Symptoms and Diagnosis of Fibromyalgia

Diagnosis

One of the most difficult aspects of fibromyalgia is diagnosis. The first step is to rule out any other condition by lab work as well as imaging tests.The American College of Rheumotology has a standard criteria for diagnosing patients. Patients must have experienced pain in the 4 quadrants of the body as well as the axial skeleton for at least 3 months. Most importantly, patients must also feel pain in 11 of 18 tender points . The diagnosis of fibromyalgia is heavily reliant on tenderpoints. The subjective nature of diagnosis makes it highly controversial.

Other diagnostic criteria includes observing patients symptoms. Many patients also suffer from headaches, tender lymph nodes, post-exertional malaise and other symptoms in addition to their pain.

Symptoms

Symptoms of fibromyalgia vary from patient to patient. The main symptoms that patients complain about is pain, fatigue and depression. Although these symptoms are relatively constant, patients seem to have peak times in which their symptoms are exasperated. Night time and Morning time is the hardest. Patients suffer through sleepless nights and wake up with intensified pain and morning stiffness. Other factors that contribute to their symptoms are change in weather, hormonal changes and stress. The following are a list of symptoms of fibromyalgia:

• Pain
• Fatigue
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Difficulty concentrating (brain fog)
• Morning stiffness
• Headaches
• Dizziness
• Irregular sleep patterns
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Painful menstrual periods
• Hands and feet tingle and can feel numb
• Restless leg syndrome
• Sensitivity to cold or heat
• Fibro fog (memory problems, cognitive problems)