What Can Cause Leg Fatigue

How Does Pad Cause Legs To Ache And Feel Fatigued

Leg pain means something different for each individual. Some patients have aching legs or soreness, while others feel pain in the lower legs or notice a throbbing sensation. When you have PAD, the pain in your legs is caused by insufficient blood flow to the legs. PAD develops due to plaque buildup in the arteries in the legs. The arteries narrow, which lessens the amount of blood and oxygen getting through. The result is leg pain and cramping, along with other health issues.

About one in four patients report claudication, which is muscle pain or weakness in the leg muscles that starts when you perform a physical activity and stops once you sit down to rest. However, PAD can increase the likelihood of the achy feeling in the legs continuing at night when youre trying to sleep, which may be an indication that the disease has progressed.

Healthcare Advice For Venous Hypertension / Insufficiency

Making healthy changes to your lifestyle can help reduce the symptoms of tired, throbbing, painful legs:

• Maintain a healthy weight
• Take light to moderate exercise, such as swimming or walking for about 30 minutes at least three times a week
• Avoid standing for a long time
• Wear compression socks or tights instead of ordinary socks / tights

Causes Of Fatigue In Arthritis

Inflammation, pain, inactivity and lifestyle factors can cause extreme tiredness when living with arthritis.

Everyone gets worn out from time to time. But exhaustion that disrupts your daily life and doesnt get better after a good nights sleep has its own medical term: fatigue. Fatigue significantly affects the quality of life for people with many forms of arthritis-related diseases, includingrheumatoid arthritis,psoriatic arthritis, spondyloarthritis, lupus, fibromyalgia andosteoarthritis. Your lack of energy may be caused by your inflammatory disease and other health conditions you have, as well asmedications side effectsand lifestyle habits.

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Evaluation Of The Patient With Muscle Weakness

AARON SAGUIL, CPT , MC, USA, Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, Washington

Am Fam Physician. 2005 Apr 1 71:1327-1336.

The online-only version of this article offers more detailed information on additional selected causes of muscle weakness.

• References

Muscle weakness is a common complaint among patients presenting to the family physicians office. Although the cause of weakness occasionally may be apparent, often it is unclear, puzzling the physician and frustrating the patient. A comprehensive evaluation of these patients includes a thorough examination and coordination of appropriate laboratory, radiologic, electrodiagnostic, and pathologic studies.

It is essential to consider depression as a possible diagnosis several screening tools for depression have been validated for use in outpatient settings.

A = consistent, good-quality patient-oriented evidence B = inconsistent or limited-quality patient-oriented evidence C = consensus, disease-oriented evidence, usual practice, opinion, or case series. See page 1245 for more information.

Strength of Recommendations

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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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, including thyroid 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.

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.

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Tired Leg Muscles And Sore Feet Symptoms

Many older adults dismiss their tired legs and sore feet as part of getting older. But why should you suffer if theres a way to help relieve your symptoms? Youve been accustomed to a certain quality of life, and theres no need for that to change. While the aging process tends to bring some expected but unwanted symptoms, theres a good chance that your tired legs and sore feet symptoms can find some relief. Well explore ways to help soothe the exhaustion and aches youre feeling in your legs in feet.

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.

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What You Can Do

Whether your muscle weakness happens because youre not as active, or its due to age or a health problem, regular exercise may help you regain some strength. Ask your doctor for advice, or consider seeing a physical therapist to help you find a healthy exercise routine. As you get older, regular exercise also can help prevent or slow muscle loss and weakening.

Harvard Health: COVID-19 Basics, Fight back against muscle weakness, Myositis.

American Family Physician: Muscle Weakness in Adults: Evaluation and Differential Diagnosis.

Clinical Cases in Mineral and Bone Metabolism: Clinical definition of sarcopenia.

Mayo Clinic: Diabetic neuropathy, Multiple sclerosis, Muscle Strains, Statin side effects: weight the benefits and risks, Symptoms of pregnancy: What happens first?

UCSF Health: Cold or Flu?

Best Practice & Research: Clinical Rheumatology: Infectious myositis.

