Fibromyalgia Support Group

You're not alone in your pain. Fibromyalgia is a condition that can be difficult to diagnose and manage. If you're trying to cope with pain throughout your body, sleep problems, general fatigue, or other common fibromyalgia symptoms, you're in the right place. The community is here for you to talk about therapies and share your challenges.

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Chronic Pain for 3 Years

Storm13
Storm13

I have dealt with chronic pain for over 3 years and haven't been diagnosed even though I struggle with horrible back, neck and leg pain on a daily basis.  I wonder if I may have fibromyalgia or maybe myalgic encenphalitis because I sufferfrom chronic fatigue and have to push myself to do the smallest activities that used to come so easy to me. Can anyone tell me how you found out/ were diagnosed by a Dr. and was it a specialist? Plus if you have any tips about how to manage the pain, have more energy- I would appreciate it.

Community LeaderLeo
Leo
Plain and simple: Rheumatologists and neurologists are the specialists who diagnose Fibro most often, after ruling out umpteen if not hundreds of umpteen other possibiltiies. You need an assessment from each, and do not let a primary care doctor dx you, as they're not qualified for it. They can manage the care, once it's decided, but they don't know what is and isn't to the extent that is required for neuro-muscular disorders like fibro.
Also, Google has no MD. WebMD has no MD. THey didn't go to medical school. Nor did we. So we can't diagnose, or advise, beyond urging you to get to a specialist or two, and being *sure* of what is wrong.

Wishing you luck and healing!
sonyacon
sonyacon
I agree with Leo. Currently rheumy and neuros are the best bet for a specialist opinion, and a very exhaustive diagnostic process has to be run through in order to arrive at fibromyalgia. There is no test to confirm it, so you must rule out every other possibility for the present symptoms. And the wide array of complaints that fibro brings leaves a lot to work through in the process of elimination.

Everyone's situation is different and everyone knows what their body responds to, but I know I need a certain degree of "spend energy to make energy." It's an extremely, extremely fine balance for me of over-doing things and under-doing things. Constant struggle.

Good luck with everything.
Yogagirl51
Yogagirl51
I agree with the comments above. One symptom that is very specific to fibromyalgia is the tender points. You can go online and look those up. Unless the criteria changed, you would have to experience pain with at least 11 of the 18 tender points. Again, this is something for a rheumy or neuro to diagnose. But these tender points do not occur in any other pain condition that i know of. Fibro mimics a number of diseases so there is much that needs to be ruled out before a final dx can be given.
Storm13
Storm13
Thank you all for the support and information. I'm so glad I joined this site. Keep you all updated when I can. I hope everyone is having a great night.
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