• Question: -what would you do if a patient was presented with persistent symptoms but had no apparent cause behind them?

    Asked by Maariya on 15 Mar 2022.
    • Photo: Sally Cuthbert

      Sally Cuthbert answered on 15 Mar 2022:

      It’s always a tricky one. I would try and treat the psychological side so teaching mindfulness and stress management techniques. I would bounce back to the GP to ensure all bases/tests have been covered but I would be going down more of an holistic route of trying to support the patient relaxing. Naturally they are very uptight and stressed with not getting the answers they need. I try and help support a patient cope with managing the way they react to this.

    • Photo: Jamie Hynes

      Jamie Hynes answered on 15 Mar 2022:

      This happens! It’s caused Medically Unexplained Symptoms and it’s really important when faced with this that clinicians focus on the word ‘yet’
      Modern Medicine doesn’t YET have the technology or test that clearly identifies what’s wrong.
      We haven’t YET found the best way to manage these symptoms and help you function better with them, if we’re not YET able to cure them.

Comments

  • Photo: Heather

    Heather commented on :

    I think what Sally says – if a patient has persistent symptoms but no immediately obvious cause, then it becomes a case of ‘digging a bit deeper’ with the patient; thinking outside the box a bit with the patient. There are also some illness that can get missed – endometriosis in girls is something that can get overlooked for example. I think whatever the symptoms there is clearly an underlying cause, so getting to the bottom of that, and it may take time, is better than someone who is suffering.
    in the ambulance service we only treat what is in front of us at that moment in time, and we take them to hospital to get the cause figured out – so I guess that is a difference in that we don’t diagnose people, just get them to the right place to get them the tests/care they need. hope that makes sense!

  • Photo: Samantha

    Samantha commented on :

    As above but that is why we have so many different specialists within our wonderful NHS.

  • Photo: Sarah

    Sarah commented on :

    There is an interesting book that you may enjoy called It’s All in Your Head: Stories from the Frontline of Psychosomatic Illness. By Suzanne O’Sullivan