Patients should be fully informed....

[vipersnest1]

Today has been the third time I've found out something quite important about my health when I wasn't informed initially:

A long time ago, I was eventually told that I had a chronically inflamed sinus - I'd had an MRI a few years prior which showed it. The chronic sinus infection (I was told it had probably been there for at least ten years) resulted in me getting glue ear, losing 50% hearing in that ear temporarily and having to have grommets.

I have a prolapse (a rectocele) and also have a rectal intussusception - I only know about the intussusception because I've seen it mentioned in a letter to my GP. Luckily I haven't had a problem, but it can cause a bowel blockage, can cause rectal bleeding or in the worst case can cause part of the rectum to die.

Today I went to see a spinal surgeon (I have neurological symptoms in one arm). I already knew I had a bone spur on my spine which is pressing slightly on one nerve to that arm. I found out today that I also have a slightly prolapsed disc one level higher. The MRI he looked at was taken in 2022. The disc is highly relevant to my symptoms and I can't for the life of me work out why I wasn't told at the time, when I was informed of other findings.

I'm pretty pissed off to be honest. I can get why some patients should have part of their findings withheld if it in their best interests, but that doesn't apply for me.
WWYD?
And has it happened to you - I'm very interested to hear if this is common or not.

I should be shocked by PPs' posts but sadly I'm not surprised at all - this is what I suspected.

There’s a movie starring Alec Baldwin who plays a doctor.
During the film he says ‘I don’t think I am god, I am god’.
That writer had clearly met a lot of doctors who think they know best.

I found out I'd had glandular fever whilst in hospital for my tonsils out. I'd been ill and off it for a long time and had been constantly at the doctors, I was late twenties. Had I known I'd have rested more, instead of trying to power through and feeling absolutely on my knees.

I had an emergency appendectomy. Discharged the next day and no follow up. Completely by chance I was at the hospital for an appointment about something else and the doctor asked me what follow up I'd had for my appendix. Turns out it was pre cancerous and if it had become cancerous it would have been untreatable because of the type of cells it had. I then had a colonoscopy to check whether it had spread. Luckily it hadn't.

@PleaseletitbeSpring, sorry for the late reply. That's really shocking.

Hmm... I had a cervical spine MRI 18 months ago due to a painful neck on one side and tingling in my face on that side.

Had absolutely zero contact about it and it's mostly resolved (except an occasional ache) so assumed everything was fine... But now I'm not sure!!

The NHS really is useless, isn't it...

I'd not assume @Forgiveme. It happened to me (the results had been sent to my GP to pass on as they didn't reach the consultant in time for my appointment) and I found out about 9 months later that I needed an operation. No-one told me until I went to the GP with on-going problems (and saw a lovely locum who did her job).

I agree with @Chaotica,@Forgiveme. You really should ask for it to be checked again. If I hadn't been referred for my neurological symptoms (I've had neck problems for at least 15 years previously), I would never have known about my prolapsed disc.
As it is, I've been referred for physio to see if that will help - if not it will be nerve root blocks to see if a spinal fusion would help. I'm holding off because the surgeon told me the nerve blocks aren't on a scale similar to lumbar spine blocks (which I've had), so if I can get away with physio it's all good. If not, I'll look into the other route.
I'm quite pragmatic about it because I'm approaching 60, have osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia, so want to give myself the best pain-free future I can.