Fibromyalgia is an intractable disease that is not easy to treat as it is a chronic disease that causes pain throughout the body for more than 3 months. The main symptom of fibromyalgia is pain in muscles all over the body, such as the arms, legs and trunk.
Recently, it is too easy to diagnose “fibromyalgia” for patients who complain of such muscle pain. However, there is a disease that has similar symptoms to fibromyalgia but has a different method of treatment, so it’s important to differentiate it accurately. It is a chronic inflammatory disease like polymyalgia, rheumatism and rheumatoid arthritis.
FibromyalgiaㅣSource: Clip Art Korea
Fibromyalgia should be differentiated from various diseases
Fibromyalgia is muscle pain that occurs for no particular reason, so blood tests show no abnormalities. If the level of inflammation is high in blood tests, it is important to check whether it is an inflammatory disease such as rheumatoid arthritis or polymyalgia rheumatism. Treatment methods have been established for rheumatoid arthritis or polymyalgia rheumatism, and if treated, the response to treatment is good. However, when taking fibromyalgia drugs used for these diseases, pain may not be controlled and pain may occur. side effects. .
In cases such as Sjogren’s syndrome or Behcet’s disease rheumatic disease, secondary fibromyalgia may appear. Patients with these conditions should pay more attention to their diagnosis, keeping in mind the possible comorbidity of fibromyalgia.
“Joint ultrasound” is useful for the differential diagnosis of fibromyalgia
Joint ultrasound is an important test in the differentiation of fibromyalgia and other inflammatory autoimmune diseases. In fact, many patients who have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and are being treated but do not improve and return to the hospital, when joint ultrasound is done, show synovitis. The most important pathological finding of various rheumatic diseases is synovitis, in which inflammation occurs in the synovial membrane. Therefore, when synovitis is seen, it is often diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis or polymyalgia rheumatism.
In rheumatic diseases, it is very important to accurately diagnose by integrating clinical symptoms, blood tests, joint ultrasound, radiographic findings and sometimes histological findings. After ruling out the possibility of an inflammatory autoimmune disease through these various tests, the final diagnosis of fibromyalgia should be made.
Written = Haidak Medical Reporter Won Je-beom (rheumatology specialist)
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