The Prevalence of Medically Unexplained Symptoms in Emergency Neurology Service 2026 Ernoić et al

[Andy]

Abstract​

Background and Objectives: Medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) represent a clinical syndrome encompassing conditions in which patients present with symptoms that cannot be adequately explained by identifiable organic pathology or do not meet established diagnostic criteria for organic disease. These symptoms pose a diagnostic and management challenge, particularly in acute care settings. The objective of this study was to determine the proportion of patients presenting with MUS to the Emergency Neurology Service of a tertiary care hospital.

Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted at the Emergency Neurology Service of Sveti Duh University Hospital. All patients who were triaged for neurological examination during the study period were included. Following clinical evaluation, attending neurologists assessed the extent to which each patient’s symptoms could be explained by organic disease (“organicity”). This assessment was recorded using a Likert scale ranging from “not at all explained” to “completely explained.

Results: Out of 219 patients, 2.7% had symptoms that were rated as “not at all explained” by organic disease, 7.3% “somewhat explained”, 23.3% “largely explained” and 66.7% “completely explained” by organic disease.

Conclusions: Approximately one-tenth of patients presenting to our Emergency Neurology Service have symptoms that are poorly explained by identifiable organic disease.

Open access

 

[Andy]

"MUS are part of chronic and contested illnesses, which are characterized by debilitating yet nonspecific symptoms with limited objective findings [15]. Moretti and Barker highlighted the social and gendered dimensions of conditions like fibromyalgia and Long COVID, emphasizing the disproportionate impact on women and insufficient recognition within current medical frameworks [15]. Functional and psychosomatic approaches have shown promise: case-level findings demonstrated symptom improvement in lactose intolerance following functional neurology interventions [16]. Moreover, gluten-sensitive patients experienced relief of unexplained sensory symptoms with a strict gluten-free diet [17]. Targeting non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease improved quality of life [18], and post-critical incident seminars for emergency care workers reduced depression, anxiety, and traumatic stress [19]. These findings suggest that functional and psychosomatic strategies may complement conventional management in MUS. In the last two decades, neurologists reconsidered their approach to MUS and proposed functional neurologic disorders (FND), as a new entity, claiming that neurology could offer alternative treatment options to the psychotherapies provided in psychiatry settings [20,21]."

 

[Sean]

as a new entity,​

As a new label. Nothing more.

 

[rvallee]

Functional and psychosomatic approaches have shown promise: case-level findings demonstrated symptom improvement in lactose intolerance following functional neurology interventions [16]. Moreover, gluten-sensitive patients experienced relief of unexplained sensory symptoms with a strict gluten-free diet [17]. Targeting non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease improved quality of life [18], and post-critical incident seminars for emergency care workers reduced depression, anxiety, and traumatic stress [19].

This is the best they could come up with. And it really is the best they can come up with. I have no idea what any of this has to do with anything, but it really sums up the mediocrity of this ideology. The mere possibility that they don't know everything, and so all of this is easily explained by simple ignorance, simply never comes up in any of these people's minds. No, if they can't explain it now, if they can't see the hand behind daddy's back, then it can't exist, the hand has ceased to exist.

This junk pseudoscience has been both new and untested, but also proven without any doubt and benefiting from years of successful practice for literally over a century. It's the complete lack of any oversight or accountability that breaks everything. In almost any other context, this would have been shut down decades ago and it would be hard to find records of it as they would have been expunged to limit embarrassment. Not here. No, in health care bad ideas are too big to fail and not subject to any sort of pressure to deliver anything.

This is like spending billions on this, then billions more, except at least in high-risk capital-heavy technology R&D investment, there is enough shame to stop at $77B and no lives lost:

 

[Liie]

following functional neurology interventions

Oh, "functional neurology interventions"! This must be something new and exiting, right?! It's definitely not just CBT, right?