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.
Fibro and CFS are very similar. Patients with fibro complain more about the pain and those with CFS complain more about the exhaustion. Otherwise, they both include pain and tiredness. Look at the list of conditions that are similar to CFS. I cannot imagine that my doctors ruled all of these out! (OK, so, I am still hoping that I have something that could be cured)
Conditions that share some symptoms with CFS
Autoimmune
Behcets syndrome
Dermatomyositis
Lupus erythematosis
Polyarteritis
Polymyositis
Reiters syndrome
Rheumatoid arthritis
Sjogrens syndrome
Vasculitis
Blood
Anemia
Hemochromatosis
Endocrine
Addisons disease
Cushings syndrome
Diabetes mellitus
Hyperthyroidism
Hypothyroidism
Ovarian failure
Panhypopituitarism
Gastrointestinal
Celiac disease
Crohns disease
Irritable bowel syndrome
Sarcoidosis
Ulcerative colitis
Infectious
Bacterial endocarditis
Chronic brucellosis
Hepatitis
HIV infection
Lyme disease
Occult abscess
Poliomyelitis/post polio syndrome
Tuberculosis
Parasitic infection
Amoebiasis
Echinococcosis
Giardiasis
Toxoplasmosis
Fungal infection
Blastomycosis
Coccidomycosis
Histoplasmosis
Malignancies
Hodgkins disease
Lymphoma
Metabolic/toxic
Ciguatera poisoning
Exposure to toxic chemicals, heavy metals, pesticides
McArdles syndrome
Neuromuscular
Fibromyalgia
Muscular dystrophies
Multiple sclerosis
Myasthenia gravis
Psychiatric
Alcohol/drug abuse
Anxiety disorder
Depression
Hyperventilation syndrome
Manic-depressive illness
Schizophrenia
Others
Dysautonomias
Narcolepsy
Sleep apnea
Sweets syndrome
Wegeners granulomatosis
Conditions that share some symptoms with CFS
Autoimmune
Behcets syndrome
Dermatomyositis
Lupus erythematosis
Polyarteritis
Polymyositis
Reiters syndrome
Rheumatoid arthritis
Sjogrens syndrome
Vasculitis
Blood
Anemia
Hemochromatosis
Endocrine
Addisons disease
Cushings syndrome
Diabetes mellitus
Hyperthyroidism
Hypothyroidism
Ovarian failure
Panhypopituitarism
Gastrointestinal
Celiac disease
Crohns disease
Irritable bowel syndrome
Sarcoidosis
Ulcerative colitis
Infectious
Bacterial endocarditis
Chronic brucellosis
Hepatitis
HIV infection
Lyme disease
Occult abscess
Poliomyelitis/post polio syndrome
Tuberculosis
Parasitic infection
Amoebiasis
Echinococcosis
Giardiasis
Toxoplasmosis
Fungal infection
Blastomycosis
Coccidomycosis
Histoplasmosis
Malignancies
Hodgkins disease
Lymphoma
Metabolic/toxic
Ciguatera poisoning
Exposure to toxic chemicals, heavy metals, pesticides
McArdles syndrome
Neuromuscular
Fibromyalgia
Muscular dystrophies
Multiple sclerosis
Myasthenia gravis
Psychiatric
Alcohol/drug abuse
Anxiety disorder
Depression
Hyperventilation syndrome
Manic-depressive illness
Schizophrenia
Others
Dysautonomias
Narcolepsy
Sleep apnea
Sweets syndrome
Wegeners granulomatosis
A lot of the conditions are "zebras" that they won't test for unless you are clearly symptomatic in a way that suggests that condition.
But all in all, you have to be careful what you ask for, as many of the things on this list are not only incurable, but can be fatal.
After many years, as limiting as fibro can be, I've learned to be grateful that it's not most of those other things.