UT Southwestern Medical Center: Life after coronavirus: PM& R helps patients beat muscle weakness, brain fog, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

UpToDate: Patient education: Polymyositis, dermatomyositis, and other forms of idiopathic inflammatory myopathy.

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Myasthenia gravis fact sheet.

Circulation: Heart Failure: Mechanisms Underlying Skeletal Muscle Weakness in Human Heart Failure.

University of Rochester Medical Center: Myasthenia Gravis and Pregnancy.

StatPearls: Muscle strength grading.

What Are Tired Aching Legs

Tired and aching legs can best be described as a vague but uncomfortable sensation that is a sort of pain, but not a sharp pain. You know your legs ache, but you cannot identify where the pain is coming from exactly. Symptoms of aching legs include:

Pain or Burning

A sensation of pain or burning in the muscles of your legs, and deep within your legs. The exact location of this pain can be difficult to explain.

Moving around

Sometimes your tired aching legs feel worse if you are moving around. Trying to walk further causes more aching. This type of ache occurs when the muscles do not get enough oxygen and are relieved by resting. It then disappears completely. This is known medically as intermittent claudication.

Standing

If you find your legs ache when you have been standing for long periods at work can be a sign of varicose veins. While the pain can get more intense if you continue standing, resting your legs with your ankle higher than your hip can bring relief.

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What Are The Benefits Of Plasmapheresis

If youre receiving plasmapheresis as a treatment for weakness or an autoimmune disorder, you may begin to feel relief in as little as a few days. For other conditions, it may take a few weeks before you notice any changes in your symptoms.

Plasmapheresis will only provide short-term relief. Often the process will need to be repeated. The frequency and length of results are highly dependent on your condition and its severity. Your doctor or nurse can give you a general idea of how long plasmapheresis will be effective for and how frequently you need to use it.

Plasmapheresis does carry a risk of side effects. Usually, they are rare and generally mild. The most common symptom is a drop in blood pressure. This is often accompanied by:

• faintness
• stomach cramps

Plasmapheresis can also carry the following risks:

• Infection: Most procedures involving transfer of blood into or out of the body carry a risk of infection.
• Blood clotting: Your doctor may prescribe an anti-coagulant to help reduce your risk for blood clots.
• Allergic reaction: This is typically a reaction to the solutions used to replace plasma.

More serious but uncommon risks include bleeding, which results from anti-clotting medications. Other more serious risks include seizures, abdominal cramps, and tingling in the limbs.

Plasmapheresis may not be an appropriate treatment for some people, including:

Primary Sarcopenia Muscling Up

If blood flow isnt the issue, your tired legs may be due to loss of leg muscles. The clinical term for a loss of leg muscle and muscle strength is primary sarcopenia. Primary sarcopenia is due to aging. Starting sometime in your 30s, you begin to lose muscle mass. Bone density also declines with age. And in women, the hormonal changes triggered by menopause make bones even more likely to fracture in a fall. Both women and men also see an acceleration in muscle mass loss and muscle weakening after age 50.

Even if youre not planning a career as a senior bodybuilder, losing muscle mass should be a concern. Tired, weak muscles can limit your ability to be active and enjoy such activities as tennis, dancing, hiking, and much more. Growing weaker can also affect your daily functioning and independence.

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Can Gallstones Cause Fatigue

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Similarly, it is asked, can gallstones make you feel weak?

In children and older adults, gallbladder symptoms may be vague. They may not experience pain or fever and complain only of malaise, lack of appetite, and weakness. Some people with gallbladder inflammation encounter a yellow tinge to the skin, known as jaundice. However, this is rare.

Also, what are the early symptoms of gallstones?

• Severe and sudden pain in the upper right abdomen and possibly extending to the upper back.
• Fever and shivering.
• Jaundice
• Clay colored stools or dark urine.

One may also ask, what are the symptoms of a low functioning gallbladder?

Biliary dyskinesia occurs when the gallbladder has a lower-than-normal function. This condition may be related to ongoing gallbladder inflammation. Symptoms can include upper abdominal pain after eating, nausea, bloating, and indigestion. Eating a fatty meal may trigger symptoms.

What problems can gallstones cause?

