Managing symptoms of fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a complex long-term condition where patients experience several symptoms. These include chronic widespread pain, fatigue, sleep that isn’t refreshing, mood changes and problems with memory and thinking.

Diagnosis can be challenging. GPs are often the first point of contact for patients, but they may not have experience of diagnosing fibromyalgia. As a result, patients are often referred to specialists.

Previous studies have found that patients with fibromyalgia can feel frustration about:

• how long it can take to get a diagnosis
• lack of advice on how to manage symptoms
• some healthcare professionals’ attitudes towards patients with fibromyalgia

Once patients have a diagnosis, guidelines recommend they should be given information about the condition and self-management techniques. But there is limited evidence on how health professionals should best support patients to manage their symptoms.