What is life like for patients with fibromyalgia?
Dr. Clauw: Patients with fibromyalgia are, on average, fairly functionally impaired by their symptoms, probably in part, because it causes so many different symptoms. They not only have pain throughout their entire body, but very frequently will have fatigue, memory problems, and a number of other symptoms. The combination of all those symptoms impairs people as much or more than any other rheumatic disease. I know life can be so frustrating for them. What is it about the disease that makes things so frustrating? Dr. Clauw: There are a couple of things. One is the unpredictability. One day they may be able to function fairly normally and then the next day be quite impaired. The other is that in many cases, people around them, whether it be their spouse, their children, their co-workers, don’t necessarily believe that they’re quite as symptomatic as they are and thus they have this problem with sort of credibility. How do doctors generally diagnose fibromyalgia? Dr. Clauw: Fibromyalgia,
