The list of medical tests mentioned in various sources as used in the diagnosis of Fibromyalgia includes:
Fibromyalgia is difficult to diagnose because many of the symptoms mimic those of other diseases. The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) has developed criteria for fibromyalgia that physicians can use in diagnosing the disease. According to ACR criteria, a person is considered to have fibromyalgia if he or she has widespread pain for at least 3 months in combination with tenderness in at least 11 of 18 specific tender point sites. (Source: excerpt from Fibromyalgia Research Challenges and Opportunities: NIAMS)
Fibromyalgia is difficult to diagnose because many of the symptoms mimic those of other diseases. The physician makes a diagnosis of fibromyalgia based on a history of chronic widespread pain that persists for more than 3 months. The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) has developed diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgiAccording to ACR criteria, a person is considered to have fibromyalgia if he or she has widespread pain in combination with tenderness in at least 11 of 18 specific tender point sites. (Source: excerpt from Fibromyalgia: NWHIC)
The following medical news items are relevant to diagnosis and misdiagnosis issues for Fibromyalgia:
16 MEDICAL BOOKS ONLINE! Review excerpts from medical books online, free, without registration, for more information about diagnostis of Fibromyalgia.
Diagnostic testing for FMS (not associated with an underlying disease) doesn’t usually reveal significant abnormalities. For example, an examination of joints doesn’t reveal synovitis or significant swelling; a neurologic examination is normal; and no laboratory or radiologic abnormalities are common to FMS patients. Tenderness can be elicited by applying a moderate amount of pressure to specific locations. (See Tender points of fibro-myalgia.) Although this examination can be fairly subjective, many FMS patients with true tender points wince or withdraw when pressure is applied to a tender point. Pressure can also be applied to nontender control points, such as the midforehead, distal forearm, and midanterior thigh, to assess for conversion reactions (psychogenic rheumatism), in which patients hurt everywhere, or for other psychosomatic illnesses.
Overall, the diagnosis of FMS is made clinically in a patient with characteristic symptoms and multiple tender points on examination, and after ruling out other illnesses that can cause similar features. A workup for arthritis, primary sleep disorders, endocrinopathies (such as hypothyroidism), infections (such as Lyme disease and HIV infection), and psychiatric illness (such as major depression) should be considered in the appropriate setting.
Clinical tip FMS shouldn’t be confused with chronic myofascial pain, which is characterized by unilateral and commonly focal or regional pain (as opposed to FMS, in which the pain is bilateral and diffuse), minimal fatigue or stiffness, and few focal tender points (usually distinguished as trigger points) that may produce a radiating pain along a muscle group or tendon (unlike in FMS, where tender points aren’t usually associated with radiating pain). Myofascial pain is treated with local measures, such as stretching, physical therapy, heat, and trigger point injections; the symptoms are usually temporary, but may recur.
Source: Handbook of Diseases, 2003
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