

This may not be right, but I thought that the main reason for having breaks on the pill is because it makes it cheaper for the health service than people taking it back to back consistently rather than any health risks doing so may pose. I'm willing to be corrected on that though.

As for pushing the longer term forms of contraception I think that's policy at the moment - when I went for my last prescription my doctor told me about them as well, but very dismissively, as in 'we're now being told to tell everyone about the implant and injection' but sounding a bit pissed off about being told what advice to give. That's probably what happened with your girlfriend's GP, but he didn't express it very well - he probably shouldn't have mentioned quotas!!

So it's possibly the case that being new he hasn't quite gained the people skills yet rather than being medically incompetent. I can understand your girlfriend being pissed off though. I remember when I signed up to a new surgery after uni being given an earful from the nurse for not having had a smear test by that point. It appears that whilst Bristol PCT was only giving them out from the age of 25, Harrow was still giving them out from 21, so by being 22 and sexually active, from her point of view I was clearly a very naughty girl for not having had one yet :rolleyes: She was telling me about risks of chlamydia etc and I was really annoyed that she was making assumptions whilst knowing nothing about me. I had lost my virginity at the age of 19 and had only slept with one guy, who was also a virgin, so I was hardly in the high risk category for much or had lost much for waiting an extra year or two.

Former Member

I pretty much got told the same thing. I'm on the contraceptive patch, for contraception and other properties to stop me becoming ill. My first GP was happy to prescribe it and said I could go three or four months without a break, and there is no reason to go a bit longer but it was advisable I had a break every now and then.

When I changed GP's they tried to get me to go back on the pill. I asked why and they said that if there was no real reason for me being on the patch as opposed to the pill then it's a waste of money in their view. They also pushed the implant and stuff with me.

I refused to back down, because of not getting on with the pill pretty much due to forgetting it and also break through bleeding even when I remembered it, so that was just rubbish. They tried it on a few times then gave up.

I pay for all my other prescriptions and work for the nhs, so I'm not having the whole 'costing too much' put on me.

What he said was the truth about the money and the fact there is no hard evidence to prove it's safe not to have breaks (I'm pretty sure, but not 100%). But then there is also nothing proven to say you should. I guess the problem with what he said is he should be giving exact advice on what is proven to be safe, so not saying it might be ok.

I reguarly go 5-6months without a break, mostly because I just really hate having a period and keep putting it off.

Former Member

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Former Member

girl with sharp teeth wrote: »

As for the breast cancer comment, this is where I would agree it was poorly managed, but generally breast cancer in young women is incredibly rare anyway, and the new generation of contraceptive pills have a much lower risk of breast cancer associated with them than the older style pills. They also protect against some other female cancers such as ovarian cancer.

I presume, too, by way of his poorly delivered question, it was to determine if her breast cancer was common in her family (hence the 'are you worried?' angle).

**helen**

Teagan wrote: »

I presume, too, by way of his poorly delivered question, it was to determine if her breast cancer was common in her family (hence the 'are you worried?' angle).

:yes: