Hi Robin,

I was diagnosed TWICE with FM before I got the dx of DD. I had all
the symptoms of DD, including many lumps, but the rheumatologists who
diagnosed FM did not want to listen to anything but their pre-printed
forms. They based their diagnosis pretty much on tender points, even
when I showed them lumps where the "tender points" were. Since all
my bloodwork did not show RA, they just assumed it was FM. Last
year, when I saw one of the rheumatologists to ask her about
treatment for DD, her comment was, "You can't expect me to treat a
SKIN DISEASE!!"

I think there are actually a lot of people who have been diagnosed
with FM that have something else wrong, but they get the "garbage
pail" diagnosis because it's easier. I even had a therapist tell me
that it was my own negative attitude that caused my problems!

Fibro is a very real disease (and I disagree with the
term "syndrome") and I'm sure many people suffer a great deal from
it, including some of us with DD too, since several similar diseases,
especially in auto-immune families, go together. But I wish the
doctors wouldn't just STOP with a dx of FM, and look a little farther.

Just my opinion,
Judi