I moved into Aberdeen in September 2016. Before I moved to Aberdeen, I had had some minor breathing issues. Nothing overly concerning, but enough to encourage me to make a doctors appointment. This did not go very well, and I gave up and continued to live with my problems. 6 months after moving to Aberdeen, and to NHS Grampian my activity levels had increased, however i noticed that my fitness levels instead of getting better had gotten worse. I was out of breath walking the same route i walked daily, I was swimming 4 times per week and not improving so I booked an appointment at Old Aberdeen Medical Practice. To cut a long story short, I was diagnosed asthmatic one year ago this month. Since then its been a case of trying different inhalers and strengths to find one thats suitable. Throughout the process, the asthma nurse I have been dealing with, Gillian, has been incredible. I could not fault her. She has put me at ease at every appointment, been incredibly supportive and taught me so much. I genuinely feel like she cares about me which is something that was unfortunately missing from my last doctors surgery. I know I can contact her anytime for advice or an appointment or just a chat if I'm struggling at all. She is a credit to the surgery.
Moving on to this past Saturday, I had developed a cough on the Wednesday. It was painful, but otherwise I had no symptoms. No fatigue, aches or pains, or temperature. I ate and drank perfectly normally. Around 10pm I started to feel ill. My temperature had shot to 39 degrees. I took paracetamol and waited a while. 90 minutes later my temperature had reached 39.1 instead of going down. I couldn't breathe and my reliever inhalers weren't helping at all, and so I called NHS24, who, after a while, advised that I attend hospital.
I had to take a taxi as I was unable to drive myself in, and have no nearby family. The doctor that I saw through out-of-hours was wonderful. By this stage I had used my reliever inhaler again (multiple times) and it was very slowly beginning to help. I could breathe a little better. I was diagnosed as having an asthma attack brought on by a chest infection. Both problems were treated, and I was sent home and advised to rest.
On Monday I contacted my surgery, I explained the situation and the receptionist spoke to Gillian, who arranged for me to attend an appointment on the Tuesday. I have a follow up appointment next week just to check I am ok. I am not 100% recovered yet but I am well on the way to being better.
I am so grateful that the NHS has people like Gillian, who still genuinely care and have a natural ability to put patients at ease.
"Asthma Care"
About: General Practices in Grampian General Practices in Grampian NHS 24 / NHS 24 (111 service) NHS 24 NHS 24 (111 service)
Posted by c-jay (as ),
Do you have a similar story to tell?
Tell your story & make a difference ››
Responses
See more responses from Kirsten Dickson
See more responses from Shona Lawrence
Update posted by c-jay (a service user) 6 years ago
See more responses from Kirsten Dickson
See more responses from Magdalena Polcik-Miniach