Fibromyalgia is a notoriously difficult case not just a treat, but also, as will be apparent from this discussion, a difficult disease to diagnose.
What is fibromyalgia? Perhaps this question is best answered by going over some diseases that are mistakenly thought to be fibromyalgia.
The best way to confirm fibromyalgia might be to rule out everything else first.
Let's look at some of the most common possibilities your doctor may think of before zeroing in on fibromyalgia.
Chronic fatigue syndrome is a disease like fibromyalgia, in that no one knows what causes it.
It just completely saps a person of all energy and ability to function, brings in headaches, terrible memory and aching joints.
In fact, half of all people who have fibromyalgia have the exact same symptoms as people with chronic fatigue syndrome.
Doctors who are clear about what is fibromyalgia exactly, can often get the two mixed up.
Take for instance what happens with arthritis too.
Arthritis is what happens when cartilage cushion between our joints degenerates and causes bone to rub against bone.
If you think that this sounds pretty unmistakable, lots of doctors often get wonder about fibromyalgia before they ring in osteoarthritis.
One can understand how a doctor might get fibromyalgia and arthritis mixed up a little bit - both have to deal with pain.
What do you say in defense of a doctor getting depression mixed up with fibromyalgia? Well, they do.
Fibromyalgia patients do usually get depressed - you would too if you went through unexplained pain all the time.
But they do know what is fibromyalgia - why overlook the fact that in depression, there is no pain? What is more understandable is how doctors get hypothyroidism mixed up with fibromyalgia.
Hypothyroidism is when the thyroid gland in the neck goes on strike and produces far too little of the important hormone.
What happens right away is that we hurt all over, and also feel tired and depressed.
Before you let your doctor flag you for fibromyalgia, you'd do well certainly to rule out hypothyroidism.
Lupus is a disease that has the popular imagination and that of the media as well.
This is a disease where the body's immune system will attack the body's regular tissues and organs, and brings in all kinds of aches and pains all over - exactly the kind of pain that people with fibromyalgia experience.
In both kinds of disease, the pain comes and goes in flashes, and there's no telling what brings it on.
There is one way to tell Lupus apart from fibromyalgia though -people suffering from Lupus get a rash on their faces that's kind of butterfly-shaped.
So there you go, a little insight into what goes on in your doctor's mind before he diagnoses a patient with anything.
It's quite a living to make.
What is fibromyalgia? Perhaps this question is best answered by going over some diseases that are mistakenly thought to be fibromyalgia.
The best way to confirm fibromyalgia might be to rule out everything else first.
Let's look at some of the most common possibilities your doctor may think of before zeroing in on fibromyalgia.
Chronic fatigue syndrome is a disease like fibromyalgia, in that no one knows what causes it.
It just completely saps a person of all energy and ability to function, brings in headaches, terrible memory and aching joints.
In fact, half of all people who have fibromyalgia have the exact same symptoms as people with chronic fatigue syndrome.
Doctors who are clear about what is fibromyalgia exactly, can often get the two mixed up.
Take for instance what happens with arthritis too.
Arthritis is what happens when cartilage cushion between our joints degenerates and causes bone to rub against bone.
If you think that this sounds pretty unmistakable, lots of doctors often get wonder about fibromyalgia before they ring in osteoarthritis.
One can understand how a doctor might get fibromyalgia and arthritis mixed up a little bit - both have to deal with pain.
What do you say in defense of a doctor getting depression mixed up with fibromyalgia? Well, they do.
Fibromyalgia patients do usually get depressed - you would too if you went through unexplained pain all the time.
But they do know what is fibromyalgia - why overlook the fact that in depression, there is no pain? What is more understandable is how doctors get hypothyroidism mixed up with fibromyalgia.
Hypothyroidism is when the thyroid gland in the neck goes on strike and produces far too little of the important hormone.
What happens right away is that we hurt all over, and also feel tired and depressed.
Before you let your doctor flag you for fibromyalgia, you'd do well certainly to rule out hypothyroidism.
Lupus is a disease that has the popular imagination and that of the media as well.
This is a disease where the body's immune system will attack the body's regular tissues and organs, and brings in all kinds of aches and pains all over - exactly the kind of pain that people with fibromyalgia experience.
In both kinds of disease, the pain comes and goes in flashes, and there's no telling what brings it on.
There is one way to tell Lupus apart from fibromyalgia though -people suffering from Lupus get a rash on their faces that's kind of butterfly-shaped.
So there you go, a little insight into what goes on in your doctor's mind before he diagnoses a patient with anything.
It's quite a living to make.