Doctor wants to discuss MRI results in person

[veggiedog]

Hi everyone,

I'm in a bad state tonight and mostly need a place to vent. I've had OCD, primarily health-related, for most of my life and am in the middle of one of the worst bouts.

For the past year or so, I've had pulsatile tinnitus in my left ear. It's intermittent and seems to be triggered by particular postures (e.g., hunching at the computer). Of course, I've googled this extensively, have read basically every medical journal article I could get my hands on, and have worked myself into a panic for the last year.

I've seen three doctors about this. The first one was a private walk-in clinic and he basically laughed it off (sigh). The second, my primary care doctor, seemed mostly unconcerned but ordered a chest & cervical spine X-ray. That was about six months ago and everything was normal.

Most recently, I went to a different walk-in clinic and the doctor ordered a full work-up: MRI (cervical spine and brain with contrast), carotid doppler ultrasound, and a referral to an ENT.

I had the MRI/MRA about a week ago at a private clinic. I had the results sent to both my primary care doctor and the walk-in clinic doctor that ordered them. Yesterday, my primary care doctor called me and said my results were "normal" but we could discuss them in more detail at my (pre-existing) appointment on November 1st.

Today, however, the walk-in clinic called and said the doctor would like to see me in person to discuss the results. I'm going in first thing tomorrow morning so I should know what's up within the next 16 hours.

This is so hard. I felt such an immense sense of relief after my primary doctor called to say they were normal, though of course I had some niggling doubts about what she wanted to "discuss"... now, even that little bit of relief is gone. :(

I'm trying to tell myself that the walk-in clinic doctor could want to discuss something totally minor (e.g., TMJ which I have, weird neck pain which I have) but of course I'm fixated on the most awful, cardiovascular-related scenarios. My partner tells me that the results may very well be "normal" and the doctor simply wants to follow up because he knows I'm worried.

But if it were THAT minor, wouldn't he at least wait until I have the carotid doppler ultrasound too...?

It's impossible to theorize, which is the worst part. Quite literally, all I can do is wait. Sixteen more hours until I find out... :(

Thank you for letting me vent.

[AMomentofClarity]

Hi everyone,

I'm in a bad state tonight and mostly need a place to vent. I've had OCD, primarily health-related, for most of my life and am in the middle of one of the worst bouts.

For the past year or so, I've had pulsatile tinnitus in my left ear. It's intermittent and seems to be triggered by particular postures (e.g., hunching at the computer). Of course, I've googled this extensively, have read basically every medical journal article I could get my hands on, and have worked myself into a panic for the last year.

I've seen three doctors about this. The first one was a private walk-in clinic and he basically laughed it off (sigh). The second, my primary care doctor, seemed mostly unconcerned but ordered a chest & cervical spine X-ray. That was about six months ago and everything was normal.

Most recently, I went to a different walk-in clinic and the doctor ordered a full work-up: MRI (cervical spine and brain with contrast), carotid doppler ultrasound, and a referral to an ENT.

I had the MRI/MRA about a week ago at a private clinic. I had the results sent to both my primary care doctor and the walk-in clinic doctor that ordered them. Yesterday, my primary care doctor called me and said my results were "normal" but we could discuss them in more detail at my (pre-existing) appointment on November 1st.

Today, however, the walk-in clinic called and said the doctor would like to see me in person to discuss the results. I'm going in first thing tomorrow morning so I should know what's up within the next 16 hours.

This is so hard. I felt such an immense sense of relief after my primary doctor called to say they were normal, though of course I had some niggling doubts about what she wanted to "discuss"... now, even that little bit of relief is gone. :(

I'm trying to tell myself that the walk-in clinic doctor could want to discuss something totally minor (e.g., TMJ which I have, weird neck pain which I have) but of course I'm fixated on the most awful, cardiovascular-related scenarios. My partner tells me that the results may very well be "normal" and the doctor simply wants to follow up because he knows I'm worried.

But if it were THAT minor, wouldn't he at least wait until I have the carotid doppler ultrasound too...?

It's impossible to theorize, which is the worst part. Quite literally, all I can do is wait. Sixteen more hours until I find out... :(

Thank you for letting me vent.

Your primary care doc wouldn’t have told you the results are normal if they weren’t. Period, end of story.

[veggiedog]

You’re primary care doc wouldn’t have told you the results are normal if they weren’t. Period, end of story.

Thanks, AMomentofClarity. I really appreciate you taking the time to reply. Logically I know that you're right. I'm holding on to the hope that the walk-in doc is just being thorough. Thanks again.

[ankietyjoe]

Maybe (s)he want's to tell you to cut out the pointless self diagnosis in person.

[veggiedog]

Maybe (s)he want's to tell you to cut out the pointless self diagnosis in person.

Haha, I could use a bit of (or a lot of!) a scolding for sure. During the walk-in appointment I mentioned that I was worried it was "a blood clot or something" and he shrugged it off as "it wouldn't present that way". So it's very likely he made a note about me being... keen... on self-diagnosis. :blush:

[utrocket09]

That is pretty common to discuss them in person. At my last MRI I had to go in person.If it were that serious they would not have told you they were normal.

[veggiedog]

That is pretty common to discuss them in person. At my last MRI I had to go in person.If it were that serious they would not have told you they were normal.

Thanks ultrocket. I'm on my way there now so I should know in the next five hours or so. (Long wait times...) I'll post an update here when I know more.

[Carys]

Interested to hear the outcome.....:D

[veggiedog]

Thanks Carys, I appreciate that.

[veggiedog]

I met with the walk-in clinic doctor this morning and to my enormous relief (and my partner's complete lack of surprise) the results were, in fact, normal.

They didn't find anything significant, just some very mild disk degeneration. They did suggest a CT scan of the temporal bone to rule out dehiscence (SSCD) as a cause for the pulsatile tinnitus. I think this is why my doctor wanted to talk to me in person.

I had a little laugh because my doctor was like "hmm dehiscence, I barely know what that is"... of course, it's something that I've come across in my own """"research"""". Haha.

I briefly scanned the MRI report before handing it over to my partner for safe keeping, because god knows I don't need that in my possession!

Thank you for your support everyone. I thought of your replies last night when I was having trouble sleeping.

[Carys]

:):):):):):):)
Excellent !