"It's all in your head." It's Stress I am adding this page because of all the experiences many people have had from doctors who do to some questionable reason tell a patient their symptoms are either related to stress or "it's all in your head". (too lazy, don't feel like taking the extra measures, feel too pressured by HMO guidelines, experience a temporarly memory glitz, don't feel like dealing with patients who have symptoms beyond the common cold, etc. Maybe a little sarcasm here but if it helps refocus a medical doctor to the Hippocratic Oath then it'll be worth it.) Why do you say "It's all in my head" or "It's stress"? Did you run lab tests? What are the thyroid levels? What about the PSA? How about anti nuclear antibodies? Thyroid antibodies? or any other antibodies that may be showing a sign that my body is attacking it's self? (and not AIDS because I don't do any of those things that are at risk) Is there an autoimmune disease going on? What about the hormonal levels? Are they all where they should be? (How do you know? Did you check them? I can say that your car's oil level is ok but is it?) What about the cardiovascular system? Is the dizziness coming from a heart condition, orthostatic hypotension, neurally mediated hypotension, virtigo, subclinical ear infection? How do you know? Did you run tests that can detect abnormalities in these areas? Are there any plaques building up? What are the lipids levels? What about the Hgb or HCT? What are the other levels in the blood? Do you check them? Any anemia? How do you know? What about the respiratory system? What is the vital lung capacity? What is the O2 & CO2 levels? Any obstruction or abnormalities? How do you know? What about the neurological system? (not psychological) Is the anatomy OK? What are the chemical levels? Is the Substance P level normal? Are the neurons firing their messages in the manner they should? How about what's going on in the brain physiology? The anatomy looks fine but what about the physiology? How do you know? Did you check it? (I see "you look fine to me", well I can't see the prostrate cancer in your other patient either.) You can't see the alpha waves either? Did you do any tests that detect these physiological abnormalities? What about the muscular skeletal system? What's going on with the muscle fibers? What about the bones? How do you know? Did you do any physical exam or tests that can detect what's wrong? What about the psychological? What is causing the distress? Are there medical problems that need to be ruled out first. Hypothyroidism can cause depression. Shouldn't the hypothyroidism be treated first? What is the vitamin D level? Low vitamin D levels can also contribute to depressed mood. If the vitamin D level is low lets treat it. Then let's see if the depression goes away. There are other conditions that trigger psychological symptoms. Ever heard of the holestic approach? Don't just look at the broken leg. What about the diabetes, spouse with lupus, dad needing home health care, brother getting divorced and family history of heart attacks? (Don't forget to ask me questions about what I forgot to tell you.) What about doing a thorough workup? Did you do one before? If you had the exact symptoms what would you want your doc to do? It's good to think about.