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my poor cervix

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
well i've been having a bit of a bad time of it lately with my 'woman's health' :crying: i'll give you the short story:

1. went for my smear test at my normal GP surgery. nurse took the smear but said she noticed some discharge on my cervix & i should go to the GuM clinic to have a check
2. went to the clinic, had all the tests done
3.went back for the results - they found gonorrhea & chlamydia :( treated me for both
4. went back to test the treatment worked
5. went back for the results of those tests - all negative :)
6. started noticing some increased discharge myself. went back to the GuM clinic again, had all the tests again
7. they said from what they saw they thought it was bacterial vaginosis and gave me the treatment for that
8. went back after the treatment. they said the last tests were negative for all STDs & positive for BV so i should be treated, go away & see if it settles down
9. it didnt. in fact the discharge increased :( and i started getting some pain - feels kinda like a constant mild period pain.
10. went back AGAIN. had all the tests AGAIN (i swear half the medical profession has seen inside my privates by now :S). tests negative for all STDs, BV, Thrush, everything else. so basically they have no fucking idea what is wrong with me :crying: i saw their 'most senior' doctor and she said she didnt know how to treat me. she gave me a 'broad spectrum antibiotic' and basically just crossed her fingers it'll do something.
11.so far it has had no effect. so now i am lying in bed feeling pain and feeling sorry for myself...

i dont know what to do next either. what is the point of going back there again when their best doctor had no idea? i certainly am not letting my horrible GP any where near that part of me either (dont even like going to him normally abt anything, he's terrible) so what else can I do?

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    1. This whole deal sounds crappy as hell. You have my sympathy for both the horrendous deal of wapping out your parts for every medic in town, and having a mystery illness. Both are really very far from being fun.

    2. If you don't like your GP, try to switch. Honestly, I found an absolutely amazing one, who actually gives a shit, and it makes such a difference. I've got a mystery illness too, and the other GP made me feel like such a timewaster, and suggested I should just go away and get on with it.

    3. If you don't get any answers, I'd suggest trying to get a second opinion. Maybe ask your GP if you could be referred somewhere else (gynaecologist?), or if you could go to a different GUM clinic. The thing about mystery illnesses is that the more people you see about them, the more likely you are to find one who goes 'ahh, actually... I think I know what this is'.

    4. Good luck :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    *agrees with Kaffrin*

    that sounds really crummy. hope you get it sorted and try not to worry too much
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    thanks for the support :)
    difficult to change GP in my area but i will try a different GuM clinic probably... just want it to go away
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    intrepide wrote:
    thanks for the support :)
    difficult to change GP in my area but i will try a different GuM clinic probably... just want it to go away

    Do you not have different gps at the place you go?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Tweety wrote:
    Do you not have different gps at the place you go?

    nope :( just one, he is about 100 years old and doesnt speak english all that well and i just dont like him. there are female nurses which are nice but one of them was the one who told me to go to the GuM clinic so I think they would just refer me on to the doctor.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It's worth another shot with the nurses, if you tell them the problems you've been having they'll probably be sympathetic. If they suggest the doctor you could ask for one of them to sit in with you, that might help.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ok. i went in to my GP surgery & asked them if they ever have a female doctor come and do some appointments there - i didnt think they did but my old surgery used to have that once a month so i thought its worth a try. they dont have anything like that but, the receptionist tells me, they have a different male doctor coming in for a couple of days next week. she says he's 'a bit older and he retired last year' but 'he's lovely' so i thought what the hell and made an appointment with him. Figure i can ask for the nurse to be present if he wants to examine me and even if he cant work out whats wrong with me maybe he can refer me to a specialist or something.
    other than that, my symptoms havent lessened despite being nearly to the end of my 'broad spectrum' antibiotics and i'm still feeling pains :(

    thanks for all your suggestions though :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Figure i can ask for the nurse to be present if he wants to examine me

    What good would that do?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    StrubbleS wrote:
    What good would that do?

    As a chaperone.

    It's pretty standard for a female nurse to be present, or be available to be present, when a male doctor physically examines a girl. It protects them both - her from the doctor doing anything untoward, and the doctor from being falsely accused of anything untoward.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    StrubbleS wrote:
    What good would that do?

    like kaffrin said, as a chaperone. for safety but also just as like a support to make you feel more comfortable. i dont know about anyone else but me alone in a room with a man looking/feeling down there is not a situation i wanna be in unless its my b/f and its an entirely different type of looking & feeling. it might even be that the nurse could take the swabs & the doctor could look at them (thats what happened the one time i got a male doctor at the GuM clinic), ill see what happens.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    kaffrin wrote:
    As a chaperone.

    It's pretty standard for a female nurse to be present, or be available to be present, when a male doctor physically examines a girl. It protects them both - her from the doctor doing anything untoward, and the doctor from being falsely accused of anything untoward.

    WHAT? These things actually happen? I thought that were spooky products of US american law-suit hoax stories.

