Some symptoms do not fit neatly into a diagnosis. Yet for many patients, the pain, fatigue, headaches, and distress are very real.

In The Challenge of Medically Unexplained Disorders (M.U.D.), C. Philip O'Carroll, MD, examines one of medicine's most difficult and overlooked problems. Drawing from more than fifty years as a neurologist, he discusses chronic pain, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, headaches, functional neurological disorders, and other conditions that often leave patients searching for answers.

This book looks at the limits of the traditional medical model and explains how stress, trauma, emotions, the brain, and the body can become deeply connected. Through patient stories, medical history, neuroscience, and clinical insight, Dr. O'Carroll shows why these disorders should not be dismissed or reduced to simple explanations.

This book includes:

• Medically unexplained disorders
• Chronic pain and fatigue
• Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome
• Headaches, back pain, and IBS
• Functional neurological disorders
• Stress, trauma, and the brain
• The mind-body problem in medicine
• Patient stories from clinical practice
• The limits of the current medical model

The Challenge of Medically Unexplained Disorders (M.U.D.) is a thoughtful medical work for patients, caregivers, physicians, therapists, and anyone trying to better understand symptoms that are real, persistent, and difficult to explain.