for example, I know I have low-grade fibromyalgia. I know this because my mom has full-blown fibromyalgia and it mirrors hers. But a doctor would probably never diagnose me with it because it's so low grade. There certainly wouldn't be a point to diagnosing it.

There are many many physical disorders that lack understanding and fall under subjective diagnoses. Even ones that are objective, just because you get the diagnosis doesn't mean they can even guess at more than that.

Another personal example, my brother has Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia and walks with a cane. His identical has not shown more than the most basic symptoms until just recently (whereas he's shown symptoms from a very young age, even if we only got a diagnosis in the past few years). Even more curious, there are two forms of HSP that present. The "Secondary" form--which comes with more symptoms and is much more severe--and the "pure" form, which typically ends up only limiting movement and causing pain, but not causing the large host of other problems the secondary form can. What's so curious about this is that my brother very clearly shows the "pure" symptoms...BUT the pure forms of the disorder are almost 100% dominant hereditary...

and no one else in the entire family has it.

The secondary form is recessive, but he doesn't fit the symptom profile.

The doctors are having much fun poking him with sticks, you can bet


So anyway, my point is that a physical disorder can be just as nebulous as a mental disorder to pin down.