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Originally Posted by Idealist
I think this is all very interesting, and really applaud the fact that you would care enough to go to the trouble to help others with a condition you do not have.
But one thing bothers me. What about people like myself who suffer from secondary fibromyalgia? I never had a symptom a day in my life until I developed a chronic pain condition in my abdomen. A year after that the fibromyalgia set in, with all the symptoms, all the tender points and everything.
At that time I did a lot of research myself, and spoke to or e-mailed a number of well-know rheumatologists to try to find a way to treat or cure the fibro despite my chronic pain. The most common answer I got then was that fibromyalgia, at least like mine, is most likely caused by a disruption in the normal cycle of living caused by my chronic pain. I couldn't sleep, eat, work or exercise in any normal pattern, and this caused a huge upset in how my body functioned, leading to FMS.
Do you think there could be more than one cause, or more than one condition that mimics fibromyalgia? From what I've read, it's the tender points more than anything else that confirms the diagnosis, and I have them all. But mine have never been as terribly severe as those of others I've read about here. Any thoughts on that?
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You might want to check out the research of Dr. Daniel Clauw at the University of Michigan, if you have not already. He is a leading researcher in fibromyalgia. In some of his articles, he talks about how overemphasized trigger points are in the diagnosis of fibromyalgia and how he feels they should be eliminated from the diagnosis criteria all together.
I myself do not have all of the "required" trigger points shown on the diagram of the human body with trigger point references that you often see with an article explaining fibromyalgia. For some time, I also questioned whether I had the disorder because of the trigger point issue. I would let that point go in your mind as to the diagnosis. If your symptoms fit fibromyalgia, then, unfortunately, you most likely have it. It is a diagnosis of exclusion (excluding disorders or diseases it is not) and I assume you have had tests for those other illnesses that share some fibro symptoms (under active thyroid, lupus, etc.). But, in all my research, I have yet to come up with another condition that fully duplicates the sometimes strange, wavering, debilitating symptoms of fibromyalgia.
Good luck to you--and continue with your research. Knowledge, afterall, is power. Just be sure to check out the more "legitimate" sites on the internet, not ones that tout money-making "cures" or yet unproven remedies.