Signs and Symptoms of Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a chronic illness that can be debilitating for many, and affects an estimated 12 million people in the U.S. Fibromyalgia sufferers can experience a wide range of symptoms with varying intensities and may include:

A New Way of Diagnosing Fibromyalgia

A new way of diagnosing fibromyalgia, by using a pain index and a measure of key symptoms and severity, may lead to more diagnoses and treatment, a new study says.1 The new criteria avoid tender points and tender point exams. Instead, a widespread pain index coupled with a symptom severity scale is used. The pain index is a 19-item checklist; a person marks the number of body parts where they have experienced pain during the last week. The symptom scale comprises unrefreshing sleep, fatigue, and cognitive issues -- three hallmarks of fibromyalgia. Symptoms are rated on an ascending scale of severity from 0 to 3. The diagnosis revolves around the number of painful areas, number of symptoms, and their severity. The American College of Rheumatology gave its stamp of approval to these new criteria. Daniel J. Clauw, MD, a rheumatologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, helped develop the new criteria. He points out that the older

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criteria were never intended to be diagnostic. "They were intended to be classification criteria to be used to standardize research into fibromyalgia, and they served that purpose very well, and will continue to be used by most researchers for this purpose," he says. That said, "the new criteria are intended to offer health care providers an alternative manner of diagnosing fibromyalgia that do not require a tender point count," he says. "Many physicians do not know how to do a tender point count and thus are not presently comfortable diagnosing fibromyalgia because they think this is 'necessary' to make the diagnosis -- now there will be a clear alternative available."

18 Points of Tenderness

Painful tender points are located at various places on your body and are a common characteristic of Fibromyalgia Syndrome, which can be part of the diagnostic process. Your health care provider will ask about your pain symptoms and then press on a series of anatomically-defined soft tissue body sites called "tender points." Eleven of the 18 tender point sites must be painful when pressed in order to receive a medical diagnosis of fibromyalgia.

Tender points are generally superficial areas under the surface of the skin, such as the area over the elbows or shoulders. However, the tender points of these areas are usually very small, about the size of a penny. Tender points also involve localized areas of tenderness and pain around the joints, but do not involve the joint itself.

These 18 tender points will usually be highly sensitive to pressure in people with fibromyalgia as specified by the American College of Rheumatology criteria. The pain can feel like a deep bone ache, pins and needles, or a stabbing or burning pain. Muscles may feel like they have been pulled or overworked. There are times this pain is mild, others when it is so severe that it becomes unbearable. People who do not have fibromyalgia feel less tenderness when pressure is applied to these areas.

Symptom and Supplement Chart

The chart below includes a list of symptoms along with natural dietary supplements that can help provide relief for a variety of symptoms associated with this condition. Even if you have not been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, yet suffer from any of the symptoms below, you may benefit from one or more of the products listed.

Need help choosing which products are right for you? We have a nutritionist on staff to help you. See our Contact Us page to contact our nutritionist by telephone, email, or our message board.

References

1. http://www.webmd.com/fibromyalgia/news/20100526/a-new-way-of-diagnosing-fibromyalgia