How is Fibromyalgia Diagnosed?

How is Fibromyalgia Diagnosed?

Fibromyalgia is diagnosed with symptoms. There are certain amounts of tender points in the body that a doctor will feel and you will say “I have pain!”. Then they say “you have Fibromyalgia,” or they will do a bunch of other testing and say they have ruled out everything else and they say “Well, you have fibromyalgia.” Which is better than just saying it is in your head because a lot of doctors do not actually believe it exists. We know it does, it is an epidemic in our country with Fibromyalgia right now and it is destroying lives. It is typically symptomatic on how they diagnosed it. There are certain laboratory values when properly tested, that you could say likely do have fibromyalgia, but nothing definitive.

Symptoms of possible Fibromyalgia:

• Pain for at least three months
• Pain above and below the waist
• Pain on both sides of the body

These symptoms alone do not diagnose Fibromyalgia. But, they are indicators that you should know and understand. If you have these broad symptoms, you should consider seeing a medical professional to run a specific test to either rule out, or potentially confirm that you have Fibromyalgia. This test requires testing of various pressure points on your entire body. The goal of the test is to identify where you feel pain and to what degree. To clinically diagnose Fibromyalgia, you typically need to meet these requirements:

• Widespread pain in all 4 quadrants of the body
• Widespread pain for at least 3 months
• Tenderness or pain in at least 11 of the 18 specified tender points when pressure is applied

If you are struggling with symptoms like these or have other medical issues, consider contacting Dr. Goodbinder today to learn more about his health programs and how they might improve your quality of living. For additional information on Fibromyalgia treatment and other conditions, please visit our Video Center and see what Dr. Goodbinder’s expert opinion is on a variety of topics.