"My GP won't listen to me or prescribe medication"

I have further reason to complain about my GP where I attended today due to severe insomnia.

Due to the discontinued HRT I have not slept for the last 4 nights. I am utterly exhausted and when I went to the medicine cabinet to get a sleeping pill last night, I found that the box I had were out of date.

So, I went to the GP today to ask for a new prescription of just two pills to get my sleep back into a routine. The doctor I saw refused saying that they are addictive and this wasn't how they worked. I appreciate that they can be addictive but since the pills I took out the cabinet last night were dated 2015, I've hardly been abusing them and I'm hardly addicted. A pack of seven, and there were three pills left, from 2015. They expired in 2016.

I explained this to the GP and they rudely said that the matter was closed and he wouldn't be prescribing them. He offered me some herbal Nytol and I said I had tried them already of the last few nights, as well as night time Kalms and good sleep hygiene. He said that was his final offer.

I cried with exhaustion and frustration and asked when the surgery was going to help me. The doctor said that I had been so many times to the surgery and that they were helping me. I disagreed with this statement and said that the surgery didn't agree to take my bloods for the gynaecologist, they said it's a secondary care issue, and I asked about the small dose of diazepam as requested by gynae and they said I'll never get diazepam. I am not an addict, I am a responsible person. Diazepam can help me when my symptoms get really bad. Where is the individualised patient care? They said if I don't like it, to leave the practice and find a new doctor.

I asked for more cream for my feet and some dressings and told them I'd be putting in a complaint.

It's not me that's failing here, it's them and the practice. I am trying to get my health back, it's not my fault that my body is rebelling.

I spoke with a pharmacist who said that there were other options that the gp could have prescribed and they were surprised that they only offered Nytol considering I had said to GP that I'd tried them.

As soon as I have got my repeat prescription next week, I will be leaving the surgery, as to be honest, I am sick and tired of banging my head against a brick walk while speaking to doctors that won't listen. Yes I visit a lot, and yes, I have several health issues but not once has anyone asked why I visit so often or asked how I am really feeling or what it is I want from them.

I research things, I'm curious about why things appear for no reason (the ppp last year for example, wrongly diagnosed as contact dermatitis by the gp, I may add). They also dismissed my concerns that the swelling in my clavicle and my ppp could possibly be related, along with the bone pain and exhaustion.

I expect doctors to care, to empathise, to help their patients get well. To practice preventative medicine, to educate their patients, to try and get their patients well again. I expect doctors to research things when they don't know about them. I used to be a nurse and did this if I had a patient with a condition that I was unfamiliar with.

When I finally do get my diagnosis and work my way back to good health, I'll visit them and tell them "I told you so", and maybe, just maybe, they'll get where I've been coming from every time I've walked through their door in utter frustration that my health has failed me, again.

Thanks for letting me complain about the horrendous patient - doctor experiences I have had.

I hope that my health improves very soon but it won't be because of the doctors at my GP surgery, it will be due to my sheer determination to become well again and a more empathic health care team.