Over six million Americans are know to be affected by the Fibromyalgia Syndrome, though it it known that there are many unreported cases. Since it is hard to accurately diagnose someone with Fibromyalgia, many times, patients are diagnosed as having something other than Fibromyalgia Syndrome.

The most common symptoms are chronic pain that affect the daily lives of those affected. It is also common to find people suffering from the syndrome to have chronic fatigue as well. No one is immune to Fibromyalgia and it is most commonly found in women between the ages of twenty and forty, though men have also been diagnosed as well.

One of the main characteristics to notice is that Fibromyalgia is a syndrome and not a disease. This means that this condition can develop over time and does so irrespective of your family history. It continues to be mis-diagnosed to this day as many of the symptoms are mistaken by doctors as indication of other conditions.

Part of the reason that doctors have such a hard time diagnosing cases of Fibromyalgia Syndrome properly is that there is still some uncertainty regarding how the condition develops and whether or not there is any genetic link. Though there has been some success in terms of finding some evidence that certain families are more prone to Fibromyalgia, there has not been any concrete evidence found up to this point.

There are many different theories as to how the condition develops. One example of such theories would include such things as sleep disorders turning into the syndrome due to the body’s inability to repair itself properly during sleep. This turns into chronic muscle pain and results in further lack of sleep, eventually resulting in Fibromyalgia.

There has also been some evidence that immune system weakness due to illness can cause conditions leading up to Fibromyalgia. Due to the weakness in the immune system, muscle repair isn’t able to be performed correctly, again resulting in chronic pain, and then the syndrome.

Detection of the syndrome is mainly performed by analyzing patient response to a series of questions. This involves the survey of 18 tender points and the analysis of chronic pain in four quadrants of the body. Unfortunately, these methods of detection are not always accurate and therefore, the doctor has to make an educated guess.