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.

Do NOT self sabotage by cancelling that appointment. You are clearly in a bad place mentally because you are catastrophising and reading things that aren't there. I do understand your disappointment that you haven't had the clear-cut answer you hoped for, but there is a potential answer and solution so don't sabotage that because you're upset.

Go to the appointment and discuss what they're going to do about your pain. If you cancel you're the one responsible for turning your fears into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

And stop relying on Google to assist in your catastrophising. It gets stuff wrong.

Have you heard of referred pain by the way? Where we feel pain isn't necessarily where the problem is.

find another physio! I trashed my knee going hip deep in a bog dog walking when I was almost 60. First physio I went to said torn meniscus, get a knee washout. I wasn't keen so I went to another physio, a great bloke who said he too had got a dodgy knee and there is no way in hell he would have a knee wash out. he treated my knee and gave me home exercises and a method for home treatment and I am pretty much pain free even though its now 15 years later. I have got some limitations, mainly going up and down stairs but I still drive, do all my own gardening and generally exist pain free. Try and find a sports physio and ask around for suggestions.

Stop googling. You are on a diagnosis pathway and you have completed the MRI portion. Now take the next step of getting professional analysis of the images.

Knees are complex joints with lots of potential for developing painful conditions. The consultant will be aware of these different conditions. See what he or she thinks is the most likely condition to be causing your pain.

IT IS NOT ALL IN YOUR HEAD

And I’ll repeat again

IT IS NOT ALL IN YOUR HEAD

If you’re in pain, you are in pain.
Please don’t talk yourself into thinking it’s not real, theres nothing wrong with you.
im more and more getting the feeling a few people have told you that or infer it. Don’t believe them. Even if it’s your GP. Even if it’s a close family member. Theyre talking shit if they’re going that route.

YABU for expecting us all to know what a meniscus is.

The ‘it’s your weight’ story is the lazy option fur anyone, including doctors, who don’t know the answer or can’t be bothered to find it.

So if it’s a parameniscal cyst then it’s most likely from a tiny tear of your meniscus, we might not necessarily see that on the scan. That is a decent sized cyst to be sitting anteriorly in your knee. It’s definitely not normal. I’d be waiting to see what the surgeon says but I’d say you have most likely found the cause of your knee pain. I report these scans.

No disrespect to gps but your gp is not the specialist in this area. Wait until you see the consultant and don’t give up hope.

Cartilage in the knee. It stops your knee bones grinding against each other.

Scans don’t show everything. I had chronic lateral knee pain from an old injury and was referred for suspected torn meniscus. The MRI showed a discoid meniscus (normal variant) and nothing else but at arthroscopy they found thick adhesions within the joint space. They removed these and washed the joint out. I was pain free for ten years and then for ten years after that I’ve had only occasional pain when I overdo it that is managed easily with over the counter painkillers.

Don’t give up hope, OP. See what the consultant says.

If you are in pain there is something wrong - and via the scan you have just ruled out a whole host of things.
You're gutted because without a diagnosis you feel in limbo because you can't treat something you don't know.
The last 12 months have been the hardest of my 15 year olds life for exactly the same reason - unknown knee pain, clear MRI, ortho consultant couldn't figure it out. Physio not doing anything. We finally saw head honcho consultant (clinic is in his name) and he figured out the issue in about 5 mins. 6 months later she is finally getting less pain and back to normal, but every 6 weeks for 8 months she went to consultant with hope that this time there would be an answer and every time no idea and no sport felt worse & worse.
Keep going OP - answer is out there somewhere

Yep
my son has had 2 removed, one on his knee and one near his eye

So do you get an excruciating catching pinching feeling at the back of your knee. Does it give way randomly?

Is this just an NHS bashing thread?

Yes. It’s awful. It feels like someone has taken my knee and pinched it in sharp tweezers or something.

It doesn’t so much give way as it just feels like it gets really lazy? So if I’m stood it will sort of half give way. I catch myself before it fully collapses, if that makes sense?

It can also be really, really painful to walk on. It hurts when bent and when sitting.

Benign means it isn't cancer not that it isn't a problem.

Why have you concluded there’s nothing wrong just because you don’t have a torn meniscus?

This cyst or ganglion could cause the pain or other knee problems with treatments or focused physiotherapy/injections to soothe pain…

They will do that, if clinically indicated which your pain would warrant.

having worked in an orthopaedic clinic, this isn’t a “normal” scan. It’s found a potential cause for your pain. It would absolutely warrant discussion of treatment options with an orthopaedic surgeon for management - whether that’s steroid injection, surgery or rehabilitation of some sort.

I understand how upset you feel not to have the answer you expected but you have an answer - this isn’t a “normal” scan.

I think when you see the doctor you’ve got to really lay it on thick. I know the horrible sickening pain. Can you take someone with you to help you not be fobbed off? X

Sadly not.

To be honest when I talk about what I’ve lost and how much of a toll it’s taken on me in the last year I am genuinely moved to tears. It really has destroyed so much of my life

OP loads of people have cysts drained and/or removed. Unless pathology post removal shows cancer, or the cyst is in a particularly awful spot, they are rarely life threatening, or even serious.

Personally I have had one done on my neck because it rubbed against my t-shirt and one done from my breast, because they wanted to double check it. I have no idea why you are so sure that the "The NHS won’t operate on a benign, painless growth" because they sometimes DO, and have for me twice, so unless you have been specifically told by the orthopaedic specialist that they won't operate on YOUR growth, you have NO IDEA whether that is true.

Let the doctor see this. Cry in front of him. Do whatever it takes. You deserve to be listened to and taken seriously. I cried to the consultants secretary to get my steroid injection speeded up. And I wasn’t faking it.
i couldn’t take it anymore! Xx

“. I’ve been in this much pain because of a ganglion cyst, which is a painless benign cyst.”
Well It obviously isn’t painless because you’re in pain. Just because the scan didn’t show anything else doesn't mean it isn’t this cyst causing the pain and the orthopaedic surgeon will know how to deal with it. Stop beating yourself up.

I wish my scan was normal. 🤨 my meniscus tear was 1.5 yesrs ago and im 4 months post surgery now with plenty of pain and suffering still