Medically unexplained symptoms: Possible causes and what to do

Medically unexplained complaints are super exhausting to have. You have an obvious complaint, such as pain that just won't go away, but doctors can't find anything. Blood tests show nothing, neither do ultrasounds and scans. You have to learn to live with it, but how do you do that?

The annoying thing about unexplained symptoms is that you can start to focus on them, making them worse and worse. For example, something strikes you once, and because you focus on it afterwards you notice that your symptoms get worse and worse[1].

So somewhere there is a mental process going on, making symptoms worse when they don't have to be.

Other research indicates that unexplained symptoms come from a troubled subconscious mind and your behavior[2].

Unexplained pain and your mental health

Research shows that people with chronic pain that cannot be explained can also suffer from mental problems. For example, you may unknowingly suffer from depression or other mood disorder. Women suffer from this more often than men[3].

How can this be done now? You may find it difficult to recognize your own emotions and moods due to circumstances in your life. Yet your subconscious will want to give your conscious a signal that something is not right and that you need to change something in your life. This signal may then be unexplained pain.

In the study that revealed this correlation, people suffered from chronic neck, head, back, joint, and/or limb pain that lasted longer than six weeks.

Treatment of unexplained symptoms

When symptoms cannot be explained and you do not respond to medication that is sometimes tried anyway, treatment is often of a more mental nature. For example, cognitive behavioral therapy may be given to help you cope with your pain or other unexplained symptoms.

In addition, meditation and hypnotherapy are recommended to treat unexplained symptoms[4].

Research conducted in Sri Lanka shows that cognitive behavioral therapy also helps against these types of symptoms[5].

You may also experience unexplained symptoms while having another explainable illness. For example, people with cancer may suffer from dizziness because the stress caused by the disease creates a lot of neck tension. In a study comparing one group of cancer patients who suffered from unexplained dizziness to another group with the same symptoms, it was found that the group who received hypnotherapy to be more aware of the tension in their bodies and then relax it were statistically more likely to no longer be dizzy[6][6].

Visualizations can also play an important role in treating unexplained symptoms. In pain, for example, you may feel that nerves, tendons or muscles are tangled. By visualizing how this all unravels and lies neatly back in your body, you can already do a lot to reduce the pain.

These types of suggestions can cause you to experience your symptoms very differently or even make them go away[7].

Relaxation is also important in making you less susceptible to the unexplained symptoms again. Precisely because with relaxation you distract your conscious mind from that feeling for a while so it is no longer super focused on it (source 4). For example, you can perform progressive muscle relaxation via guided visualization. Because you then focus on the voice of the hypnotist and which part of your body you have to tighten and relax, you are not at all occupied with the complaints.

Neurological unexplained symptoms

Even if you have no other illness, but suffer from seemingly neurological symptoms that doctors can't find anything for, hypnotherapy can be very helpful in resolving these symptoms. Research also further shows that people with these types of complaints enter hypnosis faster than those without them[8].

Think of complaints such as unexplained dizziness, unexplained paralysis, not being able to feel properly/ numb with no apparent cause, unexplained blindness, unexplained deafness and unexplained seizures.

With neurological unexplained symptoms, it is always smart to take a moment to consider what benefit this complaint is giving you. Most people do things to help themselves and not to get themselves into trouble.

In a case study of a man who suffered from unexplained neurological problems, those problems prevented him from returning to work. So something was wrong there and then hypnotherapy was used to explore his emotions about his work. In his case, he was suffering from internal conflict over a promotion he was to receive about his work.

Possibly he was suffering a bit from scammer syndrome .

By resolving these kinds of internal conflicts about what the complaint brings you (not having to go to work for a while and solving those "problems"), then often does more for people than reducing stress and relaxation exercises (source 4).

It doesn't always have to be a neurological-like complaint where an internal conflict needs to be resolved. Another case study shows a man who vomits after eating , but where this is not due to wanting an ideal weight, as in anorexia, but something else. Namely, it started after his son died who was riding a motorcycle in front of him at the time (while he was driving a car). He found it difficult to deal with the emotions of losing his son. He suffered from anger, anxiety and guilt due to the death of his son. Also in this study, resolving the internal conflict was important to resolve the unexplained vomiting[9].

Resolve internal conflicts to resolve unexplained symptoms

So if you need to do something, but if for some reason you don't want to do it and you can't say so, your subconscious can give you unexplained complaints. That way, what you don't want to do, you don't have to do.

That alone is not a convenient long-term solution.

A hypnotherapist can then help resolve these kinds of internal conflicts so that you can either still say what you need to say despite the consequences or so that you can do what you need to do but so that you feel good about it.

Initially, you can think about the meaning of your unexplained complaint[10]. What is your body trying to tell you? How is your life going and do you need to take action there somewhere?

Why is something so troublesome that your body seems to get sick sooner than you can tell?

The answer to that last question lies in the beliefs you have about yourself, life and how you think you should function in the world.

With regression, for example, you can find out what beliefs are causing some problems, such as when you can't handle something well at work and then just get "sick."

During such a regression, you often end up with a moment from your childhood, because that's when you determine what the "rules" of the world apparently are. Sometimes circumstances can give you beliefs that do not help you in the long run, and with regression you can find out when such a thing arose.

Then, in your mind, you can fix this moment, removing the limiting belief[11]. Then you can, for example, set your boundaries at work, or just confidently face your promotion.

Another technique that can help is to visualize how you will enter into the conversation with someone. In this way, you can, for example, work out certain issues with people who are no longer in your life for one reason or another. Because your brain can't quite tell the difference between reality and your visualization. So even if you have the last word that way, this can provide relief.

Ideal if you had wanted to say something anyway, but didn't get around to it in reality.

Once barriers are removed, a hypnotherapist can also help you get started with the rest of your life. With building your self-confidence or with post-hypnotic suggestions that affect your mindset, for example while at work or when with friends and family.

These may include suggestions such as:

"When you are done with this hypnosis session, your life goes on as usual, but you will find that everything goes easier. That you can express your emotions appropriately and your bonds with friends and family improve. Even your collegiality will improve, and in a few months you will reflect that everything is actually flowing very smoothly and that you have no unexplained health issues."

This is just an example, depending on your problems and goals, a hypnotherapist may give you a different post-hypnotic suggestion.

Want to learn more about hypnosis and what it can do for you or others? Then come to the free online master class.

Or register directly for one of our seminars and trainings. Ideal if you want to make yourself and others feel better.

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