"Bad Patient Experience - Concerns not taken seriously - Help withheld"

I've suffered from pelvic pain for years and am usually told that I'm just not exercising enough, or that I'm exaggerating. The pain is chronic, but not incapacitating, so (although I would rather not have to) I've been able to just deal with it for some years.

I had my COVID booster early this year and almost immediately began to suffer from excruciating period-like cramps. In early March I came down with a very bad stomach bug which badly exacerbated my existing lower abdominal pain, so I went to the GP and asked for a scan to rule out anything more serious.

I was told that people are not referred for scans unless they've already been seen by a specialist and I can only see a specialist if the GP feels there's a need. The GP performed a standard check by pressing down on my abdomen, when asked if it hurt to touch I said no because it's not the outside part that hurts, it's the inside part that radiates pain to which ever part of me is facing the ground. If I'm standing, the pain will be around my pelvis and hips, if I'm lying down my lower back will hurt, on my side then it's my side that hurts etc. 

At this point, the GP told me there was nothing of concern there because it didn't hurt when she touched me and I was added to a waiting list and told that there was no way of knowing how long it would take for me to be seen.

On the Friday, I began to notice a heavy, ball of pain on the right of my lower abdomen that felt like it was dragging down my right side, extended down my inner right thigh and putting painful pressure on my bladder/urethra. It wasn't excruciating, and from experience I knew that nothing would be done unless my life was obviously in danger, so I didn't bother to call the GP.

By the Sunday, the pain had gotten much worse and I was becoming frightened. I called NHS24 and was asked why I didn't speak to my GP on Friday. After I explained and answered all the questions required of me, I was told to go take painkillers and use a hot water bottle. I told them I hadn't taken any painkillers that day because I've tried them in the past and they do nothing for my pain. They don't even touch it. The operator told me that if I wasn't trying to help myself, they wouldn't refer me to see anybody. I agreed to take painkillers and call back in a few hours.

When I called back and explained my situation again, the operator said that an out of hours team would call me back to let me know what the course of treatment would be. 

When I received the call I was again asked to explain what my issue was and the operator asked me what I wanted them to do about it. I told them I was hoping they might be able to tell me what can be done and was told that they could only send me to an out of hours clinic where I'd have to explain everything to a different person, have my abdomen pressed and be told there was nothing of concern again. I said that wasn't going to help me in terms of pain, or in finding a solution to my problem, and was told that their only concern was keeping me stable until I could speak to a GP on Monday so I could ask them to bump me up on the waiting list. I was then offered painkillers, which I refused because painkillers do not help with these issues. Throughout the call the person referred to my pain as a sore tummy.

I called the GP on Monday morning. Different GP to the one I'd already spoken to, so I had to explain everything all over again. GP wanted to rule out a UTI, even though I suffer from recurrent UTI's so am familiar with the symptoms and am fairy certain this is not a UTI. I explained this but conceded that I understand these kind of things need to be ruled out. So she asked me to drop in a sample to get a dipstick test done. I wasn't able to that day because I was going to a funeral in England, so I asked if I could do it today instead. GP said that was no problem, she'd leave a sample bottle at the desk for me to collect and I could get it dipstick tested that day to confirm if it was an infection or not.

I was held up with work so called the medical practice to make sure that it would still be alright for me to come down this afternoon and was told that, although the lab pick-up was at 2pm, I could still go down and leave the sample to be collected tomorrow and have a dipstick test done. 

When I got there I was told that the GP had printed a label for a dipstick bottle but put it on a lab bottle. They can't do dipstick tests on a lab bottle, or submit a lab bottle with a dipstick label on it and the GP didn't leave detailed enough instructions. So I need to go back again tomorrow, to be tested for a UTI that I definitely don't have. The receptionist couldn't tell me anything about my place on the waiting list. 

I'm still in an ever-increasing amount of pain, frightened that it could be serious and at the mercy of of medical professionals who can't give me a good reason to believe that there's nothing to worry about.