Skip Heavily Processed Foods
Heavily processed foods typically have fewer nutrients than their whole food counterparts. Its important to load up on plants like legumes, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to support your bodys needs.
Dont know what to eat? Groppo recommends sticking with foods that are as close to how Mother Nature made it as possible. Choose popped corn instead of corn flakes or brown rice instead of pasta, for example.
Joint Pain And Fatigue What Could Be The Possibilities
Fatigue is usually characterized by extreme tiredness that even rest and relaxation cannot cure. A number of factors are responsible for fatigue, including conditions that cause joint pain.
It is important to note that different people have different pain thresholds. However, constant pain brought on by sore or damaged joints cause fatigue in most people. The diseases responsible for fatigue as a result of joint pain include fibromyalgia, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
Joints can swell or become inflamed while performing certain activities. It can also lead to a chronic condition. The physical and emotional energy required to relieve the joint pain and continue with everyday activities tends to contribute to the fatigue. Painful joints will also prevent a patient from getting a good nights rest. Without good sleep, fatigue will be a natural consequence.
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Chronic Fatigue Symptoms & Its Relation To Joint Pain
Obviously, the most prevalent symptom of this condition is fatigue, but theres more to it than just that. Many people who have this disorder also experience muscle and joint pain, enlarged lymph nodes, sore throat, memory loss, poor sleep, low-grade fever, and headaches.8,9,10 Since this is a disorder that typically goes on for many months or even years, chronic fatigue is also known to lead to depression.
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When To See A Healthcare Provider
If your muscle pain is worsening or persistent, it’s important to promptly see your healthcare provider for a proper diagnosis.
It’s also important to seek immediate medical attention if you have muscle pain along with any of the following symptoms:
- Trouble breathing
- Muscle weakness in the head or neck
Should We All Be On Identical Schedules
In a word, no. Although the 24-hour day is what we need to live by on this planet, not everyone fits perfectly into this rhythm. Some people are born with slightly longer or shorter clocks even though the majority of people are in the middle. According to Roenneberg and other researchers, this trait is genetic. The term used for this is chronotype with each human falling on the bell curve with two thirds of us landing in the middle. Like height or personality traits, we all fall somewhere on the continuum. Those of us on a faster clock tend to need to go to bed earlier and wake more easily in the morning compared to our night owl counterparts. Night owls feel more awake at night and have a difficult time waking up early. Knowing what chronotype you are may be helpful to understanding your natural cycle better. If your schedule requires you to be out of synch with your natural chronotype, the following are things you can do to entrain, or adopt, the desired 24-hour pattern.
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Problems With Thinking Memory And Concentration
If you have ME/CFS, it’s also common to have:
- problems remembering certain words, names or numbers
- difficulty concentrating or difficulty focusing on more than one thing at a time
- problems remembering things that happened recently
- being slow to speak or react to things
These problems are sometimes described “brain fog”.
Cause Of Polymyalgia Rheumatica
Polymyalgia rheumatica produces inflammation and swelling in the larger joints of the body, such as the shoulders and hips, and in the tissues around these joints. The inflammation is due to the immune system attacking the membranes lining the joint , but the reason for this is unknown. Genetics and environmental factors are believed to play a role.
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What Else Could It Be
The symptoms of ME/CFS are similar to those of other conditions.
If you think you may have ME/CFS it’s important to see a GP to make sure you get a correct diagnosis. A GP should also be able to refer you to a ME/CFS specialist if they think it would help you.
Page last reviewed: 29 October 2021 Next review due: 29 October 2024
What Can Be Done
- Persistent joint and muscle pain should never be ignored
- If even after 4-6 months post Covid, you are having persistent pain it needs to be investigated
- If the patient suffered from autoimmune arthritis then a rheumatologist must be involved
- While the degeneration cannot be reverse, treatment should be initiated to halt or slow down the process.
- While some of the post-Covid symptoms will heal on their own in time, there are others that must not be ignored. One must take care of physical fitness and nutrition intake during the recovery process for long-term good health.
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How K Health Can Help
Did you know you can get affordable primary care with the K Health app? Download K to check your symptoms, explore conditions and treatments, and if needed text with a doctor in minutes. K Healths AI-powered app is HIPAA compliant and based on 20 years of clinical data.
K Health articles are all written and reviewed by MDs, PhDs, NPs, or PharmDs and are for informational purposes only. This information does not constitute and should not be relied on for professional medical advice. Always talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits of any treatment.
