Posted 10/22/2017 2:41 AM (GMT 0)
Sar85:
I would be a little leery to accept a diagnosis of fibromyalgia without a more concerted evaluation for other potential diagnoses by your primary care physician or other specialist (ex. Rheumatologist and or endocrinologist).
Fibromyalgia is a syndrome that is more often cited as a diagnosis after exhaustive body-wide evaluation and testing for a wide spectrum of known diagnoses. The syndrome is identified as sensory nerve hypersensitivity and aberrant sensory nerve firing. Clinicians “test” for fibromyalgia by applying pressure to 12 distinct body points (aka trigger points). Hypersensitivity to tactile pressure at 4 or more points is the criteria for diagnosis. Other features of the disorder are cognitive fogging, interrupted sleep, fatigue, sensitivities to lights and sounds. But make no mistake . . . Fibromyalgia is designated as a diagnosis of exclusion. Only when established and known diagnositic disorders with similar symptom profiles are filed out is the diagnosis of fibromyalgia applied.
I offer this as a caution in accepting fibromyalgia as a definitive diagnosis without more effort at exploring for other disorders/root causes of your symptom profile. Fibromyalgia can be named as a diagnosis mistakenly - simply because other root causes have not been identified. Ex. It is common for individuals with an underlying endocrine disorder to be incorrectly diagnosed with fibromyalgia. years pass by and initial symptoms worsen, finally promoting a referral to an endocrinologist or rheumatologist.
Endocrine disorders and auto-immune disorders are more often than not slow to develop over time and with waxing and waning symptoms. Symptoms are often diffuse and mimic other commonly known disorders. There are approximately 100 distinct auto immune disorders. Endocrine disorders affect the physiology of the body (how the body functions) and can be difficult to diagnose, requiring a dose of patience and trust in the competency of one’s endocrinologist.
Bottom Line: Your diffuse symptoms have common elements that lead to suspect an endocrine system and/or auto-immune causality.
i would push your PCP to authorize a referral to a rheumatologist and/or endocrinologist for a more specialized evaluation.
I often recommend the Pituitary Network Association to people as a top notch internet site for basic information on endocrine disorders and symptomatilogy profile. Because endocrine hormones affect every cell in the body, symptoms of endocrine inadequacy are broad - in some cases typifying similarity to having an expressed case of the flu.
Pituitary Network Association: www.pituitary.org
You can also type into your browser “auto-immune or body-on-body reaction” to get an introductory awareness of how auto-immune conditions first materialize in a person.
Keep turning over other stones in your pathway and consider other possibilities to fibromyalgia,
Karen