Visiting your general physician is the first recommendation to those who think that they might have fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia diagnosis can be difficult due to unavailability of a specific test for this problem. It is also seen that the symptoms of the fibromyalgia vary from one person to person and it is similar to many other conditions. Therefore the fibromyalgia diagnosis process takes time.

A general physician usually asks the individual about its pain, symptoms, any other condition or problem, on daily life and information about the medicine taken by the individual. Sometimes a general physician chooses the physical examination of the individual to check the visible signs of the conditions that tend to rule fibromyalgia.

How is fibromyalgia diagnosed depends upon the mix symptoms faced by the person and it is diagnosed by your general physician. If the general physician thinks that the individual might have fibromyalgia then he will firstly check other conditions, which can cause the symptoms like fibromyalgia. Chronic fatigue syndrome is also one of these conditions that cause symptoms like fibromyalgia, long-term tiredness. It is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis. Multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis also causes effects on the nervous system resulting in the imbalanced movement of the body, swelling and inflammation in the joints. One might have x-rays and blood tests to see that is there any other problem with similar symptoms of fibromyalgia. Even if the general physician finds out there the individual is facing other condition, there are still chances of the fibromyalgia diagnosis as well.

When all other conditions and possibilities are checked, then there are two criteria used for the confirmation of the fibromyalgia diagnosis. If the symptoms of the person fit into the condition, then the person will be diagnosed with this problem. The two criteria for how is fibromyalgia diagnosed is the widespread pain on the right and left sides of the body for more than 3 months, and feeling of pain in 11 out of 18 tender points in the body when they are pressed. People who fall into above two criteria are likely to be diagnosed with the fibromyalgia. The tender points are those points of the body where one feels pain at its worst. These are the points of the body, which everyone feels more sensitive to pain. The tender points are at the shoulder blades, back of the neck and inside the elbows. Usually the GP also presses other areas of the body as well, for the comparison of pain between tender points and other parts of the body. Read the rest of this entry »