Mental Health - Struggling

Dear Nashota, I can relate to so much of what you've described - years and years of battling to be heard (believed) and to be treated appropriately.

I tried POhWER but my autism got in the way and POhWER discharged me which made me feel even worse! This was pre-diagnosis but my case was passed onto to a second advocate who also failed to understand that I couldn't compose a letter for myself. I could only explain things by telephone. I did manage that letter and got a medical record annotated because I was terrified that DWP would access this comment describing me as healthy but it was not how I imagined advocacy worked. I got what I wanted but it was a laboured and degrading process.

There was once a GP in-house counsellor who fell asleep in my session. He denied it then fell asleep again. Then he admitted he was currently homeless and not sleeping. Obviously I didn't return but I was bereaved and too ill to complain on behalf of any future patients.

Just before that I had been discharged from a temporary medical centre with even being told! I'd requested my third prescription of Zoladex and couldn't get it. This implant works miracles as you know! I'd fought for that endo diagnosis after being discharged from 7 different clinics at my local hospital and finally granted this expensive treatment only to be left to suffer again..

I only needed three years of Zoladex before the menopause but it was life-changing to be without debilitating pain for half the month. My current medical centre had no qualms about the cost of that treatment but they all have budget constraints under CCG funding formulas. Practice managers are obliged to reject a certain number of referral requests. My GP was less enthusiastic when I asked for an autism assessment referral (why do you need one at your age?) then I had to battle again when the first assessor refused to confirm ASD. It took another two years to get a second referral for assessment and diagnosis.

What I think is that we won't ever get an apology for poor GP services or medical error. That's my experience at least. I survived emergency surgery twice as a kid - overlooked both times because apparently I was "being too brave". Those medical records were destroyed when the hospital closed and it was years before I learned this and made any connection with my endo and mental health struggles. Trying to explain my digestive disorders to an obese gastroenterologist who didn't believe me was another low point.

I've effectively had to identify all my conditions to 'experts'. Only my autism diagnosis set me free from punishing thoughts and doubts. I needed the diagnosis to believe it myself then begin to believe in myself. I now know how lucky I am to have survived all this and developed so much resilience. No amount of MH therapy or support was going to help me without that diagnosis. It was my teenage daughter who suggested it and she got hers confirmed after mine. Once I understood why and what it meant, I could see no prospect of change without it.

I'm sorry my post is so long. That diagnosis is as important to you as it was/is to me. Lots of love ❤️

I didn't need anything when I reached menopause - it was such a relief 😃

I think we're just expected to give up and of course you musn't! There's no other explanation for the lack of attention given to complaints about essential services.