A Fibromyalgia Diagnosis can be difficult to ascertain, although a qualified physician who is familiar with the illness can help make a correct diagnosis which is important so  you can begin to take care of yourself and your discomfort.

FMS diagnosis  is extremely difficult, but is confirmed using the tender point examination. The physician must rely on the patient’s history and the symptoms described to ensure a correct and accurate diagnosis. There are no specific laboratory tests or x-ray examinations which show abnormalities.  Initially this led many physicians to consider that FMS signs and symptoms, were in ”heads of the patients”, or that patients had a form of masked depression known as hypochondriasis.  Extensive psychological tests have shown that these assumptions are unfounded. At present, the fibromyalgia diagnosis is is based primarily on taking a detailed history and an accurate manual examination of tender points, specific areas of tenderness in muscles. These locations are called “Tender Points”, sometimes mistaken for trigger points.

The tender point examination is based on the standardized criteria of the American College of Rheumatology.   Proper implementation of the examination determines the presence of 18 multiple characteristic locations.  These tender point locations, often mistaken as trigger point locations, are painful when pressure is applied over these points.  The guidelines require that the patient must have widespread aching for at least 3 months at a minimum of 11 locations on the body that are abnormally tender to touch under relatively mild pressure.

It is estimated that it may take up to five years for a  patient to get an accurate diagnosis, as many physicians are still not adequately informed or educated about FMS.  Another essential point that must be considered is the presence of other similar overlapping syndromes such as: FMS and Lupus, FMS and Chronic Fatigue, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Hypothyroidism - mimicing the FMS diagnosis.  FM Syndrome  is not a diagnosis of excluding other diseases only, but must be diagnosed on its own characteristic feature of a tender point evaluation.

What Are The  Tests Used In Diagnosing FM Syndrome?
FMS symptoms often overlap other medical conditions.  The physician will usually request a series of blood tests to differentially diagnose to look for other possible conditions that might mimic FM Syndrome such as:

Learn more about how the tender point examination can help to Diagnose Fibromyalgia.