    I mean, the doc of who intrep is speaking of is retired already? I have been examined at 'these locations' by men and women already and I felt more comfortable when I was able to trust my doctor, instead of being in need of a witness.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    StrubbleS wrote:
    WHAT? These things actually happen? I thought that were spooky products of US american law-suit hoax stories.

    Apparently so. I don't know what the official line is on it, but I've always had a nurse step in, on the request of the doctor, if he has to examine me in any sensitive type areas. When I was at the GI outpatients clinic, the doctor actually said to me that he wasn't allowed to touch me until the nurse came, and all he was doing was having a prod around my belly - I was fully clothed.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    StrubbleS wrote:
    WHAT? These things actually happen? I thought that were spooky products of US american law-suit hoax stories.

    i even had a nurse come in once when the doctor was testing my eyes, because he had to have the lights off.
    I felt more comfortable when I was able to trust my doctor, instead of being in need of a witness

    If you read my post, you would see that i dont like my doctor, thats why we were thinking of alternatives.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The nurse suggestion was for moral support, to reassure and to help express the problems she was having. It's often a lot easier to explain what's up to someone you relate to well, and if you live somewhere with limited options you look for the best solutions.

    Having a chaperone present does lots of things, it reassures the patient because all they need to do is be nice to you rather than do the examination, it provides another pair of hands if needed, and helps to stop malicious allegations. The main thing though is to make the patient more comfortable.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Whenever i get examine in IDO, it's just me and me consultant. Does that mean i'm a slut :(
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Nah, in my examinations in colorectal seem to have become just me and the doctor/surgeon/consultant... If you want someone you can ask, different areas have different policies, especially the regular departments that do a lot of examinations tend not to have chaperones as standard.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    And you're a bloke, for some reason you guys are usually seen by anyone male or female and rarely is it questioned. Girls however are more often offered the option of a female presence.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    RubberSkin wrote:
    Whenever i get examine in IDO, it's just me and me consultant. Does that mean i'm a slut :(

    well, done... Since I was about to love out loud, but didn't want to wake anybody up, I just blew a load of snot out...

    /e: BWAHA... Oh, that was rubberskin, that is the comedy to the power of 2.

    anyway, it's a weird place. I mean, I try to imagine a retired gynaecologist who made that his whole life long (and without big troubles, otherwise he wouldn't be doc anymore), who molests a woman, while examining her. weird... anyhoo.

    sorry for this intermezzo and for hi-jacking your cervix (thread)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    well let me update on this situation i find myself in :(

    in the end i didnt go to that GP appointment because my period came that day (4 days early) so he wouldnt have been able to examine me or anything. The discharge and the pains continued though and I really needed to go see someone because this whole thing has been driving me mad.. not only is it annoying to have a discharge and stuff, i have been stressing so much about it all. I havent been sleeping well because in the middle of the night the fact that they dont know what is wrong with me turns into it could be anything therefore it could be really serious therefore its cancer or something and I'm gonna die :crying:

    so today I went to a different GuM clinic for another opinion. I saw a nurse and she examined me then she called in the doctor and he examined me (the nurse stayed as the chaperone and, in fact, had asked me when she did her examination if i had wanted a second nurse as a chaperone)

    well the end story is that they still have no idea :S the tests were all negative again..... they were pretty reassuring though as I told them how stressed I was and they basically said that they were there to rule out all the serious things - what i have is something that is annoying & needs to be fixed but is probably not anything serious or with long-term effects.
    the only one thing they did find out is that the swabs they took showed I had none of the regular good bacteria that is supposed to be down there. they said that this is most likely due to the multitude of anti-biotics I have been given but could also be causing the problem or stopping it from clearing up.

    so now i've got some new cream to put up there which does something to the pH levels to encourage the good bacteria to come back and other than that I just have to 'wait and see' and make sure not to 'overwash' - i was already not using soap after being advised not to by the other nurse but now they say try not to do anything at all - in the shower, just let the water flow there as i wash the rest of myself but dont specifically wash that area at all, even with just water. I'm not so keen on this idea as the discharge in itself kinda makes me feel unclean anyway, but i'll give it a go since i just really want this all to be over!!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aw, hugs. It might seem weird to not wash, but I'd go with it. Antibiotics are renowned for upsetting bacteria levels in ya vag so def try out their cream. Try not too worry too much because at least you know there is nothing serious that the meds can uncover. Sometimes, these things just sort themselves out...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    katralla wrote:
    Aw, hugs. It might seem weird to not wash, but I'd go with it. Antibiotics are renowned for upsetting bacteria levels in ya vag so def try out their cream. Try not too worry too much because at least you know there is nothing serious that the meds can uncover. Sometimes, these things just sort themselves out...

    thanks :)
    yea, i'll give it all a try and see what happens in another couple of weeks.
    one question though - this cream is one that is inserted up there with an applicator. i'm just wondering would i still use it when i get my period (which is due in a week) ?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'd probably drip and wipe in the morning, them use cream, then insesrt tampon... something like that.
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