trying to get a diagnosis for fibromialgia

[eggbox1970]

Hi I'm suffering with aches and pains daily .....doctors refuse to say I have fibromialgia I've even seen a specialist which told me I don't because I didn't have any pain when she lifted my leg that was all she did to come to that conclusion. I'm fed up with the pains etc I've been feeling down I go see the doctor and only thing that they say is keep taking the pain killers also offered antidepressants which I accepted for a few months and suggest physiotherapy I'm stuck now i don't know what to do feeling so down I've never felt this low noone I can turn to I can't do my normal routine first thing I do is look for pain killers which I shouldn't need to be doing I feel neglected......any suggestions to help me thanks Steve

[Mrsp139]

Sorry ur feeling let down by doctors...😪 i would suggest i second opinion with a different doctor, i found that some will diagnosis fibro and some won't.I fought for 3 years to get my diagnosis had to go through lots of different painkillers, physiotherapy, pain clinics and more.

[Hidden]

Hi eggbox1970, sorry to hear you are experiencing aches and pains all the time. It took some time for me to get an actual diagnosis from a consultant and since there is no actual treatment for it I just put up with being sore all the time. What you could do is ask your GP to check your (CRP) c reactive protein markers to check for inflammation. This will then flag up if you have high inflammation in your body and you could then ask for that to be investigated. Normally they expect at least 3 blood tests to see if it is constantly high. Take care.x

[Midori]

Hi and welcome to the community. Ask your GP for a referral to a Rheumatologist.

They are the most common folk who might diagnose you, But it could still be something else. ME, CFS, Long Covid, MS, they all produce similar and overlapping symptoms. Unfortunately, it's a long journey to a diagnosis, 20 years for me!

Cheers, Midori

[Ronzanijane]

Hi eggbox1970It's different for each person, sometimes work sometimes not you should try everything, to fund what is work for you, I did phisio It's help me for some way ,the physiotherapy always helps, not take the pain ways, but relief, you should try.

[Dinkie]

It's generally a long journey to diagnosis. Fibro will only be diagnosed when everything else is ruled out. Took from 1987 to 2014 for me to get the label pinned on me. What difference having a label made is debateable, it doesn't make any difference to the pain experienced and in fact it probably is a hindrance as every other ailment is put down to fibro once you have the label. Perhaps ask for a referral to a rheumatologist as they are the usual port of call for us. Once I was diagnosed all the consultant said was "you have fibro, go research I haven't got time to explain it to you, we don't treat it we transfer you back to your GP" and that was it!

Eventually after 2 years of begging I got a referral to Guys and St Thomas' fibro clinic and subsequently the pain clinic. Don't give up and if you wish to go down the referral to the rheumatologist and your GP is resistent to it, put the request in writing as it then forms part of your notes, verbal requests often are not noted on your file, then follow it up with a telephone consult to make sure the GP is acting on the request.

Good luck.