If you have gone to your doctor for a fibromyalgia test, he or she most likely conducted an examination and wanted to know your patterns of symptoms as well as medical history. Even though your doctor cannot rely on a single fibromyalgia test, he or she may follow the specific test criteria for diagnosing fibromyalgia developed by the American College of Rheumatology in the 1990s.

According to their test, to be diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a patient must have clear signs of muscle tenderness at 11 of 18 specific locations on the body. Also, their test criteria require a fibromyalgia patient experience widespread pain.

Because there is no other real test for fibromyalgia, many experts consider fibromyalgia a disease of exclusion. In order to test whether or not your have something other than fibromyalgia, physicians will often order thyroid studies and inflammatory panels which are similar to an arthritis test.

If you have an abnormal blood test, your physician may order another test and then another test in the quest to discover if you have fibromyalgia or another disease. At the same time, there is not one blood test that will show fibromyalgia abnormalities. The lack of a blood test to identify the problem is why many old-school doctors felt fibromyalgia was a figment of a patient’s imagination.

In the past a person with fibromyalgia was burdened with the task of taking a psychological test to rule out depression or psychosis of some kind because fibromyalgia was so misunderstood.

Today your physician’s diagnosis of fibromyalgia syndrome is based on a test of tender areas in specific areas of muscle. Your doctor will test trigger points or tender points. Moreover, as part of the fibromyalgia test, it is not uncommon for pressure to cause pain that will be spread out to other part so the body.

Because your physician will need to test for tender points, a fibromyalgia diagnosis does depend on this hands-on test. Experts do not advise patients to test for fibromyalgia on their own or to conduct a self-diagnosis test of fibromyalgia.

At the same time, there is no harm in taking a personal test by asking yourself a few questions such as the following: Are you having difficulty finishing daily tasks? Have you experienced stiffness or fatigue? Do you have widespread bodily pains or feelings of hopelessness? Have you lost your thirst for knowledge, will to live or interest in entertainment and sex?

If you answered ‘yes’ to the test questions above; then, you are probably ready to see your doctor who will test you for fibromyalgia. The criteria for fibromyalgia your doctor will use were designed not just to diagnose people with fibromyalgia, but also to give researchers the ability to study patients with similar symptoms.

There are 11 of 18 specific areas called tender points on the body that your physician may test. Tender points are found in the following areas: directly below the hairline, the left or right side of the back of the neck, the inside of either arm, the left or right side of the upper back, the left or right side of the spine in the upper back between the shoulder blades, the left or right side of the front of the neck, above the collar bone, either side of the buttocks right under the hip bones, the left or right side of the chest, right below the collar bone, the left or right side of the lower back, right below the waist and either knee cap.

Also, your physician will test to see whether you experience widespread pain above and below the waist, on both sides of the body and along the length of the spine. The pain must continue for at least three months to pass the fibromyalgia test criteria.

Finally, if your physician conducts this test for fibromyalgia and is still not able to confirm a diagnosis, he or she may test you for abnormal sleep patterns. The test he or she will use is known as a sleep electroencephalogram. Also, he or she may test you to check the level of cortisol in your blood.
 

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