Diagnosing Fibromyalgia - Some Helpful Tips

Diagnosing fibromyalgia is often difficult.  It is a painful and emotionally exhausting disease whose symptoms are shared with other illnesses.  Appropriate treatment can help, but proper diagnosis is the key.  Here are some tips to help.

One disease which has many of the same symptoms as fibromyalgia is depression. Because these diseases share so many of the same symptoms, it is important to learn what the two diseases have in common and the differences between them.

It isn't surprising that many people with depression may think they have fibromyalgia, and vice versa.  Because of the commom symptoms, it is important that you try to notice subtle differences that may help a doctor with diagnosis. 

Here are some of the symptoms these two diseases have in common along with some differences in them.

* Chronic pain.  Doctors have known for a long time that emotional stress can present itself in the form of physical pain.  For fibromyalgia patients, the pain is usually more severe and occurs in top, bottom, and both sides of the body.  Also, pain from fibromyalgia usually occurs in the morning.  The pain of fibromyalgia can often be identified by pressing at 18 points on the body. These points will usually be tender in a fibromyalgia patient.

* Sleep issues and fatigue.  While both depression and fibromyalgia can cause fatigue, it is generally for different reasons.  Depression patients may experience fatigue because of lack of sleep from stress and worry.  Fibromyalgia patients, on the other hand, can lose sleep from pain or anxiety and often feel exhausted even after a full night’s rest.

* Anxiety.  Bouts of depression are often triggered by feelings of anxiety.  And since being depressed will increase these anxious thoughts, a viscous cycle is often created.  In fibromyalgia, the anxiety is usually caused by the inability to cope with the pain and fatigue caused by the disease.

* Memory loss, inability to concentrate.  These may be caused by lack of proper sleep, or concentration on pain/depressive feelings.

* Headaches.  While tension headaches are a common symptom of fibromyalgia, they could also be caused by the stress and anxiety of a depressed person.

One way you may be able to distinguish symptoms is by determining which starts first.  If you have depressive and anxious thoughts that eventually lead to sleep deprivation and pain, you likely have depression.  If the pain is the trigger of your problems, it is more likely that you have fibromyalgia.

There are a few symptoms of fibromyalgia that usually don’t occur in depression patients.  These include symptoms of gastrointestinal problems, numbness in the hands and feet, frequent urge to urinate, strong menstrual cramps, and being more sensitive to certain factors like smells, sounds, bright lights, certain foods, or touch.  

A major problem with diagnosing these two diseases is that they often occur together.  The anxiety from fatigue and chronic pain often causes fibromyalgia patients to become depressed. 

It is important to go to you doctor and be tested for fibromyalgia and depression.  While both are often treated with antidepressants, which disease you have will determine what type of antidepressant and dosage you need. 

Additional resources on diagnosing fibromyalgia: