Is This Likely?

I have a question, for the nurses.  My cousin has just phoned me in tears, she has been having awful stomach pains for weeks and she has had all the usual tests done, and apparently the Doctors can not find what is causing the pain.  However, my cousin told me that they said that they are going to do some more tests (she didn't say what ones) and that one of the doctors said that they are looking for 'something nasty' in her stomach.

Now I don't mean to sound unkind about my cousin and I am very fond of her, but she does  tend to be a bit of a drama queen.........my question is this:  Would a Doctor actually tell a patient that they are 'looking for something nasty' whilst trying to determine the cause of a patient's pain?  Thank you.  Violet.

Parents
  • Hello Violet,

    I hope one of the nurses can get in touch soon.

    I am not an expert, but I am a bit of a drama queen when it comes to health and I am not proud of this, but I call/see so many doctors for different opinions. The doctors can tell when I am anxious and reassure me a lot. I can't imagine them saying they are 'looking for something nasty' to me. If anything, they downplay so I don't become dramatic.

    For example, I had blood in my poo and the doctor said she couldn't find anything when she examined me so she gave a FIT test and said 'here is a gift from me, this is a test that looks for blood in your poo'. It came positive so the doctor called me and said 'blood was found in your poo, but we already knew this'. She said that it's time to do a process of elimination to find out what could be causing it, so she'll refer me to specialists.

    If she had worded it differently and said 'looking for something nasty', I definitely would be freaking out. I hope your cousin's doctor didn't word it like that. I feel it is unlikely but of course, I am not an expert so I hope a nurse gets in touch with you soon.

Reply
  • Hello Violet,

    I hope one of the nurses can get in touch soon.

    I am not an expert, but I am a bit of a drama queen when it comes to health and I am not proud of this, but I call/see so many doctors for different opinions. The doctors can tell when I am anxious and reassure me a lot. I can't imagine them saying they are 'looking for something nasty' to me. If anything, they downplay so I don't become dramatic.

    For example, I had blood in my poo and the doctor said she couldn't find anything when she examined me so she gave a FIT test and said 'here is a gift from me, this is a test that looks for blood in your poo'. It came positive so the doctor called me and said 'blood was found in your poo, but we already knew this'. She said that it's time to do a process of elimination to find out what could be causing it, so she'll refer me to specialists.

    If she had worded it differently and said 'looking for something nasty', I definitely would be freaking out. I hope your cousin's doctor didn't word it like that. I feel it is unlikely but of course, I am not an expert so I hope a nurse gets in touch with you soon.

Children
  • Hi Amelia, thank you for replying.  I am inclined to agree with you that a Doctor would be highly unlikely to tell a patient that they are 'looking for something nasty' until all their tests have been completed.  It has been my experience that Doctors tend to downplay things until they are absolutely sure of what they are dealing with.  Violet.