To be disappointed my scan was normal

[cantdothisanymor]

I saw a physio ages ago and was told I likely had a torn meniscus.

I’ve finally had the scan and the report says all is fine, just a small cyst. It could be a ganglion or a parameniscal. But it’s all fine.

I’ve got an appointment booked in with an orthopaedic consultant to discuss the scan properly but I’m almost sad that I just have to live with this pain now. For the last year I’ve been in agony, every step hurts, and now it turns out it’s just me being a baby.

I could cry, I really thought that I was about to find an answer and a cure. But this is just how I live my life now. I can’t imagine another 70 years of this agony.

Constant pain is demoralising and exhausting. Perhaps be a bit kinder

Tbh, you are massively overreacting.

Your pain has not been invalidated.
You are not fine.
The med report just tells you what has been seen and what is defective. The ligaments are fine (which is good) and you have a cyst (quite large) which is not.

Effectively that cyst is the equivalent of a bit of grit in your knee joint, despite not being sharp or rock hard. The fact that ganglion dont hurt in themselves is irrelevant, anything will cause pain if its jammed in a space it's not meant to be in.

I daresay the consultant will want to reduce or resect it. They might do that with a simple needle to take out the fluid and see if reduces the pain and also if it refills and needs further treatment.

You are not outside the scope of the NHS and your GP should prescribe analgesics based on your pain not on the underlying condition.

Take some time out.
Chill out a bit.

And wait until you've seen the consultant before reacting this badly.

This worrying in advance is like paying interest on a debt you dont even have yet!!

Stop saying you are a twat- you just sound over dramatic now 🤣

For what it is worth, I've been having a very similar issue over the last few years so you are not alone and it definitely doesn't make you a twat.

I have a lot of pain, instability and locking in my knee. It's literally a textbook meniscus injury. Even saw a private surgeon who agreed. Then the MRI was completely clear. I don't think I'm a twat 😁

I'm sorry I don't have a useful suggestion but I hope you sort something out with it

My mum had a ganglion cyst on her foot. It was painful as it pushed on a nerve.

She paid about £80 for a private appointment to have it drained. Although they do often come back after this but it is certainly not painful any more!!

I assume you're not overweight or anything that would cause excess pressure on the joint?

As its on a pressure joint then although they have said they cyst isn't painful it could certainly cause pain.

I'd see if you can get it drained to see if that helps.

You've already mentioned that you've been googling. Googling where and what?

Take the MRI images to your consultant and let the qualified professional do their own analysis instead of taking it upon yourself to conclude that the images are useless.

Incidentally, the NHS page on ganglion cysts says [a] ganglion cyst is a fluid filled lump under the skin that usually appears on the wrist or hand. Ganglion cysts are common and often get better on their own. There are treatments if it's painful or affects joint movement.

Bolding mine.

It goes on to say

Most ganglion cysts do not usually need to be treated or removed.
If they are causing problems they can be treated by:

• draining the cyst using a needle (aspiration)
• a steroid injection to reduce swelling
• cutting the cyst out with a small surgical operation

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/ganglion-cyst/

OP I had/have a cyst in my wrist and though it wasn't constantly painful, it could make things really complicated e.g. when lifting a heavy shopping bag. They've offered to remove it (I'm not in the UK, they have more resources here) but I can't quite be arsed because now it's painful only very intermittently.

Point is, if you are in pain with every step then your knee is NOT OK. Don't let them fob you off. Be very clear to the orthopedic consultant that yes there IS a problem and something needs to be done.

Women get dismissed so easily when they're in pain. It's not right. You sound like you're used to not complaining and just getting on with things, but clearly this pain really affects you and you deserve help with it.

I hope the consultant turns out to be more constructive than the radiologist. Fingers crossed.

I think a ganglion cyst that’s troublesome can be drained of fluid or surgically removed. Speak to your consultant, I’m sure there will be options.

Firstly it doesn't sound like it's painless, so they might do something for you!

Secondly, codeine can cause (I know it sounds odd but there's plenty of research into it) pain sensitivity. After long term use it can actually make you feel like you're in more pain than you are, and when you stop taking it, your brain makes you feel like you're in more pain to get you to take it again. I'm not saying this is the case with you, but it does happen.

Edit to say I worded it badly..whatever pain you have you are definitely feeling, it's just codeine can make your brain feel more pain than it would be without it after long term use.

OP, it could be your back? Some issues with the spine can cause severe pain in other parts of the body. You can have zero back pain and a very sore hip/knee or similar. All referred from the actual back injury that you never knew you had.

There is nothing structurally wrong with my knees or hips but I’ve had pain for years and Physio helps a lot. Are you seeing a Physio regularly?

Personally I’d be wanting to find out it definitely is just a benign cyst. Scan says “likely”, but given the amount of pain you’re in I’d be wanting the cyst aspirated and sent off to cytology (if there is indeed fluid in it) to find out for definite. Clearly there is something underlying going on here because you shouldn’t be in this much pain in your 20s with no obvious reasoning.

Are you reading anything anyone is posting? Your knee is not fine, it’s not in your head, you have a cyst, which, due to its location, is causing you pain. In another location a ganglion might not cause pain, but trapped within your knee capsule OF COURSE it is pushing against nerves and structures and causing you pain.

Your attitude is infuriating.

