The only sure way to find the right health care provider is by trial and error. You can narrow the field by talking to other people, especially people with fibromyalgia or who suffer some kind of chronic pain, and asking for recommendations. Rheumatologists are specialists in treating fibromyalgia, but many times an internist or family doctor is just as knowledgeable and helpful as a specialist.

Make an appointment with your chosen health care provider and tell him or her your story. Describe your pain and other symptoms and tell her how long you have had them. Answer their questions, and get a sense for how you are being treated. If you feel disrespected, or that you are not being taken seriously, make an appointment with a different health care provider. Keep going until you find a professional that you can relate to. Diagnosing and treating fibromyalgia is a partnership between you and your healthcare provider, and you need to be able to work together on this.

You can expect that a health care provider who is knowledgeable about fibromyalgia will take a health history, perform a physical examination, do some blood work and perform a point tenderness test. That’s the minimum.

The blood work will usually be to make sure there aren’t other problems, like rheumatoid arthritis, causing your symptoms. The real “test” for fibromyalgia is trigger point tenderness. The doctor will press on 18 specific areas of your body to test for tenderness. If you have achiness all over and are unusually tender over 11 or more of these trigger points, they will usually conclude that you have fibromyalgia.

Even this is a bit tenuous, though, because, as you know, the pain of fibromyalgia comes and goes. There are many other trigger points over your body that may be tender. The ones that are used for diagnosis were chosen by researchers as the ones most commonly affected.

Until recently, there have been no diagnostic tests for fibromyalgia, other than trigger point tenderness. A few tests are beginning to be used now, though. Your doctor may or may not order these tests; they are not widely used yet and their usefulness hasn’t been proven. The tests are:

* Cytokine levels, which are often abnormal in people with fibromyalgia.
* APA assay (antipolymer antibody). APA levels are thought to be elevated in people with fibromyalgia.
* Sleep study. This may be done both because most FMS patients have sleep abnormalities, so an abnormal sleep test makes the diagnosis clearer, and to identify and treat specific sleep problems.
* MRI or PET scan. People with fibromyalgia have abnormalities in both MRI and PET scan.
* EEG. Some researchers have discovered EEG abnormalities in people with fibromyalgia.

As more research is done, better, more definitive tests for fibromyalgia may become available. That would be a huge benefit for both patients and health care providers, because diagnosing fibromyalgia would be easier and more certain.

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It seems that mostly women are affected by fibromyalgia. From the world’s population 3.4% of the women have this disease and only 0.5 of the men are affected by this illness.

Fibromyalgia can not be detected by a laboratory test and because of that many scientists thought that fibromyalgia was triggered by negative emotions or it was a psychosomatic affection.

Until now scientists have proved that there has been altered the brain chemistry in these patients who come with an affected sleep pattern. These patients complain about being tired even after sleeping for a long time. Some say that they wake up during the sleep for several times. Scientists have concluded that sleeping problems associated with stress can lead to fibromyalgia. Other tests have showed that these patients have small levels of insulin growth factor, meaning a low secretion of growth hormone.

Even the intense pain perception has been explained by the increased level of cerebrospinal fluid substance P found in patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Endocrine disturbances have also been found in these patients meaning that they have a decreased production of the steroid cortisol. This steroid is found in a high level in those suffering of depression.

The intense pain patients feel is not a result of damage or inflammation in their body but it is cause by a central defect in pain processing. Some say that these disturbances can also be caused by psychological traumas but this fact has not been completely proven yet.

Diagnosing fibromyalgia is not easy to make, it needs an observation for a long time of the symptoms along with a physical examination. There have been found more than 11 tender points in the neck, shoulders, lower back, buttocks, hips, elbows and knees that seem to be present in fibromyalgia.

Before diagnosing fibromyalgia the doctor must check the thyroid because hypothyroidism can give symptoms resembling to those in fibromyalgia. Myofascial pain syndrome can manifest as fibromyalgia too. This is why it is not easy diagnosing immediately without a complete physical exam and tests that exclude other affections.

