Good morning ladies. Bit damp this morning. 

What a fiasco at the doctors yesterday, it beggars belief how incompetent they all are. 

I took my BP monitor with me, it's an Omron and retails at about £65 (I got it on an Amazon flash sale direct from Amazon) and it was spot on reading the same as theirs. But in there my reading was 165/89 on their electronic arm one so the nurse went to the doc (Dr Mellor) and came back to say he's doubled my Ramidyl I said Im not on Ramidyl I was taken off it due to side effects, so she went back to see him and he put me on another type, beta blockers. So I tell her my bp is normal and lower than that at home and it's white coat syndrome but she said doc wants me on meds but to keep taking the water meds as well. So I go up the chemist and they give me 2 boxes of different bp meds, one Ramidyl and another one. No water tablets. So explain to the pharmacy in the village and explain and they won't give me my water tablets as they said it has to be authorised by the doc and he's taken them off my repeat. I query them and had to go back to the surgery to tell them Dr Mellor had made a mistake. So the receptionist in the doctors pharmacy bit went into the doctor again and then came back and said 'you seem to be on every bp med we have in the clinic' I said "no I was taken off the last lot and Dr Brown put me on water tablets". So off she goes again to see the Dr again, it was Dr Mellor. Comes back takes one of the boxes of the meds I shouldnt be on as I get side effects, and left me with the 'new' ones. No water tablets. So she said I had to go up to the pharmacy in the village for those where I get all my meds from. So back to the surgery I go but they're all at bloomin lunch by then so came home. I was totally stressed out by then . Then I ring them up after 2 and explain I need a repeat for the water tablets, so they said they'd been taken off my prescription and I must see a doctor to get them represcribed, so then rang the surgery again and they said you've still got a week's supply left so when you get down to a couple of days come into the surgery and we'll issue an 'on demand' script for them for you. But I said they've been taken off my prescription???? They said thats ok, as they're 'on demand' meds we can issue a prescription when you come in. Then you can go and collect them from the pharmacy in the village.

Got home sat down with a cuppa relaxed and took my bp and it's NORMAL again. 136/77, so I"m not gonna take the bp meds, I'm just gonna take the water tablets. Cos I dont need bp meds. There's no way I'm putting those 'new' bp meds in my system, my bp is normal at home with just the water tablets and no side effects. If I start taking more meds ontop my bp will be too low! pfffft. Honestly doctors these days are totally useless. If I'd been an old lady who didnt read the labels or just took what the doctor gave her, God knows what would happen.

So this morning I sat in a queue for almost an hour to make an appointment with Dr Brown who prescribed the water tablets only to be told the next prebooked appointment with her is on 16th March, so no good to me, then the receptionist told me to phone after 1pm today as Dr Brown is working this afternoon and could call me back, so I've gone with that.  I want to tell her all about this fiasco yesterday and that she was the only doctor who did the right thing and put me on water tablets which are working. Then explain about how my bp is normal at hom but raised in the doctors due to white coat syndrome and hopefully she'll represcribe the water tablets.

I am so angry with them. They to date have give me 3 different types of bp meds all of which I had the worse side effects from, then Dr Brown prescribed the water tablets and said I should never have been put on the strong meds in the first place, and that I wouldnt get side effects from them. She was right. I've been so stressed the last couple of months and felt so ill, all because of their incompetence.

This is exactly what happened 3 or 4 yrs ago when one of them gave me an anti depressant I was allergic to. They don't check patients history or when they were last seen and they don't take meds off your history that you're not on anymore. Absolutely disgusting!
 

Good afternoon had a good day yesterday. My car got through the MOT and Brodie got on well at the vets.  Pulse slightly low, breathing quieter, and tumour more likely to be fibrous tissue. He's got pulmonary fibrosis (Westie Lung disease). He's responding well to the treatment an is more or less back to what passes as normal for him. Cara showed me the xrays and was very interested in hearing about heat laser treatment which is being used in the states. I'm going to be sending her the details so that she may be able to contact the consultant in America for settings. She has a heat laser which I think is the right one.  She was so pleased that I mentioned it as it's an additional treatment which appears to be fairly successful.  Gordon is coming over this afternoon to do a few diy jobs for me. Have a good day all.

Good morning ladies!

Carol so pleased to hear Brodie has been diagnosed. Your vet probably has a cold laser. My village vet has one, it's the one most vets have as the hot ones are usually used in specialist clinics. Gizmo had cold laser treatment on his leg after his cruciate operation and it certainly helped his bones knit together again and his muscle to heal quickly. It's also excellent for pain relief too for arthritis, but wouldnt be any good for westie lung.  

I spoke to my Dr yesterday, Dr Brown. She was very angry that the previous doctor had prescribed me meds I had already been taken off because of side effects and that I was also given the new meds and taken off the meds she had put me on. So she told me she has written all over my history not to give me any bp meds other than those she has prescribed and she put them back on for repeat prescription and also sent a prescription up to the village pharmacy for me to collect. She said I don't need to go up for bloods and bp check in 2 weeks, as from my own home bp readings the water tablets are doing their job but if I want to go up then I can. She also had the results of the previous tests which all came back perfect. She said it's best I stay on these tablets, Indapamide, as they are controlling my bp but to keep a regular check on my bp at home and if there are any fluctuations or it goes higher or lower for more than a few days to make an appointment to see her. 
So that was a great relief. I told her I've felt brilliant since taking the tablets and they've also helped me lose weight and as an added bonus I no longer get those dreadful sweats that I had been getting for a few years. She was over the moon!  I thanked her for sorting me out and getting things back to normal, I was so grateful. 

Anyway thats me sorted lol Starry we do have that sort of system here, you have to phone at 8.30 for an appointment but have to see whoever has a space, or you can have a doctor call you back. If you want to see your own doctor, however, you can wait up to 3 or 4 weeks. pffft...

Weatherwise its wet and windy still here and more gales on the way today and for the rest of the week. pffft. My lawn is about 6" long in places where there is grass left after the floods, I don't think my electric mower will be man enough to cut it if we ever get a dry spell, so will have to bite the bullet and ask the garden chap to come and cut it. 

I'll be making more cat brooches today. There's been some interest on Twitter so I said once I get a selection made up in different colours I'll tweet them and people can then buy/order them. 

Hope your snuffles don't turn into a fully fledged cold Diane x

Keep warm and dry everyone! x

Good morning everyone.

Its dry here but cloudy.      

I'm off to the hairdresser for a trim and possibly nipping into Morrisons on the way back (and can then get a taxi from there!!)

Pills are still working well. Don't know why  I never got them before.

Happy 18th to your Grandson Starry.

Mornin all. Not a bad day weatherwise, grey but milder than it was yesterday and no rain! Woohoo!

Will be making more felted cat brooches today. Just made a lovely chicken casserole for dinner tonight.

Diane what pills are you taking and for what? I read back but couldnt find any reference to them, sorry.