The use of health screening questions as part of your COVID-19 safety measures is problematic for people with chronic pain.

Sure, I could pass your temperature check and tell you honestly that I don’t have respiratory symptoms or loss of smell. But muscle aches? 1/

If I told you I had no muscle aches, I would be lying.

I have fibromyalgia. I ALWAYS have muscle aches. Sometimes it’s just a little bit of chronic pain; sometimes, it’s a lot of it, like today. But I am always in some degree of pain and muscle achiness. 2/

So, back to the screening questions!

If you ask me if I have muscle aches, I have two choices:
1. I answer honestly, and you refuse me entry to your physician/dentist/something else office.
2. I lie, and you let me in for the medical treatment that I need.

3/

Neither of those are good options.

If I’m honest, I don’t get treatment. If I’m lying, you’re trusting me to do a risk assessment that the muscle aches aren’t from COVID-19.

Spoiler alert: It’s hard to tell whether your muscles ache because of a fibro flare or illness. 4/

For example, I’ve walked around with UTIs where the only symptom was back pain near my kidneys, but I didn’t realize that the pain was out of the ordinary.

When I have a cold, I feel like a truck hit me. But when I have a fibro flare, it’s the same feeling. And so on...
5/

So, basically, asking someone with chronic pain, if they ache, is NOT going to be a reliable diagnostic measure for COVID-19.

And short of carrying around medical paperwork attesting to the condition—which I shouldn’t have to do!—there is no good solution. 6/6