Actually, a recent new blood test discovery for fibromyalgia has been found to be more accurate than was previously believed, as it will not confuse fibromyalgia with other chronic diseases.
But before we go into what this new form of blood testing is, it’s also important to understand why diagnosing fibromyalgia is so difficult, so we can understand why developing this new blood test would have been equally as hard and why it’s so groundbreaking in the medical field.
Diagnosing Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is a condition of having multiple symptoms of pain, aching, fatigue, and anxiety and depression throughout the body. The reason why it is so difficult to diagnose is because it has so many symptoms that, taken individually, are basically symptoms for other disease and conditions as well.
Doctors have to take each symptom into consideration, and run through all of the other conditions and diseases as well, before officially diagnosing a person with fibromyalgia or not.
Further making this diagnosing process complicated is that we have no clear way to test for fibromyalgia. In addition, many doctors do not know enough about fibromyalgia to properly diagnose it, and many people might have to go through several doctors before getting a final diagnosing (during which the symptoms will only become worse and more painful).
Blood Testing
The truth is that not very many laboratory tests are very effective at diagnosing fibromyalgia. But recently a new blood test has been conducted that is supposedly very accurate when diagnosing fibromyalgia, manufactured by EpicGenetics, a lab in California. This blood test is supposedly able to diagnose fibromyalgia by identifying markers in the blood cells that would only be there in people who have fibromyalgia.
The cost of this blood test is very expensive, running under $1,000, and most insurance companies will not cover it either. Before simply walking in and taking the blood test, you should always consult with your doctor first.
Before this blood test came about, doctors attempted to (and still do) diagnose fibromyalgia using physical tests, such as identifying tender, sore points on your body. The doctor will then run a few more tests to make sure that the condition you have is not more serious than fibromyalgia.
There were also blood tests that doctors would run too, such as ordering a complete blood count and measuring red cells and white cells, as well as tests in your liver and kidney. However, none of these tests were very definitive in diagnosing fibromyalgia.
The new blood test by EpicGenetics is being hailed as the first definitive blood test for diagnosing fibromyalgia, and can also yield the complete tests to you in just under a week. The blood tests look for protein molecules in your blood stream. These molecules are produced by white blood cells.
People who have fibromyalgia will typically have fewer of these protein molecules in their blood stream (and subsequently have a weaker immune system as well). These immune system biomarkers can be found in people with fibromyalgia, but they can also be found in people with other diseases as well.
But usually, only fibromyalgia patients will have a low level of these protein molecules, which the EpicGenetics blood tests look for. There are patterns that show people with some of the symptoms of fibromyalgia but who also have high enough levels of these protein molecules probably don’t have fibromyalgia. Today, this blood tests detecting and revealing the levels of these protein molecules in the blood stream is believed to be over ninety percent accurate.
Fibromyalgia is a big deal. It is estimated that five million Americans suffer from it (not to mention the tens of millions around the world), but only a few thousand have actually taken this test. Part of it is the high cost that is not covered by insurance, while another part of it is that it is relatively new and will take some time to gain traction and a reputation in the medical world.
Many doctors are puzzled by this, since before it could cost over ten thousand dollars in medical bills to diagnose a patient through the various tests and visits. But much of this was covered by insurance.
Most doctors working on the EpicGenetics blood test believe it is effective and want to increase its appeal to potential fibromyalgia patients. One reason they believe they can do this is to lower down the price, by licensing the test to other labs.
Time will tell, but chances are that this blood test will take off as many people who display many symptoms of Fibromyalgia will be excited that only one simple test will finally be able to diagnose and confirm for them whether or not whether they have fibromyalgia, rather than spend months or even years before finally being diagnosed with fibromyalgia (or finding out that they never had it all along).
Fibromyalgia was previously a very difficult medical subject. It was very difficult to diagnose, and there were (and still are) very limited things that we know about it. So this epic genetics blood test is truly an epic breakthrough in the research of fibromyalgia. There is no doubt that this new blood test is not really a victory for the professional medical community who put it together, but rather for the fibromyalgia patients.
Research into fibromyalgia is only likely to continue and we’ll uncover more things about it, and eventually, we may even find out what specific gene(s) makes people have and develop the disorder in the first place. And it’s likely that with the more and more EpicGenetics blood tests that are being conducted, we will only come closer and closer to reaching that goal of finally finding out what the true cause behind fibromyalgia is, as researchers and scientists will be able to look at thousands more blood specimens.
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