[DemolitionRed]

Originally Posted by Vicky.

Apparently a lot of doctors don't believe its a real illness. 2 of the ones at my surgery don't, from experience of bringing it up

That's because they know its a symptom. Its not that they don't believe you have the symptoms but I think a lot of doctors see it as a copout. There are no tests for FM, they can only go on symptoms. When every test known to man has been done and when nothing points in any particular direction, then perhaps a diagnosis of FM should be given (though remember, its a diagnosis of unknown muscle pain symptoms) but because doctors know that many people just want a diagnosis, they tell them they have FM.

[user104658]

Originally Posted by DemolitionRed

That's because they know its a symptom. Its not that they don't believe you have the symptoms but I think a lot of doctors see it as a copout. There are no tests for FM, they can only go on symptoms. When every test known to man has been done and when nothing points in any particular direction, then perhaps a diagnosis of FM should be given (though remember, its a diagnosis of unknown muscle pain symptoms) but because doctors know that many people just want a diagnosis, they tell them they have FM.

So it's a bit like ME / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? There's a lot of debate around how "real" that is but I think it's sort of the same thing - it's a collection of symptoms with no defined cause or treatment. So I guess the possibilities are that it's one cause that they haven't figured out yet, OR it simply is a large variety of things but that all present in the same way. I'm sure it is very real, though, at school a friend of mine's older sister (also a friend of MY older sister...) was diagnosed with ME and she was definitely not very well at all.

I think there's also some debate over whether it's a sort of low-level, ongoing version of PVFS (post-viral fatigue syndrome) and triggered by a virus... which I KNOW is very real, as I had acute PVFS after a pretty minor viral throat infection 2 winters ago. It lasted about a month and it was just bizarre, like no other illness I've ever had... nearly fainted on the way to work one morning and thought I was having a stroke, followed by a month of just constant exhaustion, insomnia (but dropping in and out of sleep all day and night), and every single night like clockwork I'd get a raging fever for 5 / 6 hours and I'd just lie in bed pouring buckets of sweat. Totally horrendous. Then one day it just disappeared as suddenly as it started . I got the distinct impression that the doctors just don't really understand it at all and it's a "wait and see what happens I guess" situation .