Fibromyalgia affects roughly 2 to 8 percent of the United States population. Although 80 to 90 percent of people with fibromyalgia are women, men of all ages may have fibromyalgia as well. In fact, up to 1.5 million men in the U.S. may currently have fibromyalgia, and many more will experience it in their lifetime. And some of these cases may end up part of a worker’s compensation claim.
Some people are at higher risk of developing fibromyalgia than others. And under current law, apportionment of permanent disability may be based upon causation. According to the article in Medical News Today, as well as gender, other risk factors for developing fibromyalgia include the following:
A personal history of other rheumatic diseases including lupus
A history of mood or depressive disorders
A family history of fibromyalgia
A man’s fibromyalgia symptoms may be very different from the symptoms experienced by a woman. Symptoms of fibromyalgia in men may be as widespread as they are in women, but they are often milder and last for less time.
Although they may be milder in men, fibromyalgia symptoms can still range from mild to severe and debilitating. Symptoms will vary from person to person and can include:
Pain and tenderness
Fatigue
Morning stiffness
Irritable bowel syndrome symptoms
Brain fog
Depression
In order to be diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a man must experience widespread pain for more than 3 months. This pain must have no known medical cause. A doctor may do blood tests and imaging to rule out other causes. Fibromyalgia symptoms occur in a number of diseases and disorders that doctors will need to rule out.
But, some doctors may think of fibromyalgia as a woman’s condition and not consider fibromyalgia in a man as a viable diagnosis.