I've just picked up the mention but there's been a lot of good advice posted in the past few hours by people with far more knowledge than I have.
As others have mentioned, GPs are not specialists and quite often when rarer conditions are being discussed the patient has more recent information than the GP. A good GP will take this into account, but that isn't always the case (I'm being diplomatic).
You might want to consider changing your GP to someone with a bit more empathy! At our local surgery there are definitely doctors people avoid depending on their problem! It shouldn't be that way but they are only human I guess.
If it comes to it, your local CCG is the place to raise a formal complaint against a GP.
They can take around two weeks but from my experience it depends on when your next appointment with the surgeon is. Also, I guess if the results are positive for BIA ALCL they would be calling pretty quickly and fast tracking you.
Please keep us updated! I hope everything goes well. Xx
The way you feel is completely normal and understandable. It is worrying and scary but it is great that you are being your own advocate and researching.
In terms of symptoms, for what I have seen not everyone is the same. Whilst swelling and fluid is quite common, not all diagnosed women have had the same symptoms. Some others had fluid that tested negative and capsules that were positive.
The best advice I can give you is to listen to your body. If it is painful, there is something wrong. It doesn’t mean you have BIA ALCL but your body is reacting to the implants. Push for an ultrasound and if any fluid found, biopsy and MRI. If you are sure you don’t want to have the implants any longer, tell the surgeon at the clinic and they should be able to help you!
Very much agree with joining the group Camri mentions. It's the group who are responsible for the website I mentioned earlier above. I'm actually one of the Facebook admins and it's a really safe environment for those seeking info or who are diagnosed. They were all that got me through my diagnosis. I don't know where I'd be without them.
Whilst the more generalised breast implant illness groups are useful, breast implant illness is not BIA ALCL. BIA ALCL is a cancer and with that comes very detailed and specific protocols that need to be followed. Both types of groups serve different purposes. Just be aware :-)
If you follow this thread you will find that Davek has already replied to you. I see that you have also had quite a few other replies and, hope that some of these are helpful to you.
I'm sorry to hear that your GP was so unsympathetic to your symptoms. I attended a private clinic last night regarding my symptoms and wanted to contact you as soon as possible. The breast consultant informed me last night that the NHS are currently removing recalled implants free of charge at the moment for those experiencing symptoms. He didn't think that they will be doing this for long so my advice to you would be to take full advantage of this. Have another (sympathetic) GP refer you to the breast clinic as urgent and request the surgery. Apologies if you have already received this info prior to this message but I just wanted to let you know as soon as possible.
Again, thank you all for the sound advice. Feeling less upset this morning and more annoyed that I was treated poorly. The GP even made reference to bacon giving people cancer!
I will certainly be more prepared when I move forward with this and hopefully will receive a more professional approach!
HJK I am so sorry you've had these ongoing problems and I really hope that it's being looked at properly for you now too.
Davek, now I'm less upset I agree! I changed GP many years ago because of poor practice. I've been with this practice for over 10 years and have always found the GPs great. This one has been there about two years now and is a relatively new GP. Her attitude honestly astounded me...
I am strongly considering making a complaint about her approach. I feel I was very much judged and honestly treated like a complete idiot.
