Thousands, if not millions of people live with pain every day. Thus, it should not be surprising that this pain is not always correctly diagnosed. For many people, it takes years, or even decades to receive a correct diagnosis, which then allows medical professionals to do what is needed to correct the problem or assist with pain management. One of the conditions that is often misdiagnosed several times before a patient gets a correct answer is fibromyalgia. This condition, which was not recognized twenty years ago, had received much interest by many medical professionals who are slowly beginning to realize the massive number of problematic symptoms of the disease that riddle sufferers.
Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition that is most common in women and is most often diagnosed between the ages of thirty-five and fifty-five. The problems with the condition are that it shares many symptoms with other diseases, that it is not easily diagnosed, and that the cause remains a mystery, even to a fybromyalgia doctor.
Included on the list of symptoms is chronic muscle pain all over the body. This pain can be more prominent in one area, but for diagnosis purposes, will be evident in at least eleven of eighteen predetermined areas. The condition is also known to produce muscle spasms and cramping, restless sleep, fatigue, anxiety or depression, stiffness, headaches, and skin sensitivities. Many others complain of difficulties with concentration and memory. As one might imagine, this long list of symptoms causes speculation among the public and the medical community, but for sufferers, there is no doubt that the condition exists. The associated back, head, arm, leg, and neck pain can get so severe that patients endure this condition can occasionally find themselves unable to function in day-to-day life.
Included on the list of diseases that are initial, but incorrect diagnoses for sufferers are liver disease, lupus, Lyme disease, arthritis and thyroid dysfunction. There are others as well. The determining factor is often that the patient exhibits the majority, or all of these symptoms. Thus, it is important for a person that feels that he or she has fibromyalgia to express all symptoms when visiting pain clinics in Austin, no matter how unrelated they may seem.
To make matters even more confusing, medical professionals are not entirely sure what makes a person more susceptible to the condition. It is thought that accidents or injuries can lead to formation of the condition, as if the body is unable to heal from the injury. It is also believed that the condition runs in families. Patients also have a difficult time pinpointing onset, as the pain levels will typically increase over time. There are also ‘flares’ which are periods of intensified pain and other symptoms and some sufferers even report little or nothing in the way of symptoms in between flares. Regardless of how it comes to be, patients have a difficult journey as they are forced to deal with a condition that is life changing, disabling, and not understood. It is very difficult to explain it to another person when there is nothing to show. It is, in essence, a ghost disorder.
About the Author: Karen Prior has written extensively about the pain management industry and works hard to keep patients informed about the newest developments in pain management
