"Lack of interest in my condition"

I arrived at my appointment with the doctor at Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham, East Yorkshire yesterday.

He invited me into the room to see him and I sat down. He asked me why I had been referred and to tell him what was the matter. I explained that I had a severely bloated stomach (I look 9 months pregnant) that had been like that for the past 11 years. I said I'd had all the tests and seen consultants before, all the results came back negative. So they all said I had IBS.

I told the doctor that my stomach literally trebled in size overnight 11 years ago, and I'd seen an article in the newspaper about a condition called Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) whereby men looked like they were pregnant, and wanted to be tested with a Hydrogen Breath test to see if I had it, as I had also had multiple antibiotic treatments in 2001 for the virus I caught, and that can be one of the causes of SIBO. I also told him my symptoms.

To my shock and horror the doctor then told me that my stomach was so bad because "I NEED TO EXERCISE". My blood pressure hit the roof and I got very angry with him...allow me to explain:

I caught a nasty virus in 2001 and never recovered from it. I then went on to develop ME/CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) and have been unable to work for the last 3 years because I'm too ill. I've been on incapacity benefit all that time, seen hundreds of doctors and specialists, had hundreds of tests and followed every treatment by the book 100%.

Now, I told the doctor that I can't exercise because I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and I also have Sleep Apnoea. He wasn't in the slightest bit interested and said he'd never known anybody that couldn't exercise because of Sleep Apnoea, not even acknowledging that I had said CFS.

I said that I'm so severly tired all day even though I use CPAP treatment for my Sleep Apnoea, and was been seen by a sleep specialist. I also told him that I can't exercise because of my CFS as it will make my condition much worse. (People with ME/CFS suffer from Post Exertional Malaise after exercise that can set you back weeks if not years).

The doctor wan't interested and just had a glazed look over his face, he asked me to lie on the bed, he examined me, then we went to sit down again. He said they don't perform the test for Sibo there, and said I need to go back to my GP. I said my GP had sent me there. I showed him a document from the NHS Cambridge Teaching Hospital stating all about the test and the treatment involved. He dismissed the paper and said the results can't be relied upon, being very negative and unhelpful the whole time. If you look on the internet, SIBI is a real condition with lots of links.

Here is a link to an NHS hospital that explains it clearly, and the test is definitely available through the NHS:

http://www.chelwest.nhs.uk/your-visit/leaflets/med/Endoscopy-Hydrogen-Breath-Test.pdf