A 1.8 cm × 1.2 cm medial parameniscal cyst is a moderate-sized cyst. It's certainly large enough to cause symptoms in some people, particularly if it's pressing on nearby soft tissues or nerves. I had a similar issue, no tear visible on mri but the cyst was large. My knee was very painful especially on bending, twisting and squatting. NHS orthopedic consultant drained the cyst and it was much better. Unfortunately it refilled and I ended up with keyhole knee surgery and they found a medial
meniscus tear that they had to trim and the cyst was removed - it wasn’t visible on either MRI scan. My GP was uselsss but the consultant was excellent and could see that my knee was swollen and painful when tested and put that together with the scan. I think you should go and see the consultant. They will listen and they know what they are doing.

I had a painful knee once it was so painful GP said take anti-inflammatorys I did on and off it came back until a proper Dr said u must take them continuous for 10 full days and this got rid of the inflammation!!!
It might work for u u never know x

I'm pretty sure that in this context, "benign" merely means "not cancerous".

It doesn't mean "not causing any other problems", and the OP's pain demonstrates it.is causing problems!

If it's a parameniscal cyst as suggested, the vast majority of these are actually associated with meniscal tears. Just FYI as you may have/ had a tear that is no longer visible.

I’m not referring to her pain or condition. I am referring to her calling herself and idiot and a twat, amongst other things. She is extremely negative about herself as a person, challenging that is being kind

@cantdothisanymor I have to take the pictures along to the appointment and he’ll apparently go through them then

You have not yet discussed the scan findings and you are not giving your Consultant a chance to discuss the alternative cause of your pain, which appears, thankfully, to not require invasive surgery. So why all the premature 'poor me'?

Yes, a ganglion or a cyst in and of themselves are painless, but as has been said several times by previous posters, if a ganglion or cyst is pressing on a nerve, it will cause pain. Wait for your follow-up consultation with your specialist and explain what pain is being caused by the small cyst they have found.

In the meantime and whilst you are waiting to discuss the findings, there are things you can do to help yourself take weight off your knee. As somebody else recommended, you could help support the knee by using a inexpensive support bandage. Using a walking stick takes a considerable amount of weight going through the knee. Losing weight too would help (you have not said how heavy you are). Having a positive mental attitude can help our tolerance of pain, whilst a 'poor me, life is awful' attitude can make pain feel worse.

OP, I’m a doctor but not of this area. Remember that investigations such as scans are used to diagnose conditions, but they are also used to rule out conditions. So if this is not a meniscal tear, but you are still in a lot of pain, then there has to be another diagnosis. They will then have to explore another route.

That’s how differential diagnoses and investigations work. In the nicest possible way, you need to get a grip and carry on. That can be really difficult when you’re in chronic pain. But this investigation has been helpful as it has excluded a tear, but now they need to look for something else. The cause of the pain. No need to give up yet, I promise.

Hi OP

Just because your scan is normal doesn't mean that you don't have pain. We don't see pain on a scan - it's microscopic chemical molecules.

The example I use for patients is of migraine - everyone knows what a migraine is, and no-one gets accused of making up pain from a migraine, but if you do blood tests or put someone into a head scanner while they are having a migraine, you won't see anything different from what you would see if you did those tests when they were well.

It's like if your computer doesn't work - you could lift the bonnet and see a wire out of place and that's the problem - that's what a scan does, looks for a structural thing that might be causing the issue. However, there is also a situation where your computer won't start and everything looks fine to the eye, but the software isn't running properly, and that's more like the situation you are in.

I'd be doing an MRI scan of the knee to see if something needed surgery, and if it doesn't then the best treatment is physiotherapy and painkillers.

Scans don’t show if you are in pain or not. I get you are disappointed it didn’t show what you thought it would but you are being really defeatist.

I know 2 people who have had ganglion cysts removed that were causing them pain.

I have a frozen shoulder/shoulder impingement. I had an x ray and ultrasound and they only showed mild osteoarthritis - nothing to explain the pain and restriction I am experiencing. I had 2 cortisone injections that did nothing and have had physio over several weeks. The pain is better(not gone but improved) but the movement isn’t any better. No one can explain what’s going on but I am not imagining it and I am not going to be discharged without further investigation if it stays like this.

Just because the scans don’t explain the pain, doesn’t make it less real. You go to your gp and get referred. Don’t take no for an answer. If you go in making out you are just bring a wuss the. They won’t do anything. You have to advocate for yourself.

You are also wrong to say you can’t get a referral to a pain clinic unless you are bed bound. That’s utter rubbish. It’s usually what ends up happening when your pain affects your quality of life but there is no orthopaedic or other (obvious clinical) reason for it.

Just to add, I hope you get some answers OP 💐

I’m obviously not a doctor in any way shape or form

But when I look at the scans they just don’t look right. I know I can’t diagnose on the basis of a feeling, but when they’re compared to example images from the internet there is so much more fluid and swelling on mine than what you see online. It all seems to match up with where my pain is, so I don’t know if I’m just talking myself into it.

I had this. Two years of pain. MRI scan showed nothing much. I insisted that something needed to be done. I couldn’t function. So
they put me down for a steroid injection.
I had to fight for it because they put me down as routine rather than urgent. So
i kept phoning the consultants secretary.
she got me upgraded to urgent. Had the injection one month ago. IT HAS REALLY HELPED!!! Fight for yourself. When you see the orthopaedic surgeon say something needs to be done. Don’t be robbed off. Stay sitting in the chair until they make a suggestion. Lay it on thick.

It’s these ones that look really wrong to me. Obviously I’m just looking at it from my own perspective but the bright white areas are exactly where my pain comes from. Especially at the back, it’s exactly where the pinching and catching happens.

(as an aside, it has also really disgusted me to see how much like a slice of ham my leg looks inside).

Before anyone comments about me being overweight - I am aware. I have lost a ton of weight. The injury occurred while losing said weight. It has worsened despite losing another 1.5 stone since it happened.