Complications of gallstones may include:

• Inflammation of the gallbladder. A gallstone that becomes lodged in the neck of the gallbladder can cause inflammation of the gallbladder .
• Blockage of the common bile duct.
• Blockage of the pancreatic duct.
• Gallbladder cancer.

Is Plasmapheresis Covered By Insurance

Plasmapheresis is generally covered by insurers for most conditions. Its important to check with your insurer to understand how much and under what conditions the procedure will be covered. For example, different insurance plans will cover different amounts of a procedure. Additionally, insurers may only cover plasmapheresis in certain cases, such as a last resort for rheumatoid vasculitis.

To learn more about your coverage, call your insurance provider. If you have any concerns about cost, talk to your doctor. They can help you understand your options and provide you with any information you need to share with your insurance provider.

Some people report feeling tired after the procedure, but most tolerate it well. For the best outcome, remember to prepare for the procedure and follow your doctors orders after the procedure.

Consider doing the following to make sure your appointment goes as smoothly as possible:

• Get enough sleep.

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Prevention: Tips To Prevent Heavy Legs

If your legs are tired and heavy due to a venous condition, then you have various options for improving your quality of life and alleviating the symptoms and/or preventing heavy legs:

• Avoid long periods of standing and sitting.
• Activate the calf muscle pump with walking and sports.
• Do vein exercises several times a day, for example if youre doing an office activity which requires a lot of sitting.
• For example, take the stairs instead of the lift.
• Strengthen your vascular system by taking cold showers and, in particular, rinse your legs with cold water.
• Ensure that you drink enough.
• Avoid being overweight.

Primary Or True Muscle Weakness

This shows itself as an inability to perform what you want to do with a muscle, even the first time you try. There is a reduction in the force which the muscle can exert, however hard you try. The muscle is not working properly – it has become abnormal.

When this kind of weakness occurs the muscles are often floppier than usual and reduced in bulkiness. It can happen, for example, following stroke. It is also seen in a condition called muscular dystrophy . Both of these conditions result in weakened muscles which cannot move the usual load. It’s a real change in muscle power.

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Statins Impact Energy In The Muscles

This idea that statins cause problems of energy and muscle pain is certainly not a new idea, doctors and scientists have been wrestling with this problem for some time. A 2013 study found that energy and muscle pain problems seen in people taking statins may be centered on the muscles inability to produce muscle energy.

This was the statement of findings from doctors at the University of Copenhagen who conducted this study:

. . . statin treatment affects the energy production in muscles. We are working on the assumption that this can be the direct cause of muscle weakness and pain in the patients.

What Can You Do About Aching Tired Legs

Though tired legs alone might not hint at a serious condition, the presence of other symptoms makes it pertinent that you rule out anything serious.

You can supplement your doctorâs guidelines with the following:

Warm Baths and Foot Soaks

If your leg muscles are tense or stiff, they can feel fatigued and sluggish. Try taking a warm bath or soaking your legs in warm water. This may help relax your legs and boost circulation.

Massages

Provided that you do not have an existing venous disorder, massage may help relieve leg fatigue. Make sure that you book an appointment with a licensed massage therapist.

Exercise

Daily exercise that engages your leg muscles can help improve circulation and relieve leg fatigue.

Lifestyle Changes

Several lifestyle changes can can make an impact in relieving leg fatigue:

• Losing excess weight

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Postexertional Malaise And Immune Function

CFS/ME patients report a changeable pattern to their symptoms and physical and cognitive capabilities, often with severe symptom exacerbation following physical exercise . This is termed PEM, with approximately 95% of CFS/ME patients experiencing PEM . As regards the cause of PEM, it has been suggested that exercise may exhibit the ability to amplify preexisting immune abnormalities, in addition to oxidative and nitrosative stress . Immunological abnormalities have been reported following exercise in CFS/ME. For example, observations in CFS/ME symptom flare after moderate intensity exercise have been reported to be directly linked to the levels of interleukin-1 , IL-12, IL-8, IL-10, and IL-13, 8 hours after exercise . Additionally, sustained increase in plasma TNF- in CFS/ME patients and not in healthy controls has been observed after exercise . Moderate intensity exercise has also been reported to induce a larger 48-hour postexercise area under the curve for IL-10 .