Patients afflicted by mystery illness
Medically unexplained physical symptoms linked to psychiatric problems or the stress of living in HK
They suffer from constant headaches, insomnia, fatigue, and recurrent chest and muscle pain, yet doctors can find nothing wrong with them. But their affliction is real.
Medically unexplained physical symptoms (Mups), is an illness caused by psychiatric problems or a stressful lifestyle.
Almost one in four visitors to a public clinic falls under this category, a survey by the University of Hong Kong shows.
The survey, the first of its kind in the city, involved 13,000 patients who visited the university's outpatient clinic in Ap Lei Chau between October 2002 and September last year.
It found 23 per cent were physically healthy after a thorough medical check.
But these patients were later identified as suffering from Mups, according to Cindy Lam Lo-kuen, an associate professor and head of the university's family medicine unit which carried out the study.
Common symptoms include muscle pain, dyspepsia, chest pain, palpitations, headache, dizziness, fatigue, insomnia and hyperventilation.
Overseas studies have found that about half the Mups patients have psychological problems such as depression and anxiety, with the rest linked to a stressful lifestyle.
'Mups is seen as a kind of hypersensitivity of the body and mind,' Professor Lam said. 'All organs in our body have nerve sensors that release signals to the brain through the nervous system.
'In response to these signals, the brain sends orders to the body to react accordingly to keep the body balanced.
'If the body or mind is under stress, the sensitivity of body sensors or the brain may result in sending misleading signals causing Mups.'
She warned that patients with Mups became even more stressed after doctors were unable to identify physical causes. And this in turn could worsen the symptoms, creating a vicious cycle.
No cure exists for Mups but the symptoms can severely disturb patients' daily life and work.
Patients are usually given counselling or simply advised to change their lifestyle. In severe cases, patients are prescribed antidepressants if their symptoms are found to be psychological, according to Professor Lam.
She added that the prevalence of Mups in Hong Kong was similar to levels found in other major cities around the world.
Although there are no figures for a historical comparison, from her own clinical observations she says more local people have been suffering from Mups in recent years.
