BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Fibro without CFS?

Hi Veronica,

I know that you can have CFS and not Fibro, but was wondering if one can have Fibro without CFS?

Thank you,
Shannon

Not that I've heard of. I personally believe that CFS is the beginning level of FM.

I was diagnosed with fibro several years ago, and doc never said anything about CFS. I know that some of the symptoms overlap.

I have had two specialist tell me the words can be used interchangably and that they are the same thing except that FM complain of more pain.

In our country it tends to be CFS if diagnosed by a primary care physician and FM if diagnosed by a rheumatologist. The symptom list is identical. From a patient point of view CFS is usually characterised by fatigue, and FM by pain though we tend to have a selection of the same symptoms.

My update:

I had had head pain all of my life, that radiated down my neck, shoulders and back. I didn't know that this was fibro...now I do.

Shannon, are you aware that Lyme causes headaches and pain radiating down the back, shoulders and neck?

My neighbor had lyme for over 20 years before he found out! He's doing well now thanks to a great lyme doc who uses alternative medicine.

...I was diagnosed with CFS by a rhumi, and two PCPs....

Yes, they have a symptom picture for a basket diagnosis. No etiology there for no means to a cure.

Many cases of Fibro in the US are turning out to be lyme. There is only one sure fire way to diagnose lyme and that is with a dark field live blood analysis microscope. You can see the cysts and the spirochetes.. I've seen the photos from an electron dark field scope also.

No, Arrow, I didn't know that!

However, I've had this pain for most of my life...long before the bio-warfare agent was introduced. Well, by ticks, anyway...we have absolutely no idea what they have been putting into our vaccines for all of these 60 some odd years...now do we?

I will get the Lyme's test...

The lyme test is often not accurate. beware of false negatives. The only foolproof test is a live blood analysis.

Arrow, I disagree that no etiology means no cure. Most conditions people get are or can be self curing. In fact almost all diseases have at least some people who recover, even if sometimes that is unexpected. Saying no etiology means no cure means you are hopeless and helpless. However we know that most people who get CFS/ FM/ ME/ CFIDs recover on their own to a greater or lesser extent. Any condition that can remit or regress means there is a physiological mechanism. It is up to us who have a condition to do our best to find our way into remission/regression. There are lots of things you can do which can support healing.

You guys talk about Fibromyalgia like it is a confirmed dieased. Can someone tell the etiology please as I have not been able to figure one out. I would say that if there is no etiology that the cure will always be a mystery and not the same for everyone... consequently It makes me suspect that all cases of fibro are not created equally and have different causative factors. So a Fibro patient is at the whim of whatever a practitiner may wish to promote in treatment?

I believe that this question must make a specialist. I detected fibro two years ago and i am with medication, by the time with vicodin or hydrocodone but i read in findrxonline these medicines are taken with restraint. :)

Fibro and CFS are definitely medical conditions with symptom lists and exclusion criteria. There are recognisable signs like a reduction of mitochondria, changes in white cells and many other things which I don't keep in mind these days. I do know our research showed that the average number of symptoms of a person with CFS was 22 at any one time, though they can change and come and go. CFS has been a recognised medical condition for over 50 years, though some doctors still "don't believe in it", as if that would make the condition go away and the people healthy. A doctor's "belief" in this situation does nothing for their patients. Etiology is variable, though it could be summarised as an "immune assault", with many coming down with it after an infection, often, but not exclusively Epstein-Barr. It has also been diagnosed after vaccinations, pregnancy and other attacks on the immune system. I have also heard of cases occurring after car crashes, but I would expect to have found an underlying infection occurring simultaneously if I had been reviewing those cases. Most doctors treat Fibro and CFS with pain killers and antidepressants where I live, though I've heard of other things in the US. I wouldn't choose any medication, but would seek healing, rather than treatment if I was back in that situation again.

I had Fibro dx'd for 6 years before getting dx'd with CFS. My pain increased and is in the joints more now. I also have a sore throat a lot now. I need to lay down several times a day or I fall asleep sitting up!

I had the new Lyme test calleda western Blot which shows the spirochetes and is more accurate. I still come up negative for it.