What's the Difference Between Fibromyalgia and Carpal Tunnel?

Are your hands tingling and aching? Or are you dealing with weakness and body pain? Your list of symptoms can blur together fast when you’re trying to figure out what’s going on.

Fibromyalgia and carpal tunnel syndrome can both affect how your hands feel and function, but they’re very different conditions. One involves how your nervous system processes pain throughout the body, and the other comes from pressure on a specific nerve in your wrist.

At Link Integrated Healthcare, our team of expert providers can help you get answers for pain conditions like fibromyalgia and carpal tunnel syndrome. We help you sort through symptoms, identify the source, and get the right treatment in Camarillo, Northridge, Oxnard, Simi Valley, and Santa Barbara, California. 

In the meantime, read on to learn the differences between fibromyalgia and carpal tunnel syndrome.

What is fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition that causes widespread pain and tenderness throughout your body. It’s also commonly linked with fatigue, sleep problems, brain fog, and increased sensitivity to pain. Researchers believe fibromyalgia affects how your brain and spinal cord process pain signals.

If you have altered pain processing in your central nervous system like this, your body is more sensitive to sensations that may not bother someone else as much. 

Fibromyalgia pain usually isn’t limited to one hand, one wrist, or one nerve pathway. It tends to feel more widespread and may affect your neck, back, shoulders, hips, legs, or multiple areas at once.

What is carpal tunnel syndrome?

Your median nerve runs from your armpit, down your arm, and to your hand. This nerve is what allows you to have feeling in your thumb, index finger, middle finger, and part of the ring finger. 

To get from your armpit to your hand, it has to pass through a space in your wrist called the carpal tunnel. When that nerve becomes compressed inside your carpal tunnel, it’s known as carpal tunnel syndrome. 

This compression also explains why carpal tunnel syndrome leads to symptoms that show up in your thumb and fingers.

How the symptoms feel different

The biggest difference is where your symptoms show up and what combination of symptoms you experience.

Fibromyalgia usually causes widespread pain, tenderness, fatigue, poor sleep, and cognitive symptoms like brain fog. About 50% of people with fibromyalgia also have depression.

Carpal tunnel syndrome causes more localized nerve symptoms in your hand and wrist, especially numbness, tingling, burning, or weakness in the fingers supplied by the median nerve.

That said, symptoms can overlap. A person with fibromyalgia may feel hand pain or sensitivity, while a person with carpal tunnel may have pain that travels into the forearm. 

That’s why your Link Integrated Healthcare provider carefully considers the location of your pain, timing of your symptoms, triggers, and testing results.

How to diagnose fibromyalgia and carpal tunnel syndrome

Fibromyalgia is usually diagnosed based on your symptom pattern, how long symptoms have been present, and whether other conditions have been ruled out. Our team may ask if you have widespread pain, fatigue, sleep quality, mood issues, or brain fog.

Carpal tunnel syndrome can often be suspected based on symptoms and a physical exam, but nerve testing can help confirm it. At Link Integrated Healthcare, we may use EMG (electromyography) or nerve conduction studies to assess nerve function and determine whether the median nerve is compressed.

Can you have both fibromyalgia and carpal tunnel syndrome?

Yes. Fibromyalgia and carpal tunnel syndrome can occur at the same time, but knowing which one (or ones) you have directly impacts your treatment plan. 

If you assume all hand symptoms are fibromyalgia, you may miss a treatable nerve compression problem. If you assume all pain is carpal tunnel, you may overlook a broader pain condition that needs a different care plan.

How are fibromyalgia and carpal tunnel syndrome treated?

Fibromyalgia treatment often focuses on improving your sleep, reducing widespread pain sensitivity, managing stress, and staying active in a safe way. Your Link Integrated Healthcare providers may also recommend supplements or prescribe medications when appropriate.

Carpal tunnel treatment focuses on relieving pressure on the median nerve. Depending on the severity, this may include wrist splinting, ergonomic changes, activity modification, injections, or procedures to relieve pressure on the nerve.

Get the answers you need 

Schedule an evaluation if you have persistent numbness, tingling, weakness, hand pain, widespread body pain, fatigue, or symptoms that interfere with sleep or daily activities.

At Link Integrated Healthcare, we can help determine whether your symptoms point to fibromyalgia, carpal tunnel syndrome, another nerve condition, or more than one issue at the same time.

You can also call the location of your choice to get started.