Fibromyalgia and Multiple Sclerosis share common traits, and diagnosing them is a difficult task in itself. There were, and still are cases when doctors have a hard time differentiating the both, especially if they are not familiar with either one of them. There are also cases when the fibromyalgia diagnosis precedes the MS diagnosis with a couple of years. Even if there are many similarities there are clear differences between the two.

First of all, MS is degenerative, and is easily detectable by MRIs and other tests. The damage in MS comes from the demylination caused by the body’s own immune system.

When it comes to Fibromyalgia, there are symptoms similar to MS like pain and others, but the real damage comes from the pain that is debilitating and leads to lack of activity and depression (depression is also a common MS symptom).

Both Fibromyalgia and MS run in the same families, which is another reason for misdiagnosis. However, there are tests that clearly show MS damage and if there is no damage in the brain, then most likely the disease if Fibromyalgia.