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"Felt let down by lack of treatment from GP"

About: Askern Medical Practice

(as a service user),

After being diagnosed when I was 24 with Hypothyroidism, I managed to keep my weight and TSH at bay by eating Keto and going to a gym almost daily. After I moved to Yorkshire, I signed up in Askern and tried not to visit unless absolutely necessary. As I had a very busy job with no chance to get an appointment for months, I stopped trying as every time I called they had no appointments left.

A few months of constant weight again, feeling exhausted and dragging myself around, they gave me an appointment (Not for that month ofc).

I went to visit my parents in Spain, and we managed to get a full-on blood test ( Antibodies, tsh, t3, t4, reverse t3, leptin...), where my TSH was on 14 and antibodies were through the roof. I was diagnosed with a type of autoimmune disease called Hashimotos, was told to cut down quite a few things as my body was reacting against everything. I still was taking medication and was told to seek help from an endocrinologist as I needed following up. 

When I made it to the gp, I took all the papers from the hospital, hoping I could be referred, maybe also given an alternative to levothyroxine as sometimes it doesn't work. My doctor almost laughed at me, told me to take another blood test and refused to even look at my papers. They said my file didn't say anything, even though I was getting medication from my previous GP in London, and there were several previous blood tests that showed the ups and downs of my TSH.

This time a month/6 weeks after my last blood test, my TSH came as 5.3, and when asking the doctor for a prescription, they refused to give me any medication, said I didn't need it, even though I've been having this problem for years, laughed in my face when I started crying, as I could not believe what was going on. They seemed convinced I made it all up, and I wanted to trick them somehow, then when I said I wanted a second opinion he got really aggressive and said told me that nobody would believe me and to go ahead and try to sue me, which honestly left me shocked and upset. They were adamant I didn't have any hypothyroidism, and I was making it all up. Refused to check my antibody levels, and they said I could come back in  6 weeks if I was feeling poorly, to prove I needed levothyroxine, but until then they weren't doing anything.

There was no other GP to ask for a second opinion, they didn't provide me with a complain form, just a white sheet and no envelope, that went straight to the bin. 

3 months later, when I took the complaint further up, they decided that the only thing they could do was to repeat a TSH test, without checking any antibodies, and that was all -they could do. 

Autoimmune diseases don't disappear because a GP thinks that's what's happening. Neither does the lack of vitamin D, folic acid, or high levels of antibodies just because a doctor is negligent. The inhumane way I was laughed at while crying because I was told I was making it up, and the complete dismissal of my health was disgusting, the lack of treatment for me with a thyroid disorder feels dangerous and unnecessary to me.

When I moved GPs, all the paperwork was still there, despite it not being there in the other go. Also a staff member saw me so distressed and offered to help, to then proceed to mislead me about the director being in, and laughed at my letter and showed it to everyone in the office. I feel like I have been treated appallingly. 

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