I'm glad some of you found that link pertinent, as I did.

Most of the Fibromyalgia literature puts so much emphasis on IBS by lumping everything gastrointestinal , in the one basket. The beauty of being specific if upper gastrointestinal symptoms predominate or are worrisome, is that, they are TESTABLE.

Gastroparesis is provable by a Gastric Emptying Study (GES)! This means that if Gastroparesis is proved through testing then either
1). the person does not have Fibromyalgia but has some other neurological condition or 2). some people with Fibromyalgia may be susceptible to damage to the Interstitial Cells of Cajal which can cause Gastroparesis and IBS and this is suspected to happen following a viral illness.

So essentially it means that for 'Fibro' people with upper GI symptoms (may have lower GI symptoms also) there IS a test which can be done for a specific condition related to the Fibromyalgia symptom cluster.

Obviously there are other upper GI conditions which can cause problems such as gastric reflux disease, hiatus hernias, refractory oesophagitis, gastric erosions and ulcers etc. Any upper GI symptom in anybody should be checked throughly anyway and if nothing is visibly found but symptoms persist, then perhaps it is time for a GES.

Gastroparesis symptoms more specifically are fullness after a few bites of food (early satiety), nausea, anorexia (not wanting to eat -food avoidance because of symptoms), vomiting, burping beyond usual, heaviness in stomach after eating even small amounts and probably a couple of others I can't think of at present!

So what I am essentially saying is that IF you have upper GI symptoms AND you have or are suspected of having Fibromyalgia, don't let doctors just label you as having IBS!