Doctor won't help ...

[Magic.]

I've had the same symptoms for months now and my doctor keeps brushing it off and won't help.
I have a constantly sore throat, not like I can't talk etc but the back on one side when I look is swollen and it looks like there's blood on that side rather than just pink like the other side. I'm also constantly (excuse the grossness) coughing up green stuff sometimes a little blood, without having a cold or even just a stuffy nose. The past few times I've been to the doctor he's put me on antibiotics for throat/chest infections "just in case". He says he doesn't think I have one but he gives me them anyway, and they don't help. It's getting more and more painful but he won't try anything else. I saw another doctor and they said they said I was making it up. I put off seeing the doctor until I can't bear it anymore because I'm kind of sick of being told I'm fine / making up when I'm in so much pain.
I'm also constantly exhausted. I often only get a few hours sleep. I've tried restricting caffeine, not taking naps, sleeping tablets etc but nothing works. It's getting to the point no matter how hard I try I end up falling asleep during the day ... today it got to 9.30am and I couldn't stay awake anymore, and last night I actually managed to sleep for 6 hours which is way more than usual. When I mentioned it to the doctors I've seen recently they just said "that's unfortunate" ...

I don't know what to do. How can I make people listen? I don't see how they can say I'm making it up ... maybe if I was in there constantly but I'm not I've been maybe 4/5 times in the past 8 months and two of those were about my pill. I can't handle this much longer ... can't function properly anymore.

[Sincerely Yours ♥]

I don't really know what's going on, but you should go to a different doctor if this one isn't helping you the way he should.

[OMFG!You'reActuallySmart!]

Although assessing the colour of the mucus isn't all that reliable, it's something your doctors may have considered.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellnes...6427491&page=1

Green mucus usually means there's an infection, often bacterial or the flu and usually causes sinus pressure build-ups, however, if it's been lasting for a month, using the mucus colour grading, a likely candidate is bronchitis. It's easily confirmed by a throat swab.

You may want to get aerosol-inhaler bronchodialators for short-term relief when coughing gets pretty bad. They're meant for asthma but they're also used for infected bronchi-bronchioles.

The blood is probably a by-product of all the coughing. About 4 years ago I had bronchitis and it's not something that you can quickly recover from over a weekend filled with rest. It took 1-2 weeks (maybe 2.5 weeks) to recover. When it got particularly bad, I was "coughing up" blood, not just a little droplet but a decent amount that made me think I was soon going to have my lung on the bedroom floor. I went to the doctor and he assured me it was just due to a shitload of coughing.



Not to be too nosy but is there something in your medical record that suggests you have confabulated symptoms in the past? No half-decent doctor would tell their patient, "you're clean as a whistle" when they look dead tired, coughing away and have dribbled a bit of blood out from their throat. It's odd for one doctor to turn you down but if TWO turn you down, either you have bad luck and stumbled upon uncaring lousy doctors or there's something big you haven't mentioned from your medical record.

[Magic.]

I have no medical record here as I only moved in Feb ... but no there's nothing on there. At the beginning of the year I ended up in A&E in agony with my throat, and the doctor I saw said I was making it up because my tonsils hadn't dropped so there was no infection ... but another overheard it and told her not to jump to conclusions, something about lots of throat infections stopping the tonsils working properly and on reexamination said it was really bad ... I don't know whether she put anything on a record but it would have been removed / corrected, plus that was at the hospital not doctors :/ And regardless of the just moving thing, there was nothing on my record at home either

The mucus is green. I wouldn't stress if it was clear. To be fair I don't even like stressing cos it's green, I only stress when I can't deal with the pain etc. As for the blood, I do assume it's just from the coughing cos it's such small amounts. I have an inhaler for my asthma, I have a couple at the moment. I've tried taking them for the cough but it's not helping.

I always put off medical problems because I hate making a big deal out of them. My sister got in a fair bit of trouble a year or so ago for making up symptoms and wasting doctors time so I'd never dream of doing it.

And I saw a different doctor at the surgery but got more or less the same reaction ... and I have an appointment with another next week to try and get more help. I just don't know how to make them listen without sitting and saying "I'm not making it up" ... that kind of raises alarm bells :/

[escape_thereal_world]

It shouldn't matter if it was at a hospital and not the doctors. Tell your doctor you went to the hospital, what day, approximate time, and the doctor's name if you can remember. Then they can call the hospital for those records. You should always tell your doctor when you've been to the hospital so they can keep up with what is going on with you.

