I think they downplay it for 2 reasons:

1) people are highly suggestible

2) they don't really know what each person is going to experience with the problem.

I found a book about my issues at the U of Mich medical library.
It was 90 pgs long. And it was from Toronto Canada. The gist of it was that some people with malrotation have lifelong problems/symptoms (like me), and others never do. This book had a surgeon's opinion of how to fix some of it. But I have been told by 3 doctors, including one recent radiologist graduate, that my problem is not fixable. So there.

Sometimes there are no answers.