Recognizing The Early Symptoms Of Fibromyalgia

The cause of fibromyalgia is unknown, although this baffling syndrome has been studied by medical researchers for 150 years. Before the syndrome even had a name, those who suffered from it could only describe a wide variety of symptoms that seemed unconnected. Nine out of ten fibromyalgia sufferers are women who have female relatives with the syndrome. Although most sufferers are not formally diagnosed until their 30’s or 40’s, the early symptoms of fibromyalgia are clearly evident in adolescents for physicians who are astute enough to recognize what they’re seeing in younger women.

A Checklist Of The Early Symptoms Of Fibromyalgia

The early symptoms of fibromyalgia are often indistinguishable from other, more common conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, muscle tension, sleep disturbance, mild to moderate depression, and fatigue. Physicians tend to treat these symptoms independently, not realizing as yet that these are the harbingers and early symptoms of what will become full-blown fibromyalgia.
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When an astute physician is treating a young woman who presents for treatment of a known early symptom of fibromyalgia, he or she should ask about the existence of other such symptoms even though the patient doesn’t mention them in the diagnostic interview. Specifically, these symptoms include morning muscle stiffness, specific points on the body that are painful and sensitive to touch, frequent diarrhea and/or constipation, mild depression, excessive fatigue, skin rashes, exacerbated symptoms in heat or cold, oral thrush during times of stress, foul body odors, dryness of mucous membranes, and frequent colds and flu. Recognizing these as early symptoms of fibromyalgia, the physician can take this opportunity to educate the patient on this progressively problematic syndrome, early treatment interventions, and how to recognize increasing symptoms for what they are.
Both physicians and mental health professionals acknowledge that once the early symptoms of fibromyalgia are explained to a sufferer, this allows both early medical treatment and prevents the patient from becoming emotionally distressed because of symptoms that otherwise make no sense. It is not uncommon for the early symptoms of fibromyalgia to be misdiagnosed as psychiatric disorders such as hypocondriasis, major depression, somatoform pain disorder, factitious disorder and malingering to seek drugs and medical attention. To experience these uncomfortable symptoms and then be told that they aren’t “real” simply adds to the patient’s distress.
Recognizing the early symptoms of fibromyalgia is not complicated for a physician familiar with the syndrome. Reassuring the sufferer that this is indeed a very real condition and prescribing an appropriate symptom management regimen can make the difficult years to come much more bearable.

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