Thank you for that Crab.. It was a good article hitting all the basics but it really hit home something I think they are missing...
I've been getting more and more frustrated by the misconception that these articles, and I mean almost every article I read, proliferate about fibromyalgia... The misconception is that "There are no lab tests or X-rays that can help when making a fibromyalgia diagnosis. What doctors look for is tender or trigger points, areas on the body that when touched, even lightly, cause pain." This is completely false!! Here's my reasoning...
Diagnosing a patient of ANY disease requires a fairly simple procedure... Take down what the patient reports, what the patient's history shows, and what physical symptoms the patient is showing that confirm what they are saying. From there, a hypothesis is made, a spectrum of tests are called for that either prove or disprove the hypothesis are ordered, and based on the results from these tests, the doctor either readjusts their hypothesis and starts a different line of investigation or begins treatment for the condition and uses input from the patient and from further testing to monitor the progress of the treatment and to further prove or disprove the veracity of their hypothesis.
With fibromyalgia, the initial symptoms are always chronic systemic pain in both upper and lower quadrants and left and right quadrants. The tests MUST return negative for other fibromyalgia-like conditions, and they must NOT be cured by treatments for other fibromyalgia-like conditions like polymyalgia rheumatica.
In addition, their patient history and self reported symptoms almost always include at least some of the common co-malignancies of fibromyalgia like fibrofog, bowel problems, myofascial pain, sleep problems, etc etc etc. What REALLY throws some doctors for a loop is when there are uncommon co-malignancies to deal with that are masking some of the more obvious fibro symptoms so it's not an EASY task but good doctors CAN figure it out.
Fibro is NOT a wastepaper diagnosis. Diagnosing it is NOT a duck shoot. Fibro folk stick out like sore thumbs to the observant. We're SO much alike even though our fibro is very unique to each of us as is our treatment. We are more alike than we are different.
Now I will step down off my soapbox before I fall down or am shot down. Thank you for your time and we now return you to whatever reality you were previously plugged in to...
