I saw a fibro specialist who is a physical medicine/rehab doctor. It doesn't fit any of the obove options.
I am also a believer that it is way overdiagnosed for the reason you stated above. People get diagnosed without anyone even doing a tenderpoint exam.
I was diagnosed by a Neurologist in 2001 some months after a car accident. When I left there I said to my husband, "he doesn't know what he is talking about". I went back to work and worked up until August 2008 which is when I was just knocked down after dealing with severe pain since Nov. 2008. In turn, I was referred back to the same Neurologist in which I didn't even remember that I had saw this same guy some years ago to be diagnosed again with FM. Oh well. After calling my doctor yesterday to complain of this burning achey pain from my neck down to my feet he said that it sounded Neuropathic. Had to look that up in the medical dictionary to make sure that he wasn't trying to say that I was crazy. The medical dictionary (Stedman's) says that it is a disease of the central nervous system. I don't know how to take that. But it does answer some questions. I am going to see my doctor today and discuss this.
Sorry, I was supposed to say since Nov. 2007 that I have been in severe pain.
Mine really came on after my car accident as well but my health has been declining since I was about 15 and even more after I started having my children. I was diagnosed by this Gp I was seeing who I thought I could trust and he did send me to a rheumatologist who said"I think you are being treated for the right thing". He never said what that thing was. But then after I couldn't take the pain anymore, I went into a walk in clinic and saw this doctor who was a total stranger to me and after examining me said fibromyalgia. But fir three yrs before this, my gp has said rheumatoid arthritis. It really ticked me off getting misdiagnosed! I have researched this to no end as well as my sons medical conditions. So I spend a lot of time on the computer. I found it weird during my last pregnancy though when I barely had any pain at all. I got to actually enjoy my pregnancy which was nice. Good Luck
I was first blown off 12 years ago by a FM specialist, which still blows my mind. 12 years later, a Johns Hopkins FM specialist is the 4th doctor to confirm FM/CFS.
I don't think it really matters who dx us....what really matters is that we should know what should be involved with our symptoms to get a dx of FMS, same as with ME-CFS.
Some doctors mis-diagnose basically because of their ignorance.
I had 5 doctors confirmed that I had both diseases...yet, 7 yrs later, another doc first recognized me as having both illness, than after 5 yrs, he reversed his decision and wrote in my report as 'self-proclaimed'.. Now I'm under a GP who practices Natural Medicine is more than convinced that I have both. Go figure, huh?
After countless visits to various doctor's and speciallists, a Rheumatologist concluded that my mom has Fibromyalgia. Her family doctor questioned that finding because, according to her, Fibromyalgia is extremely difficult to diagnose; and most doctors wouldn't ordinarily arrive at that conclusion. But, that's exactly what happened with my mom... her diagnosis was basically established via a process of elimination.