If you aren't making it up (which you clearly aren't) then you need to MAKE them understand you are concerned. You have to stand up to your doctor and say, "Look, I don't know what's going on with me but there is SOMETHING wrong and I really want to find out what." Call them consistently until they accept an appointment or make another appointment so they see that this is an ongoing thing and not just something that's lasting a couple days.

I had several severe sore throats when I was in my teens. Consistent but always different diagnosis. When I got white stuff on my tonsils and it never went away (Despite being treated for thrush and mono and strep throat). It never went away and my doctor started doing the same treatments over.

Finally, my mom said "No. We are not getting diagnosed with the same thing. There is something ELSE going on. Find out what it is, please." So they decided to take my tonsils out and said it was "unknown" bacteria. Never had issues with sore throats again

So, stand up to your doctor(s). Keep a log of the symptoms, time, days, etc. This way they can see patterns. Make an Excel sheet or just jot it all down on paper. But keeping logs REALLY helps doctors figure out what's going on.

[Nightblood.]

I feel like it's odd that if you can SEE your throat is swollen and red that they'd say there's nothing wrong. So either I'd say see what a third doctor says.

[Magic.]

The doctor does know I was at the hospital, they had aletter from them that I passed on, nothing about faking in it though
I have one of those magnifying mirror things and when I look to the back I can see it. I also have a friend just qualify as a doctor and she says there's something there. She can't treat me because she's not a GP and conflicting interests etc.
Kelly, that's what I want to do, but I feel like they're already amking out like I fuss ... won't that make it worse? If the next doctor treats me the same I'll give it a go though

[Magic.]

With seeing the swelling etc in my throat ... I'm not really worried about the swelling. I was told by my old doctor that some people have one gland slightly more swollen than the other and it's nothing to worry about. What I'm starting to worry about is that on the right side, towards the back I can see blood. Not like it's bleeding, almost like it was bleeding but started to heal over. And I don't mean small cuts, it's patches the size of pin heads :/

[escape_thereal_world]

I think what you are seeing is probably just irritation. It looks like bloody spots, but if a doctor swabs it's generally not. Kind of like if you scratch your arm too much you get blood spots but no blood.

Though, if you were coughing up blood before it could have been irritated enough it opened. The thing is, you would be able to see white stuff and crusty stuff on the wounds if they are healing. That's what a scab would look like.

As for standing up, no. It shouldn't make it worse. If you go in explaining you are worried. If they say it is nothing, then ask them questions. Ask them "Why does it look like it is swollen? Why are there red bloddy dots on my throat?" Etc. If they avoid the questions, then see a different doctor for sure.

If they answer them, take them into consideration. If you still think something is wrong, you can still see a different doctor. Do some more research. Maybe ask your friend if she has any connections to good GPs or a suggestion on what to do.

[Magic.]

The thing with the blood thing is it's there even when I haven't been coughing for a while. Like that started about a week before the coughing. But yeh it's probably got irritated and worse by the coughing. I mean it's got to the point where swallowing hurts on that side of my throat, even water, which is probably only making it worse, but I can hardly stop.
I'll give it my best persuasive shot on Wednesday with the doctor

[Magic.]

Thank you beautiful people for encouraging me to push it. Doctor sent me for a full blood work up today. It's a start

[escape_thereal_world]

Woo! I'm so glad they are trying to figure out what's wrong. Don't be disappointed if it comes back clean. If the doctor doesn't push any other tests feel free to ask, "Is there anything else you can do?" Or something a long those lines.

[Magic.]

I'm used to things coming back clean, no matter how bad the symptoms are. It usually takes me getting sick enough to end up in hospital for results to actually come back, but that can take a while and is not nice at all.
I will do, thanks again!

[Magic.]

Just an update, got my test results back!
I had a lot of strep anitbodies, so doc's put me in anitbiotics for a min of 2 weeks, then will do more tests to see if it'll go away. Hopefully it'll work this time.
As for the exhaustion, my iron was really low. So taking supplements for 2 months and again, more blood tests after that to check it.
Thanks for all the advice guys this can probably be closed now. Much love!!

[Gingerbread Latte]

I'm glad you finally got things sorted, I hope it gets better soon and the antibiotics do their job

PM me if you need the thread reopening at a later date