Diagnosingfibromyalgia(FM) can be challenging.
What’s going on?
But with fibromyalgia, it’s not that simple.
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Reasons to Delay Testing
Your healthcare provider may have valid reasons to delay testing you for FM.
The first is that your symptoms may not have lasted long enough yet.
Under the fibromyalgia diagnostic criteria, symptoms need to have been present and consistent for at least three months.
Get our printable guide for your next healthcare’s appointment to help you ask the right questions.
A fibromyalgia diagnosis takes a lot of testing followed by a couple of questionnaires.
Who Diagnoses Fibromyalgia?
It can take time tofind a good FM practitioner.
It can take time for a person to be diagnosed with FM, often up to two years.
This is due to the complexity of diagnosing the disease.
“So it’s possible for you to have overlapping conditions with FM such assleep apneaand micronutrient deficiencies.
This leads to continued misdiagnoses and delays in treatment.
Fortunately, some blood tests can help rule out numerous diseases.
First, you’re gonna wanna have generalized pain in four of five regions.
This criterion specifically excludes the jaw, chest, and abdomen.
Widespread Pain Index
By definition, fibromyalgia pain is widespread.
The areas are:
Your healthcare provider may also ask you to characterize your pain.
For example, is it dull, sharp, electrical, stabbing, etc.?
Symptom Severity Scale
The SSS has part A and part B.
And once you get a diagnosis, you’ll need to start makingtreatment decisions.
You’re bound to have a lot of questions and may not even know where to start.
Get our printable guide for your next healthcare’s appointment to help you ask the right questions.
Fibromyalgia is most commonly diagnosed in middle-aged women, though anyone can have it.
A family history of fibromyalgia may also mean you are more likely to have it.
How is fibromyalgia treated?
Galvez-Sanchez CM, Reyes Del Paso GA.Diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgia: critical review and future perspectives.J Clin Med.
Kang JH, Choi SE, Park DJ, Lee SS.Disentangling diagnosis and management of fibromyalgia.J Rheum Dis.
2018;40(7):698-714. doi:10.1080/13803395.2017.1422699
Pain Treatment Centers of America.Fibromyalgia: FAQs and treatment.
2016;46(3):319-329. doi:10.1016/j.semarthrit.2016.08.012
