"disc disruptions occur in a significant number of patients mistakenly diagnosed with fibromyalgia"

[pattismith]

Fibromyalgia Over-Diagnosed 97% of The Time: Chronic Pain Due To Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, Acromo-Clavicular Joint Syndrome, Disrupted Disc, Nerve Entrapments, Facet Syndrome and Other Disorders Mistakenly Called Fibromyalgia

Research Article 2016
Nelson Hendler*3 and Thomas Romano2

Abstract
A review was conducted of 47 patients referred to Mensana Clinic with the diagnosis of fibromyalgia, and other diagnoses.

Of the 47 patients, 9 received only an initial evaluation, and 38 received a partial or complete diagnostic evaluation.

The diagnostic criterion for fibromyalgia was not met in 37 of 38 patients.

Therefore, 97.3% of patients were misdiagnosed by referring doctors as having fibromyalgia, when they did not meet the diagnostic criteria (errors of commission). Additionally, referring physicians made only 7/50 diagnoses (including fibromyalgia) that were confirmed by objective testing or diagnostic criteria, which means 86 % of the time they made diagnoses that were not confirmed.

Referring physicians also failed to diagnose 133 medical conditions that were confirmed by objective testing at Mensana Clinic, for a failure to diagnose rate of 94.3% (errors of omission). Of the patients misdiagnosed with fibromyalgia, i.e. told they had fibromyalgia when they did not, 94.2% of them were women.

...

"this article show that disc disruptions occur in a significant number of patients mistakenly diagnosed with fibromyalgia. The mechanisms for the source of pain from internal disc disruption, which escapes detection on MRI 78% of the time, have been well described [31,32]. Essentially, the nucleus pulposa herniates into the posterior portion of the annulus (disc), where pain fibers are located [32]. However, there is no anatomical disruption of the disc, so the disc appear normal on MRI but produces the same clinical features of a herniated disc where the nucleus pulposa compress the nerve root or spinal cord, with associated neck, back or limb pain, and severe muscle contractions [31,32]."

...

 

[pattismith]

I love this part of the article (I had major depression some years after my neuropathic pain started, as a result of chronic pain and no help/no real diagnosis from the doctors. Neuropathic pain is NOT a real diagnosis as the doc in the article explain, a real diagnosis finds the root of the neuropathic pain!)

One major factor of fibromyalgia is the pain that patients experience. Chronic pain patients get depressed as the result of their chronic pain [10]. Depression occurs in 77% of patients with chronic pain, and 89% of these patients had never been depressed before the onset of their pain [11].

The severity of pain specifically associated with fibromyalgia also produced depression [12]. The depression may last from three to twelve years after the onset of pain [13]. This has dire consequences.

Fishbain and his colleagues report that the completed suicide rate amongst white male chronic pain patients is two times higher than the general population, and for white females, it is one and an half times higher than the general population. However, more startling is the suicide rate for white males involved in workers compensation litigation, where the completed suicide rate jumps to 3 times higher than the general population [14].