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How do Drs diagnose Fibromyalgia?

It is said that it takes approximately 5 years to get a Fibromyalgia diagnosis

 

Your doctor will do a complete medical history and conduct a physical examination to learn about your symptoms, and to rule out other disorders that could also explain your problems.

 

For fibromyalgia to be diagnosed, certain criteria usually have to be met.

 

The most widely used criteria for diagnosis are:

  • You either have severe pain in 3 to 6 different areas of your body, or you have milder pain in 7 or more different areas
  • Your symptoms have stayed at a similar level for at least 3 months
  • No other reason for your symptoms has been found

The extent of the pain used to be assessed by applying gentle pressure to certain "tender points", where any pain is likely to be at its worst. But this is less common nowadays.

 

There is no laboratory test for Fibromyalgia.

 

If you have severe and persistent fatigue, however, your doctor may order serum thyroxine and thyroid-stimulating hormone tests to rule out the possibility that thyroid abnormalities are causing your symptoms. 

 

Other routine screening tests might include a complete blood count, an erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and a chemical profile.

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