For doctors to have hidden this from me?

This. I worry about the lack of compassion and empathy from those who jump immediately to “she has health anxiety and therefore nothing she worries about is valid”. The cynical part of me thinks these replies are from burnt out NHS staff who are experiencing compassion fatigue and protecting their feelings on to their patients.

Yes agree one example. I want to know the outcomes of my tests and health makes me anxious. Ive planned my funeral whilst waiting for a biopsy that I didnt need but thought I did....several times.

Health is after all key to living well. But health anxiety is a massive issue.... not just my friend. Its also hard to address and establish amongst genuine health concerns. It's a problem for many but admitting it might be health anxiety or considering it isn't wrong.

This - worded much better than me!

I had to have a full body scan due to suspected pagets. It identified a.type of cyst in my liver. It could have alarmed me but I looked it up. It's congenital and incidental and of no concern. The Consultant didn't mention it and I didn't discuss it. Due to the incident below I now insist on receiving full reports relating to all investigations before I attend follow up appointments.

I have osteoporosis and in 2016 badly wedged the L1. A few years ago I had an accident resulting in heavy impact. The pain in my back was identical to that in 2016. I had also broken my arm which needed surgery. The junior Dr in A&E dismissed my back concerns and initially refused a back XRay. After my back was XRayed she told me that there were no new breaks despite the XRay showing fractures to the L1 and T12 and the fact she was vlcategorically told only the L1 had previously broken. When the XRay was reported by radiology this noted old fractures to L1 and T12. My GP therefore dismissed my concerns about severe pain and that an error had arisen. She handed me the report which I looked at later.

A private MRI confirmed the T12 was recently broken. Privately.

Nobody died, but the error did cause a 6 month delay to optimal osteoporosis treatment being delivered.

For all those being so dismissive of the op, I would venture that the system is far from perfect and errors do happen alongside spectacularly poor communication.

@JustsamanthaJayne all medical information is your personal data. You are entitled to it and all patients are entitled to competent communication and interpretation to ensure optimal care. It is not the right of health professionals to decide what can be shares where capacity prevails. It's your body and your health and you can and should own them.

I think people here are being really mean, a cyst on the brain or near the brain is not the same as a cyst in the arm or leg in terms of concern. If it grows it can press on many things and cause serious issues, can pps honestly say if a cyst was found on their brain (or near) the brain in conjunction with neurological symptoms they wouldn't be worried?

OP I would contact your GP and ask them to explain the findings to reassure you.

Cannot believe some people are suggesting patients shouldn't be told all of their scan findings. Of course they should! If there's an incidental finding the best course of action is to inform and educate and reassure. "We have also found xyz however this is the diagnosis, you don't need any treatment and it will go away on its own" or whatever they need to say.
Whatever the finding is could be relevant to other symptoms, or could be necessary to know for future. In this case the OP is also having sinus issues - it's just not what the scan was for. They are wrong not to inform the patient of the entirety of her results.
Education, a full explanation and reassurance helps health anxiety and would . Hiding things is just going to cause the patient to be even more anxious and ultimately less trusting of any future NHS results, probably increasing their anxiety.

I guarantee that a patient with health anxiety will not be reassured by a 20 second conversation or even 20 minutes. They will be back wanting further investigation. The new investigations will just validate their angst.

I'm not saying they should be dismissed...not saying they shouldn't be kept informed...not saying they are deliberately presenting for attention, ngealth anxiety needs treating after all physiological and pathological causes have been excluded.

At some point they will have to rationally accept their isn't a physical cause. This is HUGE and hard

Way to miss the point 👉

That sounds awful, but that's one specific person you know. Not everyone. Wanting to know the results of medical tests, including ones that are atypical but clinically insignificant is not unusual or pathological.

You might want to take this fight up with National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a leading association for anti racism and equal rights …

I have no idea, that information was not presented and I’m not going to make assumptions. I’ve personally had MRIs and scans with a wide range of follow-up communication from consultants (from zero communication to very thorough). You seem to be absolutely convinced that OP has no valid concerns, which I can only assume is a projection on your part

OP has had 2 brain scans which shows cysts each time and worrying enough symptoms that she was referred in the first place - what here suggests health anxiety?

This is advocating that doctors treat patients like children instead of fully functional adults.

t would take about 20 seconds to say, on the scan, we saw x, it's insignificant, x percent of people have it, it's unrelated to the symptoms you're experiencing.

What patients do with that information afterwards is up to them.

I have a friend who I love. She has health anxiety. She has had multiple investigations for conditions. As each new test clears up her concerns she finds something new and often the new concern hinges on an incidental findingnor throwaway comment or Google search. Her symptoms escalate. She tries various diets, becomes obsessed and upset....and can afford private care so she gets extensive reassurance and explanations. It doesn't help. It's sad to observe. Most of her friends see it. She can't because anxiety is a condition. It's hard to step back and be rational. I wish we treated that better

Health anxiety is disabling. It's not a judgement but validating it doesn't help. In my friends case they did all the tests....its important to believe the patient. But the outcome was still normal.

It also costs the NHS thousands and creates a burden of unecessary radiation doses so it needs considering. This impacts the patient whom is irradiated and the patients on a waiting list because someone with health anxiety is receiving multiple investigations

Exactly. I do not have health anxiety, but after investigations over some abnormal bleeding I did find it helpful when the doctor took two minutes to explain the findings of my scan (including some shadows and other likely non significant findings). If my symptoms had continued unresolved I could see how I might have gone back over those reports at a later date and worried something had been missed/not followed up on if nobody had taken those two minutes to clarify the results. I doubt that doctors have intentionally hidden anything from OP but I can see why she is concerned. Those that can’t and are immediately dismissing her as an anxious patient seem to lack empathy and compassion.

OP - you have the right to advocate for yourself and request a second opinion or follow up appt

Yes, but that seems a rather unpleasant assumption to make about a poster based on one post? Perhaps she does have health anxiety, but why not give the benefit of the doubt?

I don't know if you've ever had symptoms that were difficult to diagnose, but it is extremely anxiety-provoking, even if you're someone without health anxiety. When doctors are dismissive or give incomplete information in those scenarios it can make things considerably worse.

They haven’t said everyone gets cysts. They’ve said cysts come and go. Which is true.

A very common feature of health anxiety is believing that doctors are lying or deliberately withholding information.

It sounds like you might be experiencing compassion fatigue and projecting. Yes, of course some patients might have health anxiety. But others might have valid concerns and/or worrying symptoms that legitimately require a second opinion or review of previous findings/scan results to ensure nothing has been missed. It’s basic medical care.

I think the answer is somewhere in the middle.

I doubt they were deliberately hiding anything from you, but on the other hand, doctors should go over results and tell patients about incidental findings and explain, even if they're clinically insignificant. It's your body, your results.

It's not overly time consuming and it's extremely condescending to assume patients won't be able to understand. Not explaining fully results in scenarios like this where patients find out something later and are understandably alarmed.

Now you’ve answered my question. Thank you.

Do you honestly believe that someone who’s presented with the OPs symptoms has gone straight to being given not one but two MRI scans without any other investigations? And that the consultant has not discussed the findings with her at all?

It does, actually. Supposedly neutral terms become derogatory over time and you'd only use the outdated term if you were ignorant of that or intending to insult someone.

That doesn’t answer my question.

My intention is this: I choose not to engage with threads where the OP has health anxiety, because it's pointless. So it's a screening tool.