Question
My step-son has been reluctantly diagnosed by a physician with fibromyalgia. He’s 15 years old, obese, flat-footed and we believe he’s exaggerating. Is there a definitive test to rule out fibromyalgia in a child. He’s been reading about it extensively online and believes everything sounds like his “symptoms”. We don’t want to ignore actual pain but we also don’t want to proceed with a misdiagnosis. We are in the DC Metro area.
Answer
Unfortunately, there is no laboratory test to diagnose fibromyalgia. The diagnosis is made clinically based on symptoms and a tender point examination. However, laboratory tests can be used to rule out other explanations for the syptoms (Lyme disease, B12 deficiency, thyroid antibodies etc).
