The struggle to define a fibromyalgia diagnosis has been a long one. It is an example of a reversal of scientific disbelief in the face of consistent reports of unexplained symptoms. Fibromyalgia doesn’t show up on tests. For many years, the mostly women were dismissed as hypochondriacs, or hysterical. Although it was called “muscular rheumatism” in the mid-1800’s to distinguish it from “joint rheumatism,” or arthritis, it wasn’t identified as a distinct syndrome until the last 30 years.… Read the rest