When people in Washington State think about the problems associated with doctors not accurately diagnosing medical conditions they might initially think about issues with diseases like cancer or other life-threatening illnesses. While certainly these situations can be challenging and leave patients in need of help, there are many other types of conditions that medical professionals may not appropriately diagnose that are not life threatening but that still leave people suffering instead of getting the relief and treatment they need.
Fibromyalgia is one of these conditions. AARP indicates that among the seven commonly misdiagnosed conditions, fibromyalgia is among them. Also on the list were lupus, Parkinson’s disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, lyme disease, celiac disease and multiple sclerosis. Among the challenges associated with properly identifying any of these conditions is the fact that their symptoms can often appear very similar to different illnesses.
According to WebMD, the two primary symptoms associated with fibromyalgia are extreme fatigue and chronic pain. Both of these symptoms may be present in a myriad of other conditions. The lack of objective diagnostic measures or tests add to the difficulty of an accurate fibromyalgia diagnosis.
Physicians should look for details about how long a patient has experienced symptoms and how widespread the pain is. Tenderness in more than 10 locations on the body may be a sign that fibromyalgia could be the root of the problem. People who experience the symptoms of fibromyalgia know that they occur without any direct trigger such as an accident or injury and this may make it even harder for them to have a dianosis made.