For me, when one of my trigger points is touched, it feels like someone is pushing as hard as they possibly can, even though it's only a very light touch. It's incredibly painful for me...tears painful sometimes.

You'll know. It's really different than overall body ache.

You'll know if the right person is testing. They know exactly where to touch that literally makes you come off the table! My last Rheumy did it and at the end , he touched the top of my thighs and said "does this hurt?" and I thankfully said "NO!" and he tweeks me on the nose and smiles and says "It's not supposed to" .

I have come real close to instinctively swinging at my pain doc when he is doing it. I certainly don't mean to jump away from him or make a fist but it just seems to happen.

I can feel like i have tender points as there is one in the lower back. I can also feel it in my neck and upper back and the knees. I do get a lot of burning pain like i am in a hot tub.

i have a lot of burning pain too sometimes unbearable i cant wait to get diagnosed at least i can have some meds to help me cope

For most of us the meds barely work. So be careful with that. I have been put on all kinds of meds and nothing really takes the pain away. Except for Cortazone shots. and you can't get to many of those because it can cause damage to the muscle. Or at least that is what my Ortho told me. But he also said that he can't do anyhing for me anymore, took my money and sent me on my way. So be careful when it comes to the meds . Hopefully one day we will have a cure for this thing that makes you feel helpless and hopeless. Smooches =)

I've been curious about the tender points as well. My rheumatologist said I didn't have FMS b/c I didn't have the tender points, but when he tested them, he hardly pushed at all. I went to an internist & in about 10 minutes he told me he disagreed with the rheumy & that I did have FMS. I *do* have tenderness in the points, but it's not the excruciating pain that some of you describe. However, I am in pain every single day in some form or fashion. Neck, shoulders, back, hip, knees & ankles. Headaches, IBS, fatigue every day, depression/anxiety, etc. When the internist tested my tender points, he pushed harder & while it was uncomfortable, it wasn't as painful as what I feel all over, every day.
I seem to have almost every symptom of FMS, I've had xrays from my neck to ankles & all was clear, every blood test run has been clean. I guess what I'm curious about is can you have FMS without having horrible pain in the tender points?
I know when I got a massage, the girl said she couldn't get all the tension out of my muscles, and that I had "muscle memory" especially in my upper back & shoulders...I was instinctively tensing up for pain before she touched me.

It's really frustrating when you're in pain every day & nobody knows why, nobody understands the degree of pain you deal with every day. I'm just tired of all of it.

im so gld there is someone out there like me ive been trying to find my tender points although it hurts when i press its the same pain as im in constantly