Understanding the Fibromyalgia Diagnosis Process

Not everyone that has all over body pain will have a diagnosis of FM. Patients who fear that they have FM would need to see a rheumatologist who would then verify that they do indeed have FM, but only after all other diseases and disorders have been eliminated. The issue here is that often other pain disorders mimic the symptoms of FM. Disorders such as TMJ, IBS and IC are often similarly symptomatic with no obvious physical causes, and the diagnosis that a patient gets will also greatly depend on the type of specialist they see.

Pain is usually categorized into different groups, for example nociceptive pain is acute pain signaling of impending tissue damage that might arise if for instance someone were to hit their finger with a hammer. Inflammatory pain is activated by immune cells, neuropathic pain results from nerve damage that can be a result of anything from chemotherapy to diabetic neuropathy. This issue then is that FM pain can fall into any of these categories and fits neatly into none of them.