Connection Between Menopause And Joint Pain
While joint pain is a common side effect of aging, is it also a symptom of menopause? Stiff joints that are swollen or even warm to the touch may be caused by changing hormone levels, though some medical professionals believe that this pain is not a direct result of menopause. Rather, the lower estrogen levels associated with menopause can increase the risk of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis in women over 50, resulting in the joint pain that is being attributed to menopause itself.
Osteoporosis is the thinning of the bones and can be accelerated by the lower levels of estrogen seen in menopause. Thin and brittle bones put women at risk for developing osteoarthritis, which is characterized by swollen and painful joints. While there may not be a physical link between menopause and joint pain, they often occur around the same time and symptoms of menopause may put women at risk for developing conditions that can cause joint pain.
Another factor of joint pain in menopause is dehydration. When the body is dehydrated then uric acid can accumulate, which triggers inflammation in the joints. Because estrogen is a key player in fluid regulation it also plays a role in your dehydration levels. You see, when estrogen levels drop, so does the bodys ability to hold on to the fluid.
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Q: Why Is Pots Often Misdiagnosed
A: Many of the symptoms described above seem very cardiac-driven. However, at the hospital or ER, the doctors will find that the POTS patients heart is fine. Its actually the adrenaline thats producing a lot of these symptoms to compensate for a neurologic problem.
Often, patients have so many symptoms and are consulting so many different specialists that theres no cohesive assessment or treatment. In addition, POTS symptoms are often misdiagnosed as adrenal fatigue a term used to describe a group of symptoms when nothing else can be used to explain it.
Awareness of POTS in todays medical culture is limited. Recently, however, theres been a growing awareness of POTS thats evolving across the board. As the general population is learning more about it, the medical community is being educated as well.
What Causes Extreme Muscle And Joint Pain
Tension, chronic stress, and minor injuries can result in extreme muscle and joint pain. This type of pain is usually localized and can affect a few parts of the body at the same time.
Conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, bursitis, strains, and gout can also lead to painful joints.
According to the latest research, joint pain is pretty common in adults. Every fourth person reports having it. If you are one of them, here is what you need to know about muscle pain and its treatment:
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Related Signs And Symptoms
Body aches are often experienced in conjunction with other symptoms, which can be helpful in determining the underlying cause of your soreness. Common symptoms you might experience in addition to body aches include:
- Fatigue: You may feel tired, fatigued, exhausted, like its difficult to move, or like your body is heavy or weighed down.
- Chills: You may also shiver, feel abnormally cold without any cause, or complain that you feel chills running through your body.
- Fever: Fevers, or body temperatures of more than 100° F , are often associated with feelings of muscle achiness or soreness.
- Headache: Headaches are another symptom commonly linked to body aches.
- Sore throat: Body aches and sore throat, nasal congestion, or runny nose can be experienced simultaneously.
Why Does My Whole Body Ache
An aching body makes every activity more difficult, from getting through your daily grind to going to sleep at night. Sometimes our bodies ache from hard work or exercise, but at other times the causes of muscle aches can be more complex and associated with other symptoms. If you or someone you know has been suffering from body aches, this guide can help you understand some of the underlying problems that may be causing it. From arthritis to fibromyalgia to the common flu, there are many underlying causes of body aches, so read on to learn what they are, as well as a few tips for easing whole-body aches.
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When Should You See A Doctor About Long Covid
According to Dr. Gumrukcu, if youre still experiencing any symptoms after the fourth week since you tested positive for a Covid-19 infection, you should seek medical help to address long Covid symptoms. Your doctor can help you determine the best path forward to hopefully be back to feeling like your old self soon.
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Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
As a side note, there is a difference between the muscle pain felt in an actively contracted muscle and the muscle soreness which occurs after a challenging workout. This second type of muscle soreness is referred to as delayed onset muscle soreness , and tends to peak around forty-eight hours after exercise.
Most research suggests that DOMS is a result of structural cell damage that occurs during strenuous exercise, especially types of exercise which involve eccentric contractions such as downhill running. The damaged cells release substances which help to facilitate the healing process, but unfortunately, some of these substances also activate pain receptors. Consider this soreness a reminder from your body to take it easy because you pushed it a little too hard a couple of days ago. As your muscle cells are repaired, the irritating substances are flushed out of your system, and the soreness goes away.
to start learning Clinical Somatics exercises and relieving your chronic muscle soreness today!
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What Are Body Aches
Body aches are an uncomfortable symptom caused by muscle inflammation and soreness. Sometimes, body aches can be sharp and intermittent, while in other instances, they may feel more like a prolonged, dull, generalized ache.
Most body aches are short-term and harmless, and can be a result of your lifestyle, illness or any underlying condition. Body aches occur when your muscles are inflamed, either through physical stress, or through an immune response.
If you stand, walk, or exercise for long periods of time, you may feel achy because those activities can cause muscle stress and strain. If youre suffering from the flu, a cold, or other communicable diseases, you may also feel body aches. As your body fights off infection, it triggers an immune response that causes short-term muscle inflammation, in turn making you feel uncomfortable, or achy.
Research And New Developments
Versus Arthritis is funding a number of research studies into the causes, effects and treatment of fibromyalgia. Some examples include:
- A study at the University of Cambridge is looking at why things that wouldnt normally be painful, such as sound, light and gentle touch become painful for people with fibromyalgia, and whether brain signals that process pain differ in people with fibromyalgia.
- Research underway at the University of Sussex is examining how the bodies natural fight and flight response to stress might be altered in people who have fibromyalgia. This work is also looking at the role inflammation might have in this process.
- We are funding work at the University of Liverpool investigating how the brain processes pain signals. It has been found that in people with long-term pain such as fibromyalgia there are differences in the structure and activity in the parts of the brain that process pain signals. Using mathematical modelling, this work could help to match people up with the best treatment option for them.
- We are also investigating how to improve healthcare services for people with fibromyalgia. Research being carried out at the University of Aberdeen is looking at how long it took people with fibromyalgia to get diagnosed and where in the system improvements can be made.
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Oxidative And Nitrosative Stress
Enhanced oxidative and nitrosative stress has been reported in CFS/ME patients. For example, studies have demonstrated patients to exhibit excessive production of reactive oxygen species following physical exertion, as well as altered resting blood oxidant to antioxidant status .
Biochemical markers associated with oxidative stress have also been reported to play a pivotal role in skeletal muscle fatigue , which is often cited as a debilitating symptom experienced by CFS/ME patients . Effectively, oxidative and nitrosative stress involve the enhanced production of ROS and reactive nitrogen species , in addition to other free radicals these reactive species have the potential to disrupt cell membrane function through lipid peroxidation, as well as damage to functional proteins and DNA. This can ultimately lead to alterations in cell structure and disease initiating mutations .
Elevated ROS/RNS exhibit the capacity to profoundly impair mitochondrial function, which has been suggested to be due to the accumulation of oxidative modified mitochondrial proteins, lipids, and DNA . Moreover, these factors exhibit the potential to induce electron transport chain dysfunction, impairment in cellular bioenergetics, and ultimately skeletal muscle fatigue. Furthermore, skeletal muscle is a postmitotic tissue so it is extremely susceptible to mitochondrial oxidative damage this is due to being terminally differentiated and because of a slow cellular turnover and high metabolic rate .
I Have Muscle Weakness
If you have muscle weakness and visit your doctor, they will first need to know the following:
- How it began and how long you have had it for.
- Whether it is getting worse, getting better or staying the same.
- Whether you are otherwise well, are losing weight or have travelled abroad recently.
- What medicines or other drugs you have been taking and whether there are any muscle problems in your family.
Your doctor will need to examine you to see which muscles are affected and whether you have true or perceived muscle weakness. They will check to see whether your muscles are tender to touch or unusually ‘fatigable’. They may want to watch you walk.
They will then need to test your nerves to see whether the muscles are getting the right signals to act. Your doctor may need to test your central nervous system, including your balance and co-ordination. They may need to perform blood tests to look for abnormalities of hormones, salts and blood cells.
Depending on the results of these tests your doctor may also order the following:
- Nerve studies to make sure the nerves are conducting properly.
- A muscle biopsy to see whether the muscles themselves show signs of inflammation or damage. A biopsy is a procedure where a small sample is taken to look at under the microscope.
- Body scans such as CT or MRI to look for conditions elsewhere in the body which may affect muscle power and function.
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Underactive Thyroid And Fatigue
Symptoms: Extreme fatigue, sluggishness, feeling run-down, depression, cold intolerance, weight gain
The problem may be a slow or underactive thyroid. This is known as hypothyroidism. The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland that sits at the base of your neck. It helps set the rate of metabolism, which is the rate at which the body uses energy.
According to the American Thyroid Foundation, about 17% of all women will have a thyroid disorder by age 60. And most won’t know it. The most common cause is an autoimmune disorder known as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Hashimoto’s stops the gland from making enough thyroid hormones for the body to work the way it should. The result is hypothyroidism, or a slow metabolism.
Blood tests known as T3 and T4 will detect thyroid hormones. If these hormones are low, synthetic hormones can bring you up to speed, and you should begin to feel better fairly rapidly.
