lachys_mama
14-06-2007, 19:48
I needed to vent and didn't know where to put it so here goes:
ds has been having constipation problems since he was 3 1/2 months old, I took him to the GP as it was starting to worry me at 4 months, but they told me coloxyl drops, prune juice, orange juice, warm bath etc etc, all the things they should have told me to do which was fine...
So me being me, I researched on the net a bunch of extra things I could do brown sugar in a bottle of water, massage, doing the bicycle thing with his legs, prune juice, pear juice, basically you name it I tried it and it wasn't working. So MIL suggested using suppositories and I did, they worked at times but then didn't work at others. I ended up telling the health nurse about this and she chastized me telling me coloxyl and suppositories were too harsh for a baby his age.
So I took him back to the GP and got no satisfaction yet again.
then about 2 months ago Lachlan ended up with two anal fissures (tears in his anus) and was becoming traumatised, so i rushed him up to the doctors and basically he told me that if he was so traumatized that he needed to see a specialist and told me that he didn't feel comfortable giving him any harsh laxatives etc without a paediatric consult and told me to go sit at the hospital for the day *sigh*...
MIL and I were talking and decided that we would take him to a private paediatrician and she managed to get him in on the 8th of this month but i needed a referral (as you do) so off I went to the GP again *sigh*.
By now Lachlan had developed a nasty rash on his face (well I thought it was nasty) so whilst getting my referral I asked the doctor about it, thinking it was associated with teething etc and he told me it was a bacterial infection and gave me bactravan to put on it.
So after using this stuff for like 2 weeks and noticeing it wasn't doing a blessed thing I decided to stop using it until I spoke to the paediatrician.
Well... It turns out the rash was milk rash and that Lachlan is lactose intolerant. Now, because it was left undetected for so long I have to administer a suppository every day and give him parachoc laxative every three days, I also ran the risk of him getting and enlarged bowel etc *grrs*.
I am glad that the problem is finally getting sorted but why did it cost my MIL $160 (which i couldn't afford) to find this out? I'm so frustrated. 3 different GP's and a health nurse couldn't tell me what milk rash was? I mean isn't milk rash a common enough problem that they would be able to identify it? at least one of them anyway? and why couldn't any of them suggest a food allergy of some sort? Do you think I'm being too harsh on them? I mean ok so you get some money back from medicare when you go to see a paediatrician but not everyone has $160 up front for that sort of thing and not everyone is able to sit up at the childrens hospital all day just hoping someone will see them.
I know that GP's have enough on their plate already but you would think after 8 months of visiting and revisiting the same medical centre with the same problem they would have some suggestions other than keep trying the stuff that isn't working? anyways sorry i had to get it out, thanks for reading
~cj~
ds has been having constipation problems since he was 3 1/2 months old, I took him to the GP as it was starting to worry me at 4 months, but they told me coloxyl drops, prune juice, orange juice, warm bath etc etc, all the things they should have told me to do which was fine...
So me being me, I researched on the net a bunch of extra things I could do brown sugar in a bottle of water, massage, doing the bicycle thing with his legs, prune juice, pear juice, basically you name it I tried it and it wasn't working. So MIL suggested using suppositories and I did, they worked at times but then didn't work at others. I ended up telling the health nurse about this and she chastized me telling me coloxyl and suppositories were too harsh for a baby his age.
So I took him back to the GP and got no satisfaction yet again.
then about 2 months ago Lachlan ended up with two anal fissures (tears in his anus) and was becoming traumatised, so i rushed him up to the doctors and basically he told me that if he was so traumatized that he needed to see a specialist and told me that he didn't feel comfortable giving him any harsh laxatives etc without a paediatric consult and told me to go sit at the hospital for the day *sigh*...
MIL and I were talking and decided that we would take him to a private paediatrician and she managed to get him in on the 8th of this month but i needed a referral (as you do) so off I went to the GP again *sigh*.
By now Lachlan had developed a nasty rash on his face (well I thought it was nasty) so whilst getting my referral I asked the doctor about it, thinking it was associated with teething etc and he told me it was a bacterial infection and gave me bactravan to put on it.
So after using this stuff for like 2 weeks and noticeing it wasn't doing a blessed thing I decided to stop using it until I spoke to the paediatrician.
Well... It turns out the rash was milk rash and that Lachlan is lactose intolerant. Now, because it was left undetected for so long I have to administer a suppository every day and give him parachoc laxative every three days, I also ran the risk of him getting and enlarged bowel etc *grrs*.
I am glad that the problem is finally getting sorted but why did it cost my MIL $160 (which i couldn't afford) to find this out? I'm so frustrated. 3 different GP's and a health nurse couldn't tell me what milk rash was? I mean isn't milk rash a common enough problem that they would be able to identify it? at least one of them anyway? and why couldn't any of them suggest a food allergy of some sort? Do you think I'm being too harsh on them? I mean ok so you get some money back from medicare when you go to see a paediatrician but not everyone has $160 up front for that sort of thing and not everyone is able to sit up at the childrens hospital all day just hoping someone will see them.
I know that GP's have enough on their plate already but you would think after 8 months of visiting and revisiting the same medical centre with the same problem they would have some suggestions other than keep trying the stuff that isn't working? anyways sorry i had to get it out, thanks for reading
~cj~