I have no faith

Well maybe you can't trust that doctor or those doctors again:  if you were diagnosed with COPD that many  years ago, were you referred for pulmonary rehab and prescribed any medication for it?  Given support to stop smoking if that's relevant?

I can understand you being upset about this but surely it's a bit of an overreaction to stop trusting all doctors?

What was the result of the spirometry test in terms of your decrease in lung percentage?   If your first & only one was that long ago it's about time you had another one to determine if the condition has remained the same or deteriorated.

It would be very helptful for you to go to pulmonary rehab, where you will learn a lot about the condition itself, medication, exercise &  breathing techniques.   COPD can be slowed down considerably if you take some control yourself.

Good luck!

Sorry, correction to my post:  you didn't say you'd lost trust in ALL doctors, my mistake

It's a little difficult to tell your timeline from your post.  Were you told at the cardiologists that you had COPD and then 12 months after that you got a letter off your doctor to go for a spirometry test?  If that is the case an xray at the hospital could have shown hyperinflation of the lungs, which would suggest the need for a spirometry test, but 12 months for communication from the hospital to the doctor to you is far too long.  It is possible you got lost in the system between hospital and your GP, it does happen unfortunately.  But if the care you are receiving now you feel is lacking, change doctors or just be more demanding. If you don't ask you don't get.  I don't mess around, if I think I should have heard about something and I haven't I'm straight of the phone.  Good luck Shirley x

Hi Shirley,

Sorry to hear about your experience, it must be most distressing, but it is so similair to what happened to me I fely I should respond, and maybe help you put it into perspective?

About four years ago I was out shooting and felt  terrible.  I didn't know what was wrong, and when climbing a gate I collapsed.  I went immediatlty to my local GP., and based on the symptons I presented he suspected a heart attack/ heart problem.  There then followed months of tests ending in an Angiogram (Injection of dye into the heart through a main artery.)  This showed a very minor narrowing of an artery and I was sent on a "cardi rehab' programme at our local hospital.  This was helpful but I used to get continously out of breath when excercising and one of the nurses suggested I have a spirometry test.  This immediatly diagnosed first stage COPD (although I had quit somoking twentyfive years before.....I am 69).

It took a year from the initial visit to my GP to having COPD diagnosed and I discussed it "at some length" with my GP.  He was sympathetic but stressed quite strongly that with the symptons I had presented it pointed to a cardio' problem.  If you think about it, you have at best ten minutes with the doctor, and in that time he has to reach a conclusion, from what you tell him.

Has it lessened my faith in the medical profession?............definatly no. I am now firmly on their "radar" and have recently joined a pulmonory rehab' programme.  Here you meet other people with the same  condition who are tremendously supportive.  There are trained staff who can help you put what is chronic illness into perspective and help you develop an "action plan" to help you through excaberations and infections.

I know how you feel, that you have been let down by those who are there to help, but try and put that behind you and if you can join a local group (The British Lung Federation (BLF) run a lot of breathe easy local meetings, they are worthwhile.

Take care.

Michael

Hi shirley66944,

I felt the same at one point after getting wrong info more than once in their haste to go to the next patient. Remember this, YOU HAVE A CHOICE..

they work for you. So by all means, if you dont like your Dr....change to another. You really need to like your Dr and trust them for your own peace of mind. Here's a tip...if you are in a clinic or something or a network where they designate who your Dr is going to be, you can go to the director and complain and ask for a change...in my case so many people complained on this Dr so I felt better to know it wasn't just me being unreasonable...and they reprimanded her and now she is soooo attentive and so nice and takes all the time you need to answer questions. The difference is like day and night. Please keep us posted..ladyjack51

Hi Shirley, so what was the result of the spirometry test you had further down the line?

How are you breathing?  Are you still active?  What medicines have you been prescribed if any?

Apologies for all the questions but its hard to know how any one can understand not knowing if you have had COPD diagnosis confirmed by the appropriate tests?  or not ?

How is the illness affecting you?