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Visiting the GP

ShadowPhantom

Wasn't sure if this was the right place for this topic as it isn't necessarily a health related issue.

Anyway, I just wanted to raise a point about dealing with visiting the GP.

Recently on the news they were talking about the Stephen Fry & Bill Turnbull effect on men going to see their GP about prostate cancer. Please note, this topic is not about my health issues, cancer or men, but I'm merely using this as a starting point to emphasise what I want to discuss. They were talking about why men find reasons to not visit their GP & to be honest it led me to considering the reasons why people, for whatever reason, choose not to go & see their GP. It's not like we're born with any preconceptions about what it means to visit the GP, so it must be our experiences in life that shape our views on whether or not we choose to want to go & see the GP to discuss things.

I can safely say that I would be more than happy to go & visit the GP, however, I am inclined to wonder whether or not it's worth going to see the GP considering my own experiences.

I don't know whether or not I'm alone in feeling like it's pointless to go & see the GP but I want to try & understand why people do feel like not going to see their GP at times in the hopes that such conversations can lead to changes in the profession.

Once upon a time there was the idea of a family GP who you actually built up a relationship with who you would see & over time they would get to know you, you would get to know them & by building up that relationship it could make it easier to build trust & be able to discuss things. Nowadays, it feels like you don't actually build up a relationship with anyone, GPs aren't really interested in dealing with you & you don't necessarily have one GP to deal with, which can lead to people feeling like the profession doesn't care. I have spent years seeing multiple GPs & all I end up feeling at the end of every visit is "Well, that was pointless" because the GPs don't really listen, don't want to address your concerns, make judgments, don't try to discuss or investigate symptoms & are very quick to dismiss anything you feel you have to say.

I don't believe this is an issue just relating to autism & I also feel that my autism isn't the main driver behind GP behaviour. However, even GPs should understand the nature of psychology & how their behaviour can influence the patients they're supposedly trying to help. If I feel like it's pointless going to the GP & they will not listen to what I have to say then why would I go even if I may have symptoms that suggest that maybe I should go to see someone. I'm not trying to claim that all GPs fall into such a category but it feels like GPs have forgotten that they actually deal with people & those basic people skills should be considered necessary in a profession that is all about interacting with & providing a service to people.

Over recent years, all I do is go to see a GP about an issue, get told it's all related to Mental Health before they've even finished listening to me or trying to investigate other reasons as to what's going on. Then when I'm in Mental Health services, it doesn't really achieve anything, I get told that I make a good self therapist & that maybe I should go & see another GP. This is a repeating process that leads to achieving nothing while I still feel that I have issues that could be physical in nature but nobody prepared to do anything about it. This is even after the psychologist who diagnosed me with Asperger's Syndrome providing a list of things my GP could do to help me only for me to see my GP who seemed shocked that I would turn up to discuss what the psychologist wrote & then simply dismissed me without really doing anything except following one item, to book me in for a blood test where I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Who knows what could have happened if the GP hadn't diagnosed that & who knows what other conditions I or others may have when GPs seem reluctant to interact with us & actually investigate our symptoms properly. Some may say this is a matter of lack of funding & time on the part of the GPs but I feel this is making an excuse for GPs who are making the choice to not behave in a professional & compassionate nature in actually listening to & interacting with their patients.

  • in reply to seekeraftertruth

    My potential counter point would be that they could arrange for something beyond those 8 minutes if they wanted to by utilising different services, booking tests, booking extended time slots, etc. The GPs I deal with choose not to do much of anything within those minutes, generally with a focus on trying to simply get me out the door as quickly as possible rather than utilising those minutes more effectively. From how I'm treated, I very much get the impression that the various GPs I have visited don't seem to actually want to get to know me. I am also aware of other people who get treated very differently by their GPs when I end up in such conversations with various people, so I can judge in comparison that the attitude towards me by the GPs I visit can be very different to other GPs. I just happen to think that such a line can be easily used to excuse such behaviour and practice. Again, I'm not trying to state that all GPs are like the ones I have experienced but it leads me to conclude that there's still so much inconsistency depending on the individual GPs and their approach towards their patients.

    I agree with you that there can be complex issues due to how complex the human body can be with various conditions that could present the same or similar symptoms. Therefore, it can be tricky to try and work out what could be going on. However, does that necessarily mean that the correct answer is simply to do nothing. It can depend but my opinion would be that it can be more cost effective to focus more on prevention rather than simply waiting to react. Sometimes, GPs can make the wrong diagnosis, which could potentially be helped with some extra investigation. Even just starting off with some compassion, consideration and listening skills could be more beneficial in helping than just trying to get rid of a patient as quickly as possible without attempting to do what they can to understand what is going on.

    I'm not trying to say there's an easy fix to things but even having the right attitude within those 8 minutes of dealing with a patient can potentially have a better impact on the patient even if nothing is done at the end of it.

    I suppose I just simply conclude to myself that I try my best to do what I can to manage things, which isn't always the easiest task, but I guess I may just have to wait for something more severe and serious to happen before anyone does anything. However, that just leads me to wondering why the system seems to rely on waiting for the worst to happen before attempting to take action to properly deal with things. In a strange way, I wonder if it's due to the fact that my symptoms aren't severe and that I do a reasonable job of managing my mental health that they just don't really consider me some sort of priority, which then leads me to thinking that such actions must surely lead to people who will then take action to make themselves much worse to become more of a priority. It's like a system that incentivises people to try to become worse so that they will then get the help they need.

  • I think it must be very difficult for GPs to interact, investigate and treat something within the 8 minutes they have available. In general, I think they would tell you themselves that they would prefer a much longer time with you to get to know what your issues are so that they can do something that would make a genuine positive impact in your life.

    There are always GPs that don't seem bothered or try to fix things as quickly as possible without taking the time with you, just as there are in any profession. We are all a bit limited in the support we have available to us, since there are only a few GPs in a typical local surgery; you might have more luck with a different one where possible.

    I rarely see my GP. My perception is that they should try and fix the root cause of an issue, but they only ever treat the symptoms. Maybe that's an expectation they need to set with the population, that they will only treat the symptoms, because it will either take too long to find the root cause, or they don't know what the root cause would be because the body is still a mystery, or they think it will fix itself over time. I can usually treat my symptoms myself at home, so I don't see much point in going in and seeing someone.