Diagnosis

After asking about your symptoms, your doctor will check for swelling, redness and impaired movement in those parts of your body where you are having pain. Your doctor will check for tenderness in the 18 specific tender points designated by the American College of Rheumatology. Your doctor will ask detailed questions about your medical history and examine you to look for other conditions or diseases that could explain your symptoms.

To meet the research criteria for the diagnosis of fibromyalgia, a person must have had widespread pain for at least three months and must have tenderness at 11 or more of the 18 specific tender points. However, physicians often diagnose the illness without meeting these strict criteria, but only after they have been unable to find alternative causes of the pain and fatigue.

Expected Duration

To be diagnosed with fibromyalgia, the widespread pain of this disease must last for at least three months, although many people experience pain for much longer periods. How often fibromyalgia causes disability is uncertain, but most people are able to adapt to or control symptoms and remain active.