GP Referral to Rheumatologist - Fibromyalgia

[cheekydaz]

I have been going to my GP over the last year with pain in different parts of my body, numbness, headaches, extreme tiredness and mild memory loss. All blood tests have come back fine so he has referred me to a Rheumatologist and mentioned Fibromyalgia.

As someone who suffers from an Anxiety Disorder, can anyone advise what happens at this appointment with the rheumatologist? Do they do tests, or just discuss your symptoms etc.

If anyone can let me know, I would be grateful. It would put my mind at ease.

[TheAuthor]

Hi cheekydaz

I sincerely hope that you are feeling as well as you possibly can be today? Welcome to the forum and it is wonderful to make your acquaintance. I have pasted for you below a link to our mother site, FMA UK which hosts loads of useful Fibro information:

fmauk.org/

I have pasted for you below a link to an NHS pdf booklet about Rheumatology appointments, so I truly hope that you find this useful:

ouh.nhs.uk/patient-guide/le...

I want to sincerely wish you all the best of luck and please take care of yourself my friend.

All my hopes and dreams for you

Ken

[Loreen]

Hello, I too suffer from anxiety and panic attacks.

When my GP referred me, she put on the referral letter that I would struggle with the waiting room, and appointment. It helped me to know the consultant was aware of my problems.

As for what happened. Well my GP had already done all the blood tests etc to rule out anything else. He asked me about my symptoms, and I had already written a list of things like IBS , over active bladder, exhaustion etc. I knew I would forget as my anxiety causes me to panic and forget what I need to say.

After that I was examined and he pressed on all the pressure points. It was extremely painful, but necessary to get the diagnosis. He then told me I had fibro, and discussed various treatment options.

hope this helps xx

[Hidden]

Ive yet to see the NHS rheumatologist as there's an 8 month wait.

In May I went to a private consultant as I wanted to rule out the possibility of Lupus.

I wrote a list of my symptoms, how long I'd been having them, and any triggers I could think of, such as I feel a lot worse in hot weather.

She read through everything, asked me a few questions then got me to lie on a couch, no need to remove any clothing, she pushed all the pressure pints. I yelped on all but one and she diagnosed fibromyalgia.

I think anxiety if part of the fibro mix. I spent several months feeling on edge and worrying about everything, then discovered I had low B12. GP said not low enough to be worried about but reading on the Pernicious Anemia forum, I thought otherwise. Treated myself with B12 and anxiety disappeared.

It's worth checking all your blood test results just to make sure that something a GP considers normal , but could still be well below optimum level.

Good luck at the consultant appointment, go armed with a list and let him/her do all the work.

[Hidden]

Hello cheekydaz, unfortunately there are no tests as such for fibro its all diagnosed from what you explain, I would write everything down (I made a word document of daily living with fibro) and take it with you, that will help the Rheumo doc to decide if it is fibro or something similar.I think anxiety is also part of the illness, I can get so stressed and angry with myself when I cannot think or function properly due to lack of sleep and tired body.

[cheekydaz]

Thanks for all your replies, it has helped so much. Still awaiting the appointment but fingers crossed. I hope I experience some pain when they press on the trigger points otherwise I will be back to square one and no further forward, lol x