Finally Went To See The GP

[Baabaa]

After posting on this forum, today I went to my GP to hopefully get the ball rolling.

My actual doctor is apparently on holiday, so I was told I could only see his temporary replacement. 'Fine' I thought. That wasn't a problem; mainly because I want to get things going ASAP, and I figured if the newbie doctor doesn't listen to me, I can see my GP next week anyway when he gets back from holiday.

I was fully briefed for the doc to go tell me to go to B&Q, get some duct tape and stop wasting tax-payers money. Despite this, I wanted to give it a try and rage against the machine, so I set off for the first appointment at 9am this morning.

Well, when I got to the doctor's office, it was strangely comforting to see that the replacement doc was quite an overweight gentleman, and actually had larger breasts than me!

When I sat down, I mentioned Gynecomastia and that I was very concerned. The doctor said he understood, and that "you're a young man and you can't even go swimming, or to the beach or anything", and I replied, "that's right". So I figured he fully understood the condition. "Wow" I thought, "this is a slam dunk!", the appointment was going better than I hoped. He then proceeded to imply I might be on some sort of supplements to do with my weight-lifting. I managed to convince him that cod liver oil was as adventurous as I got.

On examining me, he told me that I don't have gynecomastia, and my problem was just fat build up, that there was no 'growth' or anything. Any time I mentioned the 'G-word' he corrected me. I think he was playing good-cop, bad-cop, but didn't have a partner.

However, he did also start elaborating and said that he would refer me to a plastic surgeon that day, and wrote a letter out in front of me. I didn't even get the chance to ask myself.

Unfortunately (bad-cop again), he said I would be pushed to the back of the queue, as the surgery wasn't urgent. When I explained the torment and depression associated with the condition (I gave him my 'serious face'), he put that in the letter too and said that it would be dealt with much sooner, due to that (or words to that effect).

He then said I should ask the receptionist how long referrals normally take if I wanted to know, but my head was too foggy (was pre-lunchtime) and I was far too embarrassed to ask. So I walked home just assuming it's gonna take, well... forever. Knowing our NHS though, 'forever' may just be a conservative estimate.

So anyway, for 13 years (I'm 24) I've been putting off this doctor's visit, and it turned out to be no where as bad as expected, just more confusing. The doc was even mildly understanding, which was a good sign.

I'm happy that things are rolling and I'm crossing my fingers that the operation can go ahead on the NHS. There's even a small chance I might get seen by the surgeon before my hair goes grey. Knowing the British system though... I might get told to bugger off! Still, one can only hope.

To any other sufferers out there that haven't seen their doctor yet; go when you can. Get the problem looked at and get your life back.

[outertrial]

After posting on this forum, today I went to my GP to hopefully get the ball rolling.

My actual doctor is apparently on holiday, so I was told I could only see his temporary replacement. 'Fine' I thought. That wasn't a problem; mainly because I want to get things going ASAP, and I figured if the newbie doctor doesn't listen to me, I can see my GP next week anyway when he gets back from holiday.

I was fully briefed for the doc to go tell me to go to B&Q, get some duct tape and stop wasting tax-payers money. Despite this, I wanted to give it a try and rage against the machine, so I set off for the first appointment at 9am this morning.

Well, when I got to the doctor's office, it was strangely comforting to see that the replacement doc was quite an overweight gentleman, and actually had larger breasts than me!

When I sat down, I mentioned Gynecomastia and that I was very concerned. The doctor said he understood, and that "you're a young man and you can't even go swimming, or to the beach or anything", and I replied, "that's right". So I figured he fully understood the condition. "Wow" I thought, "this is a slam dunk!", the appointment was going better than I hoped. He then proceeded to imply I might be on some sort of supplements to do with my weight-lifting. I managed to convince him that cod liver oil was as adventurous as I got.

On examining me, he told me that I don't have gynecomastia, and my problem was just fat build up, that there was no 'growth' or anything. Any time I mentioned the 'G-word' he corrected me. I think he was playing good-cop, bad-cop, but didn't have a partner.

However, he did also start elaborating and said that he would refer me to a plastic surgeon that day, and wrote a letter out in front of me. I didn't even get the chance to ask myself.

Unfortunately (bad-cop again), he said I would be pushed to the back of the queue, as the surgery wasn't urgent. When I explained the torment and depression associated with the condition (I gave him my 'serious face'), he put that in the letter too and said that it would be dealt with much sooner, due to that (or words to that effect).

He then said I should ask the receptionist how long referrals normally take if I wanted to know, but my head was too foggy (was pre-lunchtime) and I was far too embarrassed to ask. So I walked home just assuming it's gonna take, well... forever. Knowing our NHS though, 'forever' may just be a conservative estimate.

