"Getting the runaround with abdominal pain in Leicester"

Back in May 2006 I had excrutiating abdominal pain - going to A&E by ambulance, I was discharged back to my GP having been told I had haematuria (blood in my water), and probably had a renal stone.

A week later the same thing happened, this time at work. This time I was admitted to a urology ward where I was discharged the following day with an alpha-antagonist to expel the stone - which it did about 3 weeks later. But I still kept getting abdominal pain.

Fast forward to a time after the ultrasounds, cystoscopy, CT scans, blood and urine tests - I collapsed with the pain in my GPs surgery - and he admitted me to a urology ward.

The urologists didn't want me because there was no stone seen on the scans - the surgeons didn't want me because I was on a urology ward..

In the end (after showing all the symptoms of quite severe depression) I was given a colonoscopy and discharged to the care of the surgeons. Who, now the colonoscopy, and another CT scan are normal, are discharging me to the gastro-enterologists - which is perhaps where I should have been 9 months ago.

My GP is extremely good, but he too seems to display helplessness at the hospital systems.

I have explored private health providers, but found them even more superficial than what my local NHS can provide - you need to know what is wrong with you before they will look at your case!

No one, but no-one, seems to have an overview of my condition - holistic medicine anyone?

Almost 12 months later I am still experiencing abdominal pain, and still having to take occasional days off work, but with the help of the internet I am starting to narrow my symptoms down. Is this Irritable Bowel Syndrome? (or is that the medical profession's catch-all for "we just don't know - go away").

It pains me to say it as a fairly senior NHS employee but I am seriously wondering if Google is any worse than the NHS for anything beyond the most acute conditions.