View Full Version : Doctors Letter! Bad wording?
I recently had a CT scan on my pancreas because i have been worried about having chronic pancreatitis. I also had an ultra sound (clear) blood tests (clear) and an endoscopy (clear). The consultant at the hospital wanted me to have a follow up appointment (in Dec) to review all the results - she said it was unlikely that i had chronic pancreatitis.
My CT scan was a month ago and i hadn't heard anything, which i presumed was good news. I have been feeling better in myself due to going on Citalopram and had just started to actually think that all the symptoms I had been having were caused by the anxiety! I big step forward for me!
However, i have just got a letter in the post, which literally says:
'Your recent CT scan has not shown anything that worries me. I know that a follow up appointment is planned'.
That is literally all it says! One sentence! So now I am panicking that they have found 'something'! If it was all clear, surely you would just say 'Your recent CT scan was clear'!???? rather than 'has not shown anything that worries me'.
I am really upset coz i was starting to feel so much better!
Doe anyone else agree that this wording would freak out someone that suffers from health anxiety?? Am i just being silly!
GingGangGoolie
24-10-09, 13:23
I wouldn't worry too much about it, they're standard hospital letters which everyone will get, try and tell yourself it's not just you :)
I think the NHS are being over cautious these days so as not to get sued by members of the public. When you get a cervical smear now, the letter that comes back says it appeared normal.
yes you are probably right - i think my smear letter said that and it didn't worry me in the slightest. I hadn't thought of the whole sueing thing.
I still think i'd be happier if this letter had said 'appeared normal' because at least you have that lovely word 'normal' in there!!
I'm sure its fine, and if there was anything remotely bad on there they wouldn;t be leaving telling me till my follow up appointment - I am just annoyed that something as small as a choice of wording in a letter can kick off all my worries again! I've hardly thought about my health worries much at all lately (probably only about 5% of the time lately, instead of a 100% of the time a couple of months ago) but since the letter came a couple of hours ago i have spent the WHOLE time thinking about it!
Cell block H fan
24-10-09, 16:13
I recently had a CT scan on my pancreas because i have been worried about having chronic pancreatitis. I also had an ultra sound (clear) blood tests (clear) and an endoscopy (clear). The consultant at the hospital wanted me to have a follow up appointment (in Dec) to review all the results - she said it was unlikely that i had chronic pancreatitis.
My CT scan was a month ago and i hadn't heard anything, which i presumed was good news. I have been feeling better in myself due to going on Citalopram and had just started to actually think that all the symptoms I had been having were caused by the anxiety! I big step forward for me!
However, i have just got a letter in the post, which literally says:
'Your recent CT scan has not shown anything that worries me. I know that a follow up appointment is planned'.
That is literally all it says! One sentence! So now I am panicking that they have found 'something'! If it was all clear, surely you would just say 'Your recent CT scan was clear'!???? rather than 'has not shown anything that worries me'.
I am really upset coz i was starting to feel so much better!
Doe anyone else agree that this wording would freak out someone that suffers from health anxiety?? Am i just being silly!
That sounds all happy days to me :flowers:
I had a cyst removed a few years ago and got a letter back saying 'nothing sinister' had been found. Scared the hell out of me!! I think doctor speak is very different from how we speak!
It's amazing how we all think alike here. I would be worried like you. This is what I would do...I would call and ask him/her to clarify what that means. Does it mean they saw something but it doesn't concern them or they saw nothing. You have a right to know if they saw something.
However, I feel that for legal reasons, the doctor probably would not say that. he knows you have that letter and what if something was brewing that he didn't address now? I don't think he would have put this in writing. Something of "no concern" if it had potential for being serious.
I would call also so they learn not to do this, for pete's sake! For the next patient, really, they should be more sensitive in their wording as a LOT of people have health anxiety, even the most "normal" people would be a little freaked by that letter because we cling to every word, we scrutinize it under a microscope. So that you don't have to wait until December, I say give them a call. They're used to it and it only takes a minute of their time to talk to you. I am wondering why you think you have chronic pancreatitis...did you ever have symptoms or any blood work that pointed to this?
emeraldgirl
25-10-09, 10:10
I too would be worried by that letter - they need to learn. They also need to learn that any letter recommending follow up tests should not be timed to arrive on a Saturday morning , giving you the whole weekend in a helpless sate of not being able to do anything or ask anything about it. This has now happened to me twice. I just dont think they understand the effect these letters can have on an anxious person.
Definitely get it checked out and put your mind at rest
I recently had a CT scan on my pancreas because i have been worried about having chronic pancreatitis. I also had an ultra sound (clear) blood tests (clear) and an endoscopy (clear). The consultant at the hospital wanted me to have a follow up appointment (in Dec) to review all the results - she said it was unlikely that i had chronic pancreatitis.
My CT scan was a month ago and i hadn't heard anything, which i presumed was good news. I have been feeling better in myself due to going on Citalopram and had just started to actually think that all the symptoms I had been having were caused by the anxiety! I big step forward for me!
However, i have just got a letter in the post, which literally says:
'Your recent CT scan has not shown anything that worries me. I know that a follow up appointment is planned'.
That is literally all it says! One sentence! So now I am panicking that they have found 'something'! If it was all clear, surely you would just say 'Your recent CT scan was clear'!???? rather than 'has not shown anything that worries me'.
I am really upset coz i was starting to feel so much better!
Doe anyone else agree that this wording would freak out someone that suffers from health anxiety?? Am i just being silly!
Hi
I think its good that this consultant is prepared to take responsibility fully for your results being okay. It sounds like they are aware of your health anxiety and is even trying to get you to believe and trust them and their expertise as if you had receive a letter saying ' no abnormalities were found' then you might have thought its so computerised and informal maybe theres a mistake.......
I think that this letter is good and you should totally relax mate!
Lisa
xxxx
Hi guys, thank you for your comments. I find it fascinating to see how differently people look at things.
Lisa - I have to say that I suspect they are aware of my health anxiety so hopefully you are right.....
Lauren - I got worried about having chronic pancreatitis after a period of a few years of excessive drinking which was triggered by a death in the family. I decided to look up all the bad things that alcohol can do to you (in order to make me be a bit healthier about it all!) and found out about chronic pancreatitis - until then i didn;t even know anything about it. Then, following a house move and an ill pet, i started to get anxiety symtoms, which due to my worries about alcohol, manifested themselves in physical digestive symptoms, some that are also typical of ch. pancreatitis, which convinced me further!
Ally
its horrible to think but i am quite sure that kind of thing is very much documented between hospital and medical departments. When i went for an unltrasound of my thyroid becuase i was insistant that my globus hysterious was something else, the consultant spent an awfull lot of time with me asking me what i was doing with my life and was i enjoying it ......he also scanned all over my throat aswell and checked the whole area ...obviously to satisfy me it was okay.
i dread to think what my gp had written to him lol!!
Lisa
xxxx
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