So anyway, for 13 years (I'm 24) I've been putting off this doctor's visit, and it turned out to be no where as bad as expected, just more confusing. The doc was even mildly understanding, which was a good sign.

I'm happy that things are rolling and I'm crossing my fingers that the operation can go ahead on the NHS. There's even a small chance I might get seen by the surgeon before my hair goes grey. Knowing the British system though... I might get told to bugger off! Still, one can only hope.

To any other sufferers out there that haven't seen their doctor yet; go when you can. Get the problem looked at and get your life back.

Good post.

[Baabaa]

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience bro2577. I'm seriously considering going private at this point, but I'm playing the waiting game with the NHS at the moment as I have had a few more developments.

My family doctor got back from, what I'm guessing, was some sort of holiday, or sabbatical, or ritual, or something so I booked an appointment for when he got back. Two opinions are better than one right?

When I entered his office, he was already staring at my notes and when he saw me enter the room he switched the screen. "Gynaecomastia" he said. "It says here that you don't have it, but it simply means 'female-like breasts', so if they stick out then you have it". He proceeded to examine me and luckily didn't poke me with any cold instruments. He did in fact examine me pretty well and said that it's mostly fat, but also gland.

He was really, really understanding and also apologised, as it seemed that the temporary doctor I saw the week before may not have sent off my referral letter. "No problem though" my GP said. "I'll send the referral right now" and he proceeded to send the referral electronically through the computer system. He even gave me a list of six local (London) plastic surgery clinics that could do the procedure. They even had estimates for when the appointments would be given. Strangely enough, I picked the clinic that could see me soonest, but it was only 4 days difference between the soonest and the latest. The latest being 56 days.

I was getting a bit jittery by this point. I think it was some sort of adrenaline dump reaction to seeing things move forward when I've been trying to live with this problem for so long. So I asked the doc; "I've heard there are surgeons that might be inexperienced. I'd prefer going to one that has experience in this specific procedure". My GP was so understanding, it was a little surreal. He replied, "I can't name any numbers, but there are ALOT of gynaecomastia operations on the NHS now, it's nothing to be worried about. Most plastic surgeons have experience with the procedure now.

This was certainly reassuring, but I wanted to test him even more; "what if the plastic surgeon looks at the referral letter and decides I don't need the surgery?". "That may happen" replied my doctor honestly. "There's always the chance that may happen, but I'm going to make your case. I wouldn't refer you if it was purely cosmetic. Gynaecomastia has deep rooted psychological effects and affects many aspects of a persons life. Excuse the example, but I wouldn't refer you if you were a woman and you wanted breast enlargement for glamour modelling. But if you were a woman and you had breasts that were too large, painful and embarrassing; I would refer you. It's a similar situation; you're a young man and this is affecting you greatly and needs to be fixed so you can live a normal life.".

Well, this pretty much gave me all the confidence in the world that my doctor was behind me 100% on this. He even mentioned that if I wanted to speed the process through then I could phone the clinic and book an interview with a plastic surgeon myself. This I did the next morning and got a shiny new appointment for the beginning of November.

So in summary, by November I'll know when I'll be able to have the operation on the National 'ealth. And I hope, by God, Allah and the winds willing I'll be able to get this nightmare fixed soon.

I'm still keeping the 'private surgery' card up my sleeve though... you never know.

[holsten]

you are a great writer.

I live in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Our healthcare system is very similar to the NHS... well identical, we stole it from you.
I had my surgery 11 days ago, and yes the medical services plan covered 100% of the cost.
Personally i couldn't believe it, considering the mass amounts of people on this board who are having
to pay for their surgeries out of their own pockets.
Anyways though, i just want you to know that there is definatley the possibility that your surgery will be
covered. As for the waiting period, from the morning i first walked in to my GP's office, until the moment i went under
the knife was probably 7 months.

[turningacorner]

the NHS is a complete lottery, don't be surprised if you don't get surgery, I'm not being negative, but I would'nt want you to get your hopes up for no reason like I did.

I went to my GP like you, he told me I had gynecomastia, or confirmed what I already knew, and at the same consult sent a refferal off to a board to look at, after about 2 months they say no. So I go back to my GP and he's saying how sorry he is, and we appeal their decision. 4 months on, I have heard nothing, getting very pissed off. Go back to GP, and he's like, I'm sorry again, I was totally confused, and then he told me they'd turned me down again, noone had told me a f*cking thing!

I was still waiting for their decision which had been made two months ago. He printed off the letters they were supposed to post which were the same as before, only this time they included an article entitled 'man boobs' that was printed in some journal or newspaper, about celebrities and other men who have gyne. Totally fucking useless, it did'nt help at all.

I went private last monday, so glad I did, hopefully my life will be normal before I go back to university in october.

If I waited for the NHS another year would be totally crap because of gyne.