Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition that causes widespread pain around the body. The pain stems from a problem in the way the nervous system processes pain signals.

Fibromyalgia also causes symptoms like tiredness, depression, and mental fog.

Doctors may not immediately consider fibromyalgia when evaluating these types of symptoms, because pain is also common with many other conditions. That’s one reason why it takes an average of five years for people with this disorder to get diagnosed.

Knowing the type and location of your pain, and what other symptoms you have, can help your doctor arrive at a diagnosis. The faster you get diagnosed, the sooner you can get started on a treatment to relieve your symptoms.

Read on to learn some of the most common fibromyalgia symptoms, and a few unusual ones you might not expect.

The main symptom of fibromyalgia is pain and tenderness in muscles and joints throughout your body. The pain can shift from place to place, but to meet the criteria for a diagnosis, you’ll need to have experienced pain for at least three months. The pain must be in a specific number of body parts and be above a specific severity score. And, you must not have another condition (like arthritis) that could explain the pain.

Fibromyalgia also causes a number of other symptoms, such as:

• fatigue
• lack of energy
• trouble sleeping
• depression or anxiety
• memory problems and trouble concentrating (sometimes called “fibro fog”)
• headaches
• muscle twitches or cramps
• numbness or tingling in the hands and feet
• itching, burning, and other skin problem