how do you know you have fm/get a diagnosis? - Fibromyalgia Message Board

sleepystar · 07-27-2002, 07:18 AM

hi, i have severe ME/CFS/CFIDS but i am pretty sure i have FM too but have never been diagnosed (i had to fight for over 6 years to get a ME diagnosis), but my main syptom is pain and a heck of a lot of it, i also get tender spots nad if someone touches them i jump 10 feet in the air so thats lead me to believe it could be FM, i was wondering how you got a diagnosis of it, do you have ME as well or do you know of any good sites that display the FM info clearly without having tons of text to wade through?

thanks

love and gentle hugs to you all

Vikki

la_brat · 07-27-2002, 09:09 AM

How is ME diagnosed?
Myalgic Encephalitis is ME? Here, I thnik, it is called Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS). In order to technically have this diagnosis applied to you, the doctor must find you have pain when a certain amount of pressure is applied to 11 of the 18 designated points scattered around your body. If the magic number of 11 is not achieved, then with the supporting symptoms the diagnosis would be Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

mfry32 · 07-27-2002, 12:30 PM

That is the main way that fibro is diagnosed.

scbagrrrl · 07-28-2002, 12:52 AM

Question in regard to pain points -
do your pain points hurt all of the time or do they come and go?

My docs are pointing to a Fibro Dx on top of already Dx'd SLE, RA, Raynaud's, Sjogren's... I have a lot of sleep problems and ever-increasing fatigue but my points aren't sore to the touch - it's "deeper" and more of a constant ache versus a pain when it's active.

How did your disease progress with the pain? Did it start in one or two places, increase with severity? Just wondering how your disease presented itself in the beginning...

sleepystar · 07-28-2002, 06:33 AM

thanks for your relpies.

Well all my life i have been suffering headaches and leg pain, fatigue and that. Then at 11 i developed a constant migrane (really bad) and just went down from there, now days i am bedbound, unable to walk unaided and in severe pain in every inch of my body (including my finger tips), i have tons of other symtopms of ME including the sleep probs, i often am awake all night then alseep all day or i go through phases wheni sleep over 20 hours a day then other patches of insommia to the point i went 6 days with not on wink of sleep, loight and noise sensativites, crawling feeling in my skin (espeicaly on lower legs) etc. i hurt to be touched anywhere but sometimes if people touch certain places its 10times more painful than anywhere else. I saw many consultants and had all kinds of tests from MRI's to ECG's to bloods, over the years then after 5 years of tests they said it must be ME, but they never tested any points on me to see if they hurt, they don't seem to believe that i am in a lot of pain, i do naturally have a strong painthreshold but its getting to the point i just want to swallow a whole packet or two of painkillers in one go (i never would), so thats my story bascily