What happens when your symptoms are real, persistent, and sometimes debilitating—but conventional testing doesn't provide a clear explanation?For millions of people living with chronic pain, fatigue, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, headaches, functional neurological symptoms, and other complex conditions, this can become an exhausting cycle of specialists, testing, procedures—and sometimes dismissal.In this episode of the Functionally Enlightened Podcast, Dr. Sharon Surita sits down with neurologist Dr. C. Philip O’Carroll, whose career has spanned more than five decades, to explore what he calls Medically Unexplained Disorders (M.U.D.).Dr. O’Carroll is board certified in Internal Medicine and Neurology/Psychiatry and has spent decades working at the intersection of neurology, psychiatry, chronic pain, and neurobehavioral medicine. His work has focused in part on bridging the traditional divide between the brain and mind in medicine. Newport Beach NeurologistsTogether, Sharon and Dr. O’Carroll examine a difficult question:What should medicine do when the patient's suffering is undeniable, but the traditional disease model doesn't adequately explain it?Dr. O’Carroll discusses his clinical perspective on chronic stress, early-life adversity, central sensitization, and changes in how the nervous system processes pain and other sensory information. He explains why symptoms can be physiologically real even when structural imaging or conventional laboratory testing does not reveal a straightforward cause.Sharon brings another important perspective to the conversation: How do we acknowledge the brain-body connection without prematurely attributing physical symptoms to psychological causes or overlooking biological, environmental, structural, or other contributors?They also explore why patients with complex chronic illness can feel abandoned by conventional medicine, the particular challenges faced by women with chronic symptoms, and why Dr. O’Carroll believes these patients are often better served by an interdisciplinary team than by fragmented care across multiple specialists.In this episode:- What does “medically unexplained” actually mean?- Why normal tests do not mean symptoms aren't real- Where the traditional disease model can struggle with complex chronic illness- Why patients can feel dismissed when objective findings don't explain their symptoms- Chronic pain, fatigue, fibromyalgia, IBS and functional neurological disorders- What is central sensitization?- How chronic stress may influence the brain and nervous system- Dr. O’Carroll’s perspective on childhood adversity and later chronic symptoms- Functional neurological symptoms and non-epileptic seizures- The challenge of distinguishing psychological, neurological and physiological contributors- Dysautonomia and POTS in medically complex patients- Why psychological care should not mean “it's all in your head”- EMDR and trauma-informed approaches- Why women appear disproportionately represented in many chronic conditions- Medical gaslighting and the consequences of dismissal- Why patients can become identified with a diagnosis- The limitations of fragmented, specialty-based healthcare- Why Dr. O’Carroll advocates an interdisciplinary team approach- What 50+ years of neurology have taught him about patients medicine struggles to explainDr. O’Carroll's 2026 book, The Challenge of Medically Unexplained Disorders (M.U.D.), further examines chronic pain, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, IBS, headaches, functional neurological disorders, stress, trauma, and the limitations of the traditional medical model. Dr. C. Philip O’Carroll — Newport Beach NeurologistsBook: The Challenge of Medically Unexplained Disorders (M.U.D.)Free book offer: During our conversation, Dr. O’Carroll generously offered to provide a free copy of his book to listeners who contact him directly.
