Learn about the tests and diagnostic methods used to identify Fibromyalgia, including blood tests and physical examinations to rule out other conditions.
Having the right fibromyalgia doctor can make the difference between struggling silently in pain or managing your disease confidently. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or feel overwhelmed by your massive list of prescriptions that seem to not do much, it’s never too late to do your research and change your fibromyalgia doctor. The five mistakes fibromyalgia patients make when choosing their doctor: 1. Choosing a general practitioner While a general practitioner is great to go to…
Fibromyalgia ranks among the most puzzling and common chronic pain conditions. Fibromyalgia pain moves around from one area of the body to another or it seems to be everywhere at once. We experience several different types of pain. The intensity of the pain also changes. It can be very difficult to describe fibromyalgia pain to others. We often feel misunderstood and disbelieved. It is hard for people who do not have chronic pain to understand…
“The tender point test also has a gender bias because men may report widespread pain, but they generally aren’t as tender as women. Fibromyalgia may be under-diagnosed in both men and women because of the reliance on 11 tender points, and also due to failing to account for the other central features of the illness,” said Katz. Additionally, due to the confusion regarding the tender point test, the authors note that most primary care doctors…
There was a site that had this and I had linked to it on Tumblr but it is gone. So I had to hunt down someone who found my post and posted the whole thing in a forum. Anyway, it is around but I’m posting it here so I will not have to hunt it down to reference it. Now we all know the major symptoms are the widespread pain, but our pain isn’t just…
The phrase “tender points” isn’t something you hear every day. But if you have fibromyalgia, you may be familiar with those words. In fact, your doctor may have used tender points to diagnose you. What Are Tender Points? In 1990, the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) introduced criteria for diagnosing people with fibromyalgia. Part of the criteria included 18 possible tender points throughout the body. Tender points are small spots located around your neck, shoulders,…
Fibromyalgia comes with three major types of pain sensations. Hyperalgesia: this is our major pain as part of the syndrome itself. It is an abnormal sensitivity to pain. The crux of our pain dysfunction. Allodynia: With allodynia, there is a triggered pain response from stimuli that do not normally cause pain. In this case, it causes a great deal of skin pain. The skin burns to the touch and is often described as a sunburn sensation…
We are all familiar with fibrofog when it comes to fibromyalgia but fibrofog is really just part of the symptoms associated with the cognitive dysfunction of FM. An article published online on July 21 in Arthritis Care and Research has recently looked more in-depth into the symptoms of cognitive dysfunction and where it affects FM. What they looked at were four components of Executive Function: Click Here to Visit the Store and find Much More….…
Back in the day. Like 20 years back in the day I had some expectations about what fibromyalgia is and then I learned the reality of what fibromyalgia is. We all have expectations of what it will be and mean for our lives in the beginning. Even before we are diagnosed since that can take 5 to 10 years. And sometimes we believe it will be horrible forever. And others, like me, believed it wouldn’t…
Adolescents with fibromyalgia who are physically active report lower levels of pain and disability, according to findings of a multicenter study published in The Journal of Pain, published by the American Pain Society. Led by researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, this study is the first to use actigraphy-based physical activity monitoring to measure the relationship between pain, perceived functional impairment, and depressive symptoms in adolescents with juvenile primary fibromyalgia syndrome (JPFS). For the research, 104…
So it looks like some clinicians have some uncertainty when it comes to diagnosing Fibromyalgia. Remember the criteria for tender points are no longer used. Data from the U.S., Europe, and Asia report that approximately half of providers admit uncertainty in confidently making a diagnosis of [fibromyalgia]. Diagnosing [fibromyalgia] more promptly should reduce unnecessary tests, specialty referrals, health care costs, and patient anxiety,” Kim D. Jones, Ph.D., FNP, FAAN, from Oregon Health and Science University School of Nursing…