Into from the US

[lisa40509]

I hope you don’t mind me descending on the Brit forum, the US one barely has any followers for support. I’m still in the diagnosis stage and have been going through this for two years now. They go back and forth between MS and fibromyalgia. How did any of you end up with your diagnosis? Thanks

[Yassytina FMA UK Volunteer]

Always welcome, I was diagnosed by my own doctor after a few months of symptoms , clear blood tests to rule out anything else, some UK doctors refer patients to a rheumatologist for further investigation. Good luck with your diagnosis x

[Jcwg]

Hi, ask to be referred to a rheumatologist if no luck with a GP. Good luck x

[caico]

Hello there, welcome to our UK fibromite world. Hopefully you'll find us a welcoming group. Take care

[Midori]

Hi there,

I was referred to a Rheumatologist after everything else had been tried.

Cheers, Midori

[Queenielot]

Was referred to rheumatologist..and diagnosed there

[Hidden]

Rheumatologist, via pressure points around the body but I understand there are new ways of diagnosing now. Good luck lisaj40403. Hope you don't have it.

[JayCeon]

Hi Lisa, you've sure found the absolutely busiest forum here, very lively and usually very friendly! But they all have their advantages, for instance you'll find a bit less on functional med. here, depending on the thread, in case you aren't content with meds.

Here in Germany my first rheum. excluded ankylosis spondylitis using MRI & colonoscopy (i.e. GI) results and FM and sent me to neuro & endocrine, neuro sent me to psychiatrist, he to a sleep lab psychiatrist, he to ENT, plus I tried orthopedics & alternatives. The 2nd rheum. seeing everything except chance finding had come back clean (and finding full trigger points) diagnosed FM. The sleep lab psychiatrist excluded MS with a spinal tap (which hurt for months after as he wasn't experienced). This was all inside of 6 months, due to me being prepared to drive 200k to the 1st rheum. and make all appts parallel quickly, being on sick leave, and having a semi-private insurance. In the UK the NHS forces the opposite: Everything takes ages, cos you only have one "channel", your GP has to refer and everything is slow. After the diagnosis I got every single symptom checked out with every single specialist except lung, but even assumed alternatives like Sjögren's were excluded & pointed back, leaving me with 30 diagnoses, incl. urgent chance findings, but no help: all the 46 docs tried their best but usually harmed, with meds & etc.

(What's helped me most btw is 1) trigger hunting & analyzing, pacing 2) expert acupressure, and 3) off beat supps. (as well as cold showering, exercises like twist stretching and autogenic training, plus the forums.))