Ah so you can choose who you want to see? My practice (based at my uni cos I live in the area) has a few useless ones and that's it.

All I wanted was something - anything - to help me get over the sheer trauma that I went through this last month - only I know how bad it was - and when your pelvic muscles tense and tie in a knot and your leg aches and your heart races and you breathe heavily for stress, all I wanted is something to help out.

Ibuprufen, she says.

(PS: I had 3 appointments to get the same answer)

I don't think that GPs are particularly well trained when it comes to psychological health, unless they are GPs with a special interest. Unless they have personal experience or have frequently encountered it before, I also think that they are a bit out of touch with understanding psychosomatic stress. Panic attacks, palpitations, aches and pains, lethargy, apathy - stress, anxiety and depression can be truly debilitating. But they can't see it, measure it or palpate it, so they often don't see it as being serious or think that it deserves further attention. They are also the same with fields such as sports related injuries and overuse injuries. As PhDbug says, it's usually 'take some ibuprofen, drink plenty of water' and maybe a couple of leaflets pertaining to lifestyle advice - an attempt at patient education and empowerment. Perhaps their training curriculum needs reviewing? In their defence, it should be noted that they only have about 10 minutes consultation time and very large case loads.

Poor you Bug :-( It makes me so angry, if GPs were this negligent over a physical condition causing that level of distress there'd be an outcry. Is there a university counselling service that you could access? CBT or relaxation classes can be effective for anxiety and you can often get them a lot quicker through uni than a GP. These things aren't as quick as a prescription for benzos, but they're also a lot less addictive.

Thanks you guys :) I actually finally requested them to scan my tummy to see if there's anything wrong just so they'd take me seriously. They kept asking - are your nauseous? fainting? swollen? bruised? bleeding? how is this affecting your regular work.

Well - I am not fainting, havent got fever, havent thrown up even once, stomach not remotely upset, teachigng, writing, havent taken off work, not, yes, I admit I havent done any of these.

But - Why does a person who wakes up fine, opens her eyes in the morning, takes a couple breahts, is absolutly fien, and then with time, the muscles tense up, heart beats, and all day there's this lingering body ache.

And - it started exactly with my gran's illness. And the fools do not get me. They ask me "which joint is hurting?"

Oh my dear goodness gracious me. It is not a joint. It is not a fever. It is not nausea.

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Hi Bug, Here is a linkk to some bereavement couselling in London: http://www.bereavement-counselling.org/

I think you are holding the tension of your recent experiences in your body, I did it too, when my sister was dying. I found deep tissue massage (full body) very theraputic, it should releases tensions you'll have built up in your body over te last weeks, and is especially effective of you go once a week or so, because there is a build up effect with the treatemts. It's like having the biggest, deepest cuddle you can imagine, all over, inside and out, and I used to leave feeling like I'd just spent two weeks on a beach. I think we need comfort and re-assurance most of all at these times, and this kind of physical treatment is a way of directing that at your entire system.

I went ot a local private gym, but some university sport centres offer deep tissue massage therapy too for a cheaper price. Check for student discounts

Big hugs (((((())))))))and love X

Thanks Eska :) Gran is much better now, she is back home, it wasnt cancer after all, so, technically this is a belated reaction when things are fine...wonder why. I will check out the deep tissue massage for sure and the link. love

Sounds like panic attacks and full blown stress related tension to me hon. I suffered with the same after a cot death, I'd be ok as my eyes opened then bam!!! You NEED to get on top of it right now, drugs don't necessarily help - yoga does (but normal, not the yoga for self harmers lol), meditation, relaxation, looking at what happened and seeing it for what it was, acknowledging the pain and the fear and then starting to move on. On top of all that you've had the health scares and worry over that and we don't even realise that our body is tense til we relax it, so the muscles including the deep core muscles become strained and we end up just hurting horribly :-( Make sure you take care of yourself now, I didn't and ended up with a chronic condition that was brought on by stress and ended up virtually bed bound for 5 years - you won't get that (or very unlikely) unless you had a previous condition, but either way, it can make you really ill physically and mentallly so let it all go hon.

Love you so much :) Will do all. Honestly, it did not seem credible (and still a little incredible) to me that emotional stuff can cause *real* muscular pain or achy feelings.

I have hijacked the thread :( Please post healthy and exercisey stuff!

I did deep breathing exercises today, took the day off (spent yesetrday at uni), and made lunch and will prolly eat and then watch some silly online telly and even take a day's nap.

Tomorrow - have a talk to deliver (still unwritten) and 1500 words to write today and send a paper to sup by tomorrow morn.

Hi Bug, if you do the massage thing, it's important that you allow some time afterwards for your body to process the chemicals released by your muscles. Some people get flu like symptoms fr a bit, but it's just your body getting rid of al the rubbish you're been locking away. Have a good relax today x

Can I recommend sitting down (without a laptop on your knee) and watching a funny film - laughter is the best medicine after all.

Yes you can see a different doctor in the practice - the best practices will give you info on the specialisms / interests of the GPs (so for example my husband always sees the same guy who has an interest in men's health; I have seen one doctor who had an interest in skin disorders while I see another for women's health issues).  My practice (which apart from the one part-time (1.5 days a week term time only) rubbish GP  is really good) also tells you which doctors are available at which times - if I want a specific doctor I phone up and ask for an appointment with that doctor - if it is urgent then you have to take who you are given but for many /most conditions you are better to wait a couple of days to get the doctor who you think is more sympathetic or who has interest in the right area. They may also have a counsellor / therapist attached to the practice.  Next time you are in ask for a practice information leaflet (or they might have a website with the relevant info on) - say it's for a friend who is moving to the area or whatever.

OK, I'm starting today. So far I've made a bad-ish start in that I've had cereal, and when I weighed it out its about 400Kcals - BUT I have finished the pack so going onto non-sugary cereal as of tomorrow. About to go on a long dog walk. hopefully I can manage to eat healthily for the rest of the day!

I did nice yoga yesterday and this morning doing a talk, and then breakfasting on low fat yogurt and fruits. Lunch will be salad bowl. Evening yogurt apricots and tons of water. Dinner stir fry prolly and milk before bed. And yoga before dinner on empty tummy!

Went for a run yesterday with some friends and family, had a minor panick attack which meant I couldn't breath part the way through, but otherwise it was good to get out. Today however my legs are wrecked! I know it's been a week since I last ran but seriously, I feel as if I've been hit by a truck. Today I'm going to eat lots of fruit and do some yoga.

Ok - so now it seems I am taking a trip home tomorrow. This morning I saw tiny red marks on my upper arm and googled it and have been obsessing over leukemia since then.

So, I think I need family, home , whatevr to get my head sorted and to get checks ups done.

:) love