Hello Everyone
I’m very new here so please forgive me if this is the wrong place to talk.
I’ve had an experience today with a gp that has made me feel really down. I feel like I’ve wasted her time and she’s just giving me a fob off to go away.
she’s not the most friendly of doctors, I’ve had her for an appointment before and she’s very abrupt and a little rude in my opinion.
so I’ve had some moles appear and I’ve been monitoring them and noticed they have got darker recently.
I’ve been speaking to the wonderful Carol here and she said to get them checked with a gp to ease my worries.
On Wednesday I sent an E consult (an email type appointment) today I got a reply from the gp for a completely unrelated matter I used e consult before for.
I messaged the surgery to ask if she can address the correct matter of the moles to be told “it’s not on the system”.
so I re sent the e consult with all my history and 4 photos I snapped on my phone.
The doctor replied with “ all three moles look completely benign”.
That was it no explaining or reassurance and if anything it’s made me worry more, I at least expected to be called in person to check them over but it just feels like she’s had a quick Look like shut up your wasting my time.
I thought I’d have some relief for speaking to her but in-fact I’m just not sure if I can trust her opinion.
my husband said maybe we should pay to have them checked privately with a dermatologist.
my grandma (mothers side) passed away from a brain tumour caused by a metastatic malignant melanoma. I got very badly sunburned in my teens to the stage of water filled blisters and swollen painful legs. I noticed the moles after my pregnancy bump went down (3 years ago) and I don’t remember them from before.
I told my gp this on the e consult but she’s still confirmed them to be benign from my basic photos which don’t show all the markings well.
I don’t know if I should pay privately to have them checked in person or not and I don’t want to waste any more of anyone’s time if she is correct.
sorry I just needed to let it out I feel really let down and more worried than I was before.
thank you for reading ️
Hi Codabug and a very warm welcome to the online community which I hope you'll find is both an informative and supportive place to be.
I'm sorry to read that you feel that you've been "fobbed off" by your GP. Personally I would want to have a face-to-face appointment with my GP if I was worried about any of my moles. Can you ask for this at your surgery and maybe also with a different GP so you get a second opinion?
Paying to see a private dermatologist can be a good idea too. I did this when there was going to be a lengthy wait for me to seen by an NHS dermatologist. The cost usually starts at around £200 and the benefit of doing this is that you can get them to do a full body check.
The online community is divided into different support groups so you might want to join us over in the melanoma group so that you connect directly with others who may have had a similar experience to you.
To join, just click on the link I've created and, once you've joined, you can start a new post in the same way as you did here and join in with existing conversations by clicking on 'reply'.
Let me know how you get on
Hi Codabug
For 2 years I was misdiagnosed by GPs at my health centre, told to go away and gargle with salt water and lemon juice, for what turned out to be throat cancer, luckily it had not spread far and was treatable with Chemoradio, treatment was physically and mentally challenging, GPs are not infallible...ask politely but firmly for a face to face consultation, 5 minutes of her time to give you some advice?
Peter
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