Fibromyalgia mostly imitated by 5 commonly misdiagnosed conditions

BY JULIA NELSON

Imagine that how hard it is to accept that nothing seems to fix the condition going on in your body regardless of how much time you are spending and how much excessive amounts of money you are spending on doctors, appointments and medication. If you are lucky enough, one day you get the exact diagnosis and that is fibromyalgia. Of course, diagnosing with fibromyalgia also opens all the doors with new fears behind them, because fibromyalgia is really painful. It is an incurable and untreatable disease. Unfortunately, there are people who don’t even get this diagnosis. These people are stuck in their thinking that these problems are something else.

Having an accurate diagnosis of this disease is often more difficult than treating it. Unfortunately, it is one of the hardest diseases to be diagnosed, as a string of misdiagnoses is there for people with fibromyalgia. This disease is easily confused with other similar diseases because the symptoms of fibromyalgia are universal. Following are some commonly misdiagnosed conditions:

Lupus

It is understatement that lupus mimics or imitates fibromyalgia. A lot of the main symptoms of lupus are similar to the fibro symptoms like joint pain and fatigue. Although butterfly rash usually occurs in lupus, a rash across cheek area and nose, the inward symptoms are the reason of it to be commonly confused with other diseases. People having lupus and fibromyalgia usually experiences sharp chest pains, sensitivity to cold, pain and light. Most commonly yet ignored symptoms of both fibromyalgia and lupus are mood disorders and frequent headaches.

Lyme disease

This disease is caused by the bacteria of Borrelia type spread by ticks that results in a tick-borne illness called Lyme disease. It is often misdiagnosed as flu or other types of illnesses related to fatigue. Lyme disease can become so overwhelming if doesn’t leave treated. It is also a commonly misdiagnosed condition that mimics fibromyalgia. Joint pain and weakness in the limbs are the two most common indicators of fibromyalgia and the cause of many misdiagnoses.

Arthritis

This condition causes inflammation and pain, and the condition that attacks joints primarily is perhaps alike than fibromyalgia. The inflammation causes bone erosion and joint deformity over time. Out of all the forms of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis is much like lupus, as it is an autoimmune disease. Rheumatoid arthritis is often a lifelong disease that affects people from their teenage and onwards. Arthritis is also incurable like fibromyalgia.

Chronic fatigue syndrome

Chronic fatigue syndrome is among the worst conditions on the list because it shares the deeper relation with fibromyalgia. Most often, a lot of negative opinions from people who don’t believe fibro to be real are endured by people with fibromyalgia. Unfortunately, there are people who also see the statements of fibromyalgia or other similar conditions as the only excuses to be unemployed or on disability. Those people often sketch the symptoms up to laziness and they also confuse chronic fatigue syndrome with major depression, as both cause a feeling of weariness all day just like fibromyalgia. Sleep problems and pain are caused by this severe yet misdiagnosed condition and result in impaired physical and mental capabilities. CFS usually occur more in women just like fibromyalgia and the symptoms become more severe if you do more exertion.

Hypothyroidism

Hypothyroidism is a condition in which thyroid hormones are not produced enough by thyroid glands and it also has disrupting heart rate, body temperature and all kinds of metabolism. Thyroid issues are often linked with universal symptoms of sensitivity, fatigue and mood disorders because the symptoms are so common that they are misdiagnosed. Hypothyroidism also affects mostly older women like fibromyalgia and CFS. It can also be overwhelming and hard enough for you to do routine tasks. However, hypothyroidism is treatable with thyroid hormone replacement therapy.

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