I think (and someone can correct me if I'm wrong) that Fibromyalgia can also be the primary condition after other things have been ruled out through testing. Have you been to a rheumatologist, though? I've gotten a lot of different answers from neurologists and didn't really get down to what was wrong with me until I saw a rheumatologist.

Fibro is often the primary diagnosis, once everything else has been ruled out.

Fibromyalgia can be a primary diagnosis. Take care.

I think of it as I do my epilepsy. Something causes the seizures but since medical science can't figure out what, I get diagnosed with epilepsy, primary dx. If I'd had a stroke, it'd be secondary to that. See? IF the epilepsy resulted from stroke damage, it'd still a dx, still its own issue, but would co-exist alongside or as a result of other issues.

In FM, it's a primary dx for me. In others, secondary or co-morbid with RA, OA, MS, lupus, (long long long list), and many of the symptoms are similar or identical. It's why they rule out so many other things before going to the FM dx as the primary or only dx.

Consider it this way. FIbro's main symptom is "widespread pain". That also applies to about 500 other things in the diagnostic manual. So until they've ruled out the rest of the possible causes that have better names and entries in th emanual? FM tends to be the "last resort" dx of good docs, and the first resort for lazy ones.

Never fear to ask your doctors anything, btw. If they're lazy or ignorant, it's a good way to find out, and if they're not, they're much better at explaining than I am!

Thank you for all of your responses. Now my neurologist is putting me on tegertol for triennial neuralgia. Also I have not been to a rheumatologist. I'm hoping the medication will work.

Although some people swear by their rheumatologists, since the flawed area that creates all of our weird symptoms is in the brain, neurologists are also more than qualified to treat people with fibro.