Treatment is available but it is special for every patient. A relieve of the symptoms might be brought by acupuncture, psychotherapy, chiropractic care, massage and physical therapy along with low doses of antidepressant drugs. In some patients symptoms might still be present after treatment is done.

Some studies have proved that associating a tricyclic antidepressant with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor will be more effective than if these drugs are taken separately.

Tender points and pains can be relieved with aerobic exercise and strength-training activities, but these activities take time and the patient need to be well motivated to follow these activities. Maybe a workout partner could convince him to follow these trainings for a longer period of time.

Another treatment option is using opioid analgesic therapy. This therapy must also be followed for a long period of time. Aspirin and ibuprofen have been proven to be not efficient in treating fibromyalgia.

If all treatment options have run out and did not bring any improvement, a new therapy might be tried but is very expensive. This treatment is actually a hormonal therapy based on correcting the growth hormone lack in the patient’s organism.

All treatment should be tried before giving up and patients should know that results will not be seen immediately but only after applying treatment for a longer period of time.

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If the pain it feels for three months in all four quadrants of the body means that fibromyalgia occured.Also for a fibromyalgia diagnosis must be at least 11 of 18 specific tender points.Sometimes fibromyalgia diagnosis can be confound to other diseases like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis.For an accurate fibromyalgia diagnosis doctor will analyze the characteristic features of the condition.

If exists any of the following associated symptoms: chronic headaches, sleep disorder, cognitive or memory impairment, jaw pain, fatigue, muscle pain, skin and chemical sensitivities, menstrual cramping, morning stiffness, numbness and tingling sensations, constipation and dizziness a fibromyalgia diagnosis may be given.A physician for given an accurate fibromyalgia diagnosis must know the patient symptoms and history and to do a physical examination and a manual tender point examination.

A tender point examination, which determines the presence of tender points on certain spots of the body and is based on the standardized ACR criteria is the most accurate fibromyalgia diagnosis.In the fibromyalgia diagnosis are used the 18 tender points which are localized around the shoulder, hip, elbow, knee and neck regions.Other 75 tender points have been identified but are not used to diagnose a fibromyalgia.

With electrophysiological studies of the nerves and muscles and imaging tests the physician will see if other diseases such as lupus, Lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, viral infections and rheumatoid arthritis exist even though the patient have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia or other diseases. Through a physical examination of the skin, nails, spine, muscles, bones and joints doctor will rule out arthritis and thyroid disease before finalizing a fibromyalgia diagnosis.

The criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome are met at 50 to 70 percent of patients given a fibromyalgia diagnosis.Most people with chronic fatigue syndrome do not meet the criteria.Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome are two very different conditions but they seem similar.Tiredness is often met at people with chronic fatigue syndrome and pains are met to those with fibromyalgia diagnosis.Swollen glands, sore throat and fever can be found to people with chronic fatigue syndrome more than to people with a fibromyalgia diagnosis.

Fibromyalgia may or may not be the result of a virus but chronic fatigue syndrome is viral in origin.The pain felt in all four quadrants of the body for a minimum of three months and the tender points test used by an experienced physician may help to give a diagnose for fibromyalgia.Because the causes of this disease are unknown patients may have pains for more than three months or even three years before an accurate fibromyalgia diagnosis to be given.

It is better to know if the patient has or has not fibromyalgia because he may receive a good treatment for this disease.Having a fibromyalgia diagnosis gives many people a sense of relief because they know the problem and it’s not all in their imaginations.

If you want to find out more information about http://www.fibromyalgia-info-center.com please visit this website. You will also find valuable information about Fibromyalgia diet and Fibromyalgia alternative therapies.

Product Description
Fibromyalgia affects between three and six million Americans—80 percent of whom are women—yet remains one of the most difficult conditions to identify and diagnose. In the tradition of the other titles in the First Year series, The First Year—Fibromyalgia uses a unique approach—guiding readers through their first seven days following diagnosis, then the next three weeks of their first month, and finally the next eleven months of their first year—to … More >>

The First Year: Fibromyalgia: An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed