Extreme Muscle Soreness And Fatigue

What Are The Symptoms Of Long Covid

3 Ways to Recover From Muscle Fatigue with Dr. Matt Salzler | Tufts Medical Center

According to Dr. Gumrukcu, the most common symptoms of long COVID are fatigue, brain fog and memory issues, headaches, shortness of breath, chest pain, and cough.

heart symptoms like irregular heartbeat, and tinnitus, , he says.

Some of the above symptoms, like feeling short of breath and experiencing chronic chest pain and cough, can also add to an inability to handle exercise, even if you feel like youre not even working that hard. So thats something else to keep in mind if you have big goals on tap like completing a marathon, the last thing you want to do is try to bounce back too hard after having Covid.

Metabolic Causes Of Muscle Weakness

Muscle weakness may have a metabolic cause, such as:

Addisons disease: This involves a decreased production of hormones by the adrenal glands.

Hyperparathyroidism: This involves overactive parathyroid glands.
Hyperthyroidism: This condition occurs when you have an overactive thyroid.
Hypothyroidism: This condition occurs when you have an underactive thyroid.

Hypokalemia: This condition occurs when you have low potassium levels.
Hyponatremia: This condition occurs when you have low sodium levels.

You May Like: What Causes Fatigue In Diabetes

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:

Q: How Is Pots Tested/assessed

A: Seeking answers from a medical center with autonomic expertise will give you a better chance of receiving an accurate diagnosis. If you think you may have POTS, its important that your doctor rules out other conditions, includingthyroid disease.

Your autonomic medical specialist will use a special tilt table test to diagnose your condition. The tilt table test is designed to measure heart rate and blood pressure as you change your body position from lying flat to a 60- to 70-degree angle. The title table is the best way to confirm a POTS diagnosis.

Expert Expresses Doubt On Effectiveness Of Booster Jab

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways youve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Less than a year since the first Covid vaccine was administered in the UK it was reported that the jabs had saved around 112,000 lives across the country. It was also thought the jabs helped prevent 24 million cases of the disease in the UK between December 2020 and 2021. And health bodies are now encouraging eligible people to come forward for an autumn booster.

Don’t Miss: Fatigue After Chemo How Long Does Last

You’re Not Hydrating Enough

Working out makes you sweat, which can feel good if you’re properly hydrated. However, if you’re not prepared for your workout and you lose too much fluid, you can become dehydrated.

Thirst isn’t the only symptom of dehydration, according to MedlinePlus. You might notice you’re actually sweating and urinating less, as your body attempts to preserve fluids. You could also get tired, feel dizzy, have a headache or experience a decrease in performance. In serious cases, you can be confused and even faint. Your heartbeat can become rapid or irregular, and it’s possible to go into shock, per MedlinePlus.

Heat complicates dehydration. Since your body uses sweat to cool off, exercising in a hot environment can make you lose fluids more rapidly. If you’re going to work out somewhere exceptionally warm, make sure to hydrate more than you usually would.

Overreaching And Overtraining Syndrome

There are two general problems associated with fatigue after exercise. Overtraining syndrome occurs over time from too much training. The other problem occurs very quickly and is known as overreaching. Both issues come from too much exercise and not enough rest.

The symptoms of overreaching usually resolve quickly once you stop exercising and get more rest. However, the symptoms of overtraining can last two months or more. If you have either problem, youll notice that youre constantly fatigued and sore. You might also get sick more often due to a suppressed immune system.

Your mental health is affected by overtraining and overreaching too. Your sleep can be disrupted, and you may feel depressed. Women can experience the absence of menstruation.

Also Check: Chronic Fatigue Joint And Muscle Pain

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 canât 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.

Guillain-BarrÃÂ© syndrome: 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.

How To Avoid Two

What Are The Causes Of Muscle Pain And Fatigue

How to cope with delayed onset muscle sorenessor avoid it altogether.

Whether it just feels too hard or you become injured, sticking to any new routine is a challenge both mentally and physically. When taking on a new workout schedule, our bodies can experience many symptoms.

These can range from feeling run down to tenderness, muscle soreness, and debilitating pain. All this can add up to Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness or DOMS.

Symptoms of DOMS may not set in right away. They often show up hours or days later. To help you stay at the top of your game and out of pain, were giving you easy ways to fend off this syndrome and workout fatigue in general.

You May Like: What Does Adrenal Fatigue Feel Like

What Is Muscular Dystrophy

Muscular dystrophy is a group of conditions that damage and weaken your muscles over time.

This damage and weakness are due to the lack of a protein called dystrophin, which is necessary for typical muscle function. A deficiency of this protein can cause problems with walking, swallowing, and muscle coordination, among other symptoms.

Most diagnoses occur in childhood, although they can occur at any age.

Muscular dystrophies affect people of all sexes. However, the two most common types, Duchenne and Becker, are much more common in males. Combined, muscular dystrophies affect , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .

The outlook for muscular dystrophy depends on the type of muscular dystrophy and the severity of symptoms.

Theres no known cure for any of the muscular dystrophies, but there are treatments and therapies available. New drugs may help some people with a specific gene difference who live with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

There are several types of muscular dystrophy, which vary in symptoms and severity. Some are described below.

How Is A Pots Diagnosis Made

Problems with the autonomic nervous system can be difficult to diagnose. The standard test for POTS is the tilt table test. During the test, you are secured to a table that tilts from being horizontal to almost a 90-degree angle. The test measures your hearts response to switching from laying down to standing up. Some people with POTS faint during this test, even if they rarely faint standing up.

Although the test seems straightforward, many things can interfere with it. Its important that a POTS specialist oversees it. Its best to work with a doctor who has diagnosed and treated patients with POTS. This could be a cardiologist, a neuromuscular specialist or another doctor.

Also Check: Can Allergies Cause Shortness Of Breath And Fatigue

What Is Pots And Why Does It Cause Fatigue

POTS is a group of symptoms resulting from dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system. This branch of the nervous system regulates functions we dont consciously control like sweating and blood circulation.

In people with POTS, more blood collects in the lower body when standing upright. The heart beats faster to pump it up to the brain, but with little success. The causes of POTS are unknown, but the problem is thought to lie in the communication breakdown between the brain and the cardiovascular system.

POTS-related fatigue is physical in nature and the mechanism behind it is not fully understood. It may have several causes, including your body working harder to move the blood.

Factors That Affect Muscle Contraction And Fatigue

The production of skeletal muscle force depends on contractile mechanisms, and failure at any of the sites upstream of the cross-bridges can contribute to the development of muscle fatigue, including nervous, ion, vascular and energy systems.7 Specifically, metabolic factors and fatigue reactants during the process of contraction, such as hydrogen ions, lactate, inorganic phosphate , reactive oxygen species , heat shock protein and orosomucoid , also affect muscle fatigue.

Also Check: How To Treat Ibs Fatigue

Lactic Acid As A Fuel For Muscles

Research has also determined that lactic acid, also known as lactate, is actually an important fuel source for muscles and that the accumulation of lactate does not inhibit the ability of skeletal muscles to contract.

Furthermore, the notion that lactic acid is responsible for delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS, was debunked in the 1980s. Research suggests the soreness is a result of a cascade of physiological effects in response to microscopic trauma sustained during intense exercise. That cascade includes inflammation in the muscles in response to the microtrauma.

As with many fields of science, the research on lactic acid and its link to muscle fatigue has evolved over the last century. And it indicates that lactic acid isnt the culprit it was once thought to be when it comes to muscle fatigue.

Also Check: How Do You Know You Have Adrenal Fatigue

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.

Don’t Miss: Fatigue Weight Loss Loss Of Appetite

Risk Factors For Muscular Dystrophy

Muscular dystrophies are genetic conditions. A family history of muscular dystrophy is a risk factor for being a carrier or developing muscular dystrophy.

Because DMD and BMD are linked to the X chromosomes, children assigned male are much more likely to experience them.

However, even though children assigned female receive an X chromosome from each parent and should have adequate dystrophin production, they can still experience symptoms of DMD or BMD, such as muscle cramps, weakness, and heart issues.

Muscular dystrophy progresses a bit differently for every person. Complications also vary depending on the type of muscular dystrophy. Some of the more common complications affect:

People with muscular dystrophy who become pregnant are also at a greater risk for certain complications during gestation and labor.

Chronic Stress And Long

Chronic Fatigue, Muscle Aches/Pains, Anxiety, Inability to Focus: Patient Interview

Aches and pains are common symptoms of stress, however, ongoing pain or stiffness may be a sign of a more serious problem.

A 2018 study published by PubMed revealed Stress-related disorders were significantly associated with risk of subsequent autoimmune disease.

Autoimmune diseases cause your immune system to produce antibodies which attack and damage the bodys healthy tissue instead of fighting infection. In certain conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, the antibodies attach to connective tissue within the joints leading to pain, stiffness, swelling, andwithout treatmentpotentially permanent joint damage.

Autoimmune diseases are often incurable however, early intervention and treatment can help prevent further damage and joint deterioration.

Don’t Miss: Heart Issues That Cause Fatigue

Arthritis As A Cause Of Joint Pain And Fatigue

The breakdown of fluids between the joints is responsible for rheumatoid arthritis . In the initial stages, the condition tends to be more severe during the morning hours. However, the pain gradually worsens and makes the patient feel uncomfortable for the most part of the day. This is also accompanied by exacerbating fatigue. Rheumatoid arthritis will affect the joints in the wrists, hands and elbows as well as the neck and shoulders. It should also be noted that in the lower extremities, the condition tends to affect the hips, ankles and knees in addition to the joints in the toes. The irritation that tends to affect the joints is responsible for the release of cytokines into the system. This is one of the common causes of fatigue which a person undergoes. This apart, a poor appetite which is common among those suffering with arthritis pain adds to the level of fatigue. Due to a massive loss of stamina, a lot of people tend to feel more fatigued. This is one of the reasons why they restrict the amount of activities they engage in.

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.

You’re Not Fueling Properly

Inadequate nutrients or eating too few calories can cause your energy levels to take a nosedive. Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar below 70 mg/dl, can also happen as a result of intense exercise, according to the American Diabetes Association .

“This is when blood glucose levels drop too low to support the energy demands of a person’s body. The condition can affect people with and without diabetes,” Dr. Patel says. “When you exercise, your muscles need more sugar to supply energy.”

Your body uses up sugar that’s stored in the muscles and in your bloodstream to fuel all the cells that need it, per a March 2018 study in âNutrientsâ. Because of this, “moderate to intense exercise may cause your blood sugar to drop during exercise and for the next 24 hours following exercise,” Dr. Patel says.

There are a wide range of symptoms of hypoglycemia, which may occur during or after your workout. Per the ADA, physical symptoms include shakiness, rapid heartbeat, nausea, headache or general weakness. There are also mental symptoms like confusion, anxiety or nightmares. In extreme cases, you can have seizures. If you notice these signs, talk to your doctor.

When To Contact A Medical Professional

Contact your provider if:

Your muscle pain lasts more than 3 days.

You have severe, unexplained pain.
You have any sign of infection, such as swelling or redness around the tender muscle.
You have poor circulation in the area where you have muscles aches .

You have a tick bite or a rash.
Your muscle pain is linked with starting or changing doses of a medicine, such as a statin.

You have sudden weight gain, water retention, or you are urinating less than usual.

You are short of breath or have difficulty swallowing.
You have muscle weakness or cannot move any part of your body.
You are vomiting, or have a very stiff neck or high fever.

You May Like: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Clinical Trials

Sleep Disorders And Fatigue

Symptoms: Chronic fatigue, feeling exhausted upon awakening, snoring

Sleep disorders are a group of conditions that disrupt or prevent restful, restorative sleep. That can take a toll on your health and quality of life, so itÃ¢â¬â¢s important to look out for signs and symptoms.

Sleep apnea is one of the most common sleep disorders. If you or your partner notices loud snoring and you wake up tired and stay that way, you could have sleep apnea. More than one-third of adults in the U.S. snore at least a few nights a week. But if the snoring stops your breathing for seconds at a time, it could be sleep apnea.Ã Learn more about the best sleep positions and see if sleeping on your stomach is bad or not.

Obstructive sleep apnea causes low blood oxygen levels. That’s because blockages prevent air from getting to the lungs. The low oxygen levels also affect how well your heart and brain work. Sometimes, the only clue that you might have sleep apnea is chronic fatigue.

Your doctor may prescribe a medical device called CPAP that helps keep your airways open while you sleep. In severe cases of sleep apnea, surgery may help. The surgeon will remove tissues that are blocking the airways. If left untreated, sleep apnea can increase your risk of a stroke or heart attack.

But sleep apnea is just one of many sleep disorders that cause fatigue. Other common types include: