Is Pots More Common In Certain People
There are no established risk factors for POTS. However, it is known to run in families, so it could have a genetic component. Researchers have also established a link between POTS and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome . So if you have one of these conditions, you might also have the other.
A big group of those diagnosed with POTS is young women and teens. However, this doesnt mean they are more likely to develop this condition.
Nerve Conditions Which Damage Muscles
Conditions affecting nerves tend to lead to true muscle weakness. This is because if the nerve to a muscle fibre stops working, the muscle fibre can’t work either and it will become floppy and eventually shrivel.
Neurological conditions: muscle weakness can be caused by cerebrovascular disease such as stroke and brain haemorrhage and spinal injury. Tumours in the brain can also lead to muscle weakness. Muscles which become partially or completely paralysed lose their normal strength and will eventually waste. Some recovery is possible but it will be slow and may not be complete.
Spine-related conditions: when nerves are damaged as they emerge from the spine , weakness can result. When the discs slip out, they press on nerves headed lower down in the body. The weakness affects only the muscles served by the irritated or compressed nerve.
Other uncommon nerve conditions:Multiple sclerosis : this is caused by damage to nerves in the brain and spinal cord and can cause sudden paralysis. This can recover partially but does not always do so.
: this is a post-viral paralysing disease which causes weakness and loss of muscle function from the fingers and toes upwards. It may last many months, although complete recovery is usual.
Heart Disease And Fatigue
Symptoms: Fatigue from an activity that should be easy
If youre exhausted after an activity that used to be easy — for example, walking up the steps — it may be time to talk to your doctor about the possibility of heart disease. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women. If your fatigue is related to your heart, medication or treatments can usually help correct the problem, cut the fatigue, and restore your energy.
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Fast Fix For Mild Fatigue
If you have mild fatigue that isn’t linked to any medical condition, the solution may be exercise. Research suggests healthy but tired adults can get a significant energy boost from a modest workout program. In one study, participants rode a stationary bike for 20 minutes at a mild pace. Doing this just three times a week was enough to fight fatigue.
Q: What Are The Symptoms Of Pots
A: The most common symptom of POTS is chronic fatigue. Other symptoms include body aches and exhaustion. About a third of patients faint. Other patients are plagued by adrenaline symptoms such as chest pain, racing heart rate , sweating and difficulty breathing. POTS feels like having the flu, but having to drink coffee to get through the day.
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Common Causes Of Body Aches
Body aches can be a cause of both short-term ailments and long-term conditions. Healthy people may experience body aches after standing, walking, or exercising for a prolonged period of time. In others, body aches are a sign of an underlying medical condition or infection.
Common causes of body aches include:
Fatigue Cause No : Not Enough Sleep
It may seem obvious but you could be getting too little sleep. That can negatively affect your concentration and health. Adults should get seven to eight hours every night.
Fix: Make sleep a priority and keep a regular schedule. Ban laptops, cell phones, and televisions from your bedroom. Still having trouble? Seek help from a doctor. You may have a sleep disorder.
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Why Does My Body Ache Causes & Treatment
Body aches are an uncomfortable but common symptom of a variety of medical ailments. If youre experiencing body aches, your muscles may feel weak, sore, tired, or hard to move.
For most, body aches are easily treatablea few days of rest and hydration can provide relief from any discomfort. For some, body aches, particularly those that last a long time, can indicate a serious underlying medical condition that may require treatment.
Fatigue Cause No : Not Enough Fuel
Eating too little causes fatigue, but eating the wrong foods can also be a problem. Eating a balanced diet helps keep your blood sugar in a normal range and prevents that sluggish feeling when your blood sugar drops.
Fix: Always eat breakfast and try to include protein and complex carbs in every meal. For example, eat eggs with whole-grain toast. Also eat small meals and snacks throughout the day for sustained energy.
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Disease Activity And Fatigue
Fatigue and arthritis go hand in hand for many people with arthritis. The main culprits are the inflammatory disease process and the accompanying chronic pain.
- Inflammation. If you have an autoimmune disease, your immune system attacks your body and inflammation is the result. The body undergoes stress as it tries to cope with the release of inflammatory cytokines in the blood. That can cause fatigue, especially when disease activity is high or low-grade inflammation remains for a long time.
- Chronic Pain. The pain-fatigue connection can be a vicious circle. Dealing with arthritis pain for months at a time over many years can wear you down. It can affect your sleep habits, which adds to your exhaustion. Being fatigued, in turn, can worsen pain and make it more difficult to manage.
Treating Depression To Improve Insomnia
âInsomnia can precede a bout of depression or increase risk of a relapse in someone with a history of depression, but treating the insomnia can improve the outcomes of depression,â agrees Jason Ong, PhD, director of the behavioral sleep medicine program Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
But Ong says itâs also important to address the depression that may exist independently of the sleep issues. If you think you are depressed, be sure to discuss this with your doctor, who can help you decide on whether treatment for it should be part of your sleep therapy.
Some antidepressants may also cause sleeplessness. In that case, your doctor or sleep specialist can investigate other options. âTry to find an antidepressant with sedating properties,â Ong says. âOr if the most effective antidepressant for you causes insomnia, you may be able to take it in the morning instead of night.â
Susan Zafarlotfi, PhD, clinical director of the Institute for Sleep and Wake Disorders at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, uses insomnia as a clue to other issues when evaluating a new patient.
âInsomnia is one of the ways to identify depression, and I make sure all of my patients get depression and anxiety screening,â Zafarlotfi says. âWe need to address both the sleep problem and the depression. It doesnât matter which came first.â
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When Is Fatigue Considered Extreme
There is no good criteria for assessing the level of fatigue it depends on the person. However, most people know when their tiredness is more than a lack of sleep. Some of my patients remember the exact day they got hit with fatigue so overwhelming that they knew something was wrong.
Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome
POTS is a common condition affecting an estimated one to three million Americans. Researchers dont fully understand the causes of POTS, but it is more common in women than men and is more likely to develop in adolescents and young adults.
Fatigue Cause No : Depression
You may think of depression as an emotional disorder, but it contributes to many physical symptoms, as well. Fatigue, headaches, and loss of appetite are among the most common symptoms. If you feel tired and “down” for more than a few weeks, see your doctor.
Fix: Depression responds well to talk therapy and/or medication.
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Hypothyroidism Tends To Make People Feel Sluggish
Hypothyroidism tends to make people feel tired, sluggish, and depressed.
It is a condition in which the thyroid gland does not make enough thyroid hormone. Inflammation of the thyroid gland is the most common cause. Other symptoms may include hair loss, depression, heavier menstrual periods, weakness, unintentional weight gain and being more sensitive to cold.
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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See Rashes On Eyelids
If your musculoskeletal pain comes bundled with eyelid rashes, you could be in the grips of dermatomyositis. This is an autoimmune disease that causes general aching because it inflames the blood vessels beneath your skin. It can make it hard to swallow, and to stand up from a seated position. Common symptoms include fatigue and rashes. These can be red or purple, and they tend to itch. And they don’t just appear on eyelids dermatomyositis rashes may appear on cheeks, elbows, knees, knuckles, the back, or the upper chest.
Your doctor might prescribe medications like corticosteroids to control the symptoms. There are exercises that can be learned to keep your strength and flexibility up as well, and therapies to control the swallowing problems that can result from this disease. Purified blood products can be offered as injections, and these can stop the damage to your muscles and skin for a time. But they need to be administered regularly and they are expensive.
Body Ache Due To Covid
Covid-19 cases are rapidly growing once again all over the world. As of January 12, 2022, India recorded more than 190,000 fresh cases. Be it SARS-CoV-2, Delta, or now Omicron variants of Covid-19 body ache is a common symptom found in people. Dropping in muscle strength, feeling tired constantly, or chronic fatigue are some of the symptoms or the long term effects which continue even after recovery from the virus.
Body ache due to Covid-19 typically occurs with other symptoms as well, which may interfere with your daily tasks. People diagnosed with Covid-19 wonder when they will feel better or normal and how? Have you been also suffering from chronic body ache and pains ever since you got diagnosed with Covid-19? If so, here’s help.
Health coach Dimple Jangda recently shared an Instagram Reel on some natural ways to get rid of body ache. Jangda says, “Suffering from chronic body ache after being diagnosed with Covid-19 is because Covid attacks blood cells responsible for oxygen transport. Your muscles and tissues start struggling for oxygen and suffer from chronic spasms and pains.”
She adds, “The virus damages your red blood cells and your iron levels get depleted as the body tries to rebuild the RBC. You need to pump up your vitamin C, D, and iron levels to boost your immunity and treat fatigue and chronic body ache.”
Check out her Instagram post for yourself:
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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.
Pots: A Little Known Cause Of Extreme Fatigue
Everyone knows what being tired feels like at the end of a long day. But some people experience fatigue so severe and so seemingly random that its hard to describe. If that sounds familiar, there could be more going on than daily stress.
While there are many causes of fatigue, one of them is frequently missed and misdiagnosed: postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome . Physical medicine and neuromuscular specialist Tae Chung, M.D., answers questions about POTS and extreme fatigue as one of its symptoms.
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Food Allergies Food Intolerance And Fatigue
Symptoms: Fatigue, sleepiness, continued exhaustion
Although food is supposed to give you energy, medical research suggests that hidden food intolerances — or allergies — can do the opposite. In fact, fatigue may be an early warning sign of food intolerance or food allergy. Celiac disease, which happens when you cant digest gluten, may also cause fatigue.
Ask your doctor about the elimination diet. This is a diet in which you cut out certain foods linked to a variety of symptoms, including sleepiness within 10 to 30 minutes of eating them, for a certain period of time to see if that makes a difference. You can also talk to your doctor about a food allergy test — or invest in a home test such as ALCAT — which may help you identify the offending foods.
Fact: Common Medications Can Trigger Drowsiness
Many common medications, such as those used to treat colds, allergies, or motion sickness, can hinder alertness on the road. If the bottle lists drowsiness as a side effect or warns against operating a motor vehicle, itâs best not to get behind the wheel. Even small amounts of alcohol can amplify the fatigue associated with these medications.
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Conditions Affecting Brain ‘drive’ To Muscles
Anxiety: generalised tiredness can be caused by anxiety. This is due to overactivity of the body’s adrenaline system.
Depression: general weariness and a feeling of generalised tiredness can also be caused by depression.
Note: anxiety and depression are both conditions which tend to cause a sense of tiredness and ‘fatigability’ rather than true weakness.
Chronic pain: a general effect on energy levels can result from chronic pain. Like anxiety, it stimulates the production of chemical substances in the body which respond to pain and injury. These chemicals lead to feelings of tiredness or fatigue. In chronic pain, true weakness can result, as muscles may not be used due to pain and discomfort.
So Are My Symptoms Omicron
How do you tell if your cough, sore throat or muscle aches are a cold, the flu or COVID? You really can’t without a COVID test, experts say.
“When you’re in a surge like we are right now and COVID is everywhereand it is everywhere right nowif you have trouble getting a test, a take-home test particularly, and you do have symptoms, the prudent thing to do is just assume you have COVID and isolate away from other people. That’s the safest thing to do right now,” said Dr. Joseph Kanter, Louisiana’s state health officer and medical director, on Thursday.
Feeling ill and unsure if you should seek medical care? The CDC has published a “coronavirus self checker” where you can answer a series of questions to determine whether you might need further treatment.
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Seeing A Sleep Specialist
A sleep specialist will conduct a thorough evaluation and sleep study, in which you are monitored while sleeping, and then develop a treatment plan.
Your better sleep treatment plan may include medication as well as good sleep hygiene techniques â ways to prepare your body for sleep. Avoiding caffeine after lunch, not consuming alcohol within six hours of bedtime, and not smoking or using any type of nicotine product before bedtime are some sleep hygiene techniques. Experts may also teach you relaxation techniques and cognitive therapy, in which you learn to replace sleep worries with positive thoughts.
âWe also use a very powerful technology called âstimulus control,ââ says Auger. Essentially, stimulus control is a behavioral technique that limits the time you spend in bed.
“It teaches people to use the bedroom for sleep and sex, and to leave the bedroom after about 20 minutes if they canât fall asleep and engage in a relaxing activity,â he says. âIt can be as powerful as medications and possibly more powerful in the long term.â
