Fibromyalgia symptoms often mimic other conditions making it difficult to get a reliable fibromyalgia diagnosis. Unfortunately there are still no laboratory tests that can clear up the cloud of confusion surrounding the enigmatic chronic condition. Don’t be surprised if you run into physicians who simply do not understand fibromyalgia and cannot therefore give an accurate fibromyalgia diagnosis.

If you visited your family physician, specialists, psychologists and pastor before getting a fibromyalgia diagnosis, you are not alone. It takes the average person five years to receive an accurate fibromyalgia diagnosis.

You must have widespread pain in all four quadrants of your body for at least three months to receive a fibromyalgia diagnosis. Also, you must experience at least 11 of 18 specific tender points for a fibromyalgia diagnosis.

Some people who receive a fibromyalgia diagnosis may have other diseases as well such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. In order to receive an accurate fibromyalgia diagnosis, your doctor will look for several characteristic features of the condition.

At the same time, you may be given a fibromyalgia diagnosis if you have any of the following associated symptoms: chronic headaches, sleep disorder, cognitive or memory impairment, jaw pain, fatigue, muscle pain, skin and chemical sensitivities, menstrual cramping, morning stiffness, numbness and tingling sensations, constipation and dizziness. 

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In order to give an accurate fibromyalgia diagnosis, your physician will ask you questions about your symptoms, review your patient history, conduct a physical examination and a manual tender point examination.

The most accurate fibromyalgia diagnosis is a tender point examination, which determines the presence of tender points on certain spots of the body and is based on the standardized ACR criteria. The 18 sites used for fibromyalgia diagnosis center around the shoulder, hip, elbow, knee and neck regions. More than 75 other tender points have been identified, but are not used in the fibromyalgia diagnosis.

Even though it is possible to receive a fibromyalgia diagnosis as well as a diagnosis for other diseases, your physician may still want to rule out other diseases such as lupus, Lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, viral infections and rheumatoid arthritis, with electrophysiological studies of the nerves and muscles and imaging tests.

Your doctor will want to rule out arthritis and thyroid disease by making a physical examination of your skin, nails, spine, muscles, bones and joints before finalizing a fibromyalgia diagnosis.

Amazingly, 50 to 70 percent of patients given a fibromyalgia diagnosis meet the criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome. At the same time, most people with chronic fatigue syndrome do not typically meet the criteria for having the American College of Rheumatology established fibromyalgia diagnosis.

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While they seem similar, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome are two very different conditions. People with chronic fatigue syndrome are often tired while those with a fibromyalgia diagnosis will most often complain of pain. People with chronic fatigue syndrome are more likely to complain of swollen glands, sore throat and fever that do people with a fibromyalgia diagnosis.

Experts say fibromyalgia may or may not be the result of a virus; however, chronic fatigue syndrome is viral in origin.

While many chronic pain syndromes show signs and symptoms that mirror fibromyalgia, an experienced physician will be able to give you an accurate fibromyalgia diagnosis by using the tender points test as well as noting whether you have widespread pain in all four quadrants of your body for a minimum of three months.

Since it takes so long to receive an accurate fibromyalgia diagnosis, you may have been suffering with the pain for more than three months or even three years. Having a fibromyalgia diagnosis gives many people a sense of relief because they have identified the problem and know it’s not all in their imaginations.

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