Unknown cause doesn’t mean psychiatric cause

DEAR DR. GOTT: Please address this all-too-common problem among doctors. The doctors treating the woman who wrote some time ago, didn’t know what she had, therefore, they concluded (defensively) that she had nothing wrong with her, therefore, it must be mental. This outrages me! I had a son who died from myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS), and all those patients hear is “It’s in your head” because at this time there is no definitive marker and no drug approved by the FDA to help them. Not knowing is not the same as nothing is wrong.

I would also suggest that your advice is too accepting of “nothing can be done”. Wow! Something happened to that lady. Most of the people in the US are not able to get to the Mayo or Cleveland Clinics. Your usual advice to get to a teaching hospital is much more “doable”.
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