Sorry first post here, just found the site, but can't find a similar topic anywhere and wonder if anyone here can help.
I had a very bad outbreak of eczema a year ago, which was initially treated by my gp with anti-biotics, steroid cream and steroid tablets, although it improved a bit, it was still really bad so I was referred to a dermatologist. Initially the dermatology clinic did help and I was given stronger steroids and zinc paste bandages as well as having blood tests to try to determine the cause of the outbreak. The blood tests that were carried out were mainly ok and the allergies that I told the Dr that I had since I was a child were confirmed. After a few weeks of treatment at the clinic my skin had greatly improved and I was able to continue treating myself at home with the medication used in the clinic via a repeat prescription from my gp's surgery.
I returned to the dermatology clinic 3 times since my first visit to see the dermatologist, but felt at that point that the appointments were not really achieving anything, as it seemed to be a general review of the notes taken at the initial consultation and I was just being advised to continue with the steroid creams that I was getting on prescription. As I'm not a great fan of medical establishments and the appointments were causing me a great deal of stress (which I believe was the initial cause of the outbreak) I decided to cancel my next appointment and when I was offered another, I declined, only to be sent another appointment in the post. As this appointment coincided with my annual holiday, I did not attend, and whilst I know I should have phoned and cancelled it, I didn't see the point as when I did that previously they just ignored my request for no further appointments and sent one anyway!
A couple of months later after ordering a new prescription, I went to the surgery to pick it up and there was a note on it saying that I had to see a doctor before I was prescribed anymore creams. I made the appointment but as my usual doctor was on holiday I saw a locum instead. He proceeded to harrass me into making another appointment at the dermatology clinic and refused to listen to my reasons for not wanting to go back, even though I knew that another visit to the clinic would simply be them reading my notes through again and telling me to continue on with the current treatment, and as I've said previously being in the clinic gives me huge amounts of stress and therefore I feel it is counterproductive. The doctor just ignored me and accused me of being unco-operative and then declared that if I was going to refuse another appointment then he would refuse to provide me with futher prescriptions!
I eventually had to agree to another referral in order to get my prescription as I do not want the condition to flare back up again. I have now had the letter for the new clinic appointment and I am dreading it, I really want to cancel it and my stress levels are rising, but I'm really worried that my prescriptions will be stopped if I do this and as my eczema is nearly under control now I really do not want to be in that position. I have not returned to the surgery since and have been using the online prescription service to obtain my cream.
The normal doctor I see is not the most sympathetic person, though I can't fault his initial treatment last year when the condition flared up, but I don't really want to make an appointment to see him either as I fear he will take the same stance as the locum. There is a really good doctor in the practice that I like, but you need to book at least 4 weeks in advance to get her and my clinic appointment is at the end of this month.
I am getting more and more anxious about the clinic appointment and would really like to know where I stand on this issue, should I be forced to go to an appointment I don't want and won't help as they will probably just continue the same treatment as before and I'll be totally stressed out. I'd really appreciate some feedback on this. Thanks
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