From Reuters: A new study finds that more than one third of the physcial symptoms patients describe to their doctors have no clear cause. According to a study conducted by Dr. Kurt Kroenke at the University of School of Medicine in Indianapolis:
[A]fter answering questions about their symptoms and submitting to diagnostic tests, patients are often “left with what I call a ’symptom diagnosis,’” said study author Dr. Kurt Kroenke, in which the doctor says they have pain, for example, but can give no reason why.But a lack of an underlying illness does not mean the symptom isn’t real, and Kroenke urges patients and doctors alike to take all physical symptoms seriously, regardless of what diagnostic tests reveal.
“Testing can be very focused,” he told Reuters Health. “And (a negative test result) by itself doesn’t mean there’s no symptom.”
Most patients visited their doctors with complaints of back pain, headache or pain in the arms and legs.
