"Feeling disappointed and humiliated"

I attended for a hospital appointment with the hope of finally resolving the ongoing issues connected to having a Hiatus hernia and can honestly say it was the worst consultation of my life.

I was stood fully dressed in one room while the doctor was seated in another room with the door open so they could talk with me. I was fully dressed and wearing a jacket and a coat and without even weighing me the first thing that was said was that I needed to lose weight!

I felt insulted and was upset, I know I am slightly overweight but unless you weighed me physically you wouldn’t know for sure (when I got home I checked and my bmi is 1.1)

I explained that I didn’t want to continue just taking the medication I have as I was suffering with headaches, constipation and already had two operations for piles as a result. I am in a vicious cycle and wanted some help.

I was told they would do some tests and I felt this was progression.

First I had a scan, they told me I had a polyp on my gall bladder – I was already aware of this and had been previously told it was not a concern.

Then I had a gastric dye test. I had been told not to take my reflux medication for two weeks before the appointment so I was already suffering with acid reflux and was feeling nauseous. I was given a granulated drink which I am assuming contained the dye for the test, I could tell that it was not going down properly and that I was going to be sick. I am very limited to what I can actually eat and drink.

I had to go to the toilet where I was violently vomiting for quite a while, the staff said I was ok.

I was also given an endoscopy, again I vomitted all over myself, my clothing – no offer of help from the staff, not even the offer of a bowl. I refused the anesthetic as I don’t trust it had previous bad experiences.

The doctor finally told me I had acid reflux – I know that already! I asked if my symptoms (food not going down, slow movement of bowels, constipation, acid) could be due to adhesions from previous operation for ovarian cancer and asked about a scan for this. The doctor said they didn’t believe so and informed me that the only reason they would ever consider an operation on me would be if my bowel was twisted and I was in a life-threatening situation. I was informed there would be no further investigation or treatment. I was told to double up on my current medication. I felt like screaming – what is the point?

I was given a leaflet on nutrition and told to lose weight, I asked if there was help available with this and asked if I lost weight would there then be the possibility of an operation, to be told only if I went private.

Left in pain, no answers and utterly fed up with the system.