Lower back muscle pain and inactive thyroid gland

I think one diagnosis that has been under-reported is that debilitating lower back pulled muscle pain can be due to insufficient thyroid hormone (hypothyroidism).

I used to easily get muscle cramps and pulled muscles in my lower back resulting in agonizing backpain for four or five days at a time. This happened when I lifted a load with my back muscles in a bad posture, or even when I got out of my seat too quickly. I chalked that up to some spinal condition.

It turned out I was suffering from deficiency in the thyroid hormone thyroxin (T4) -- which has an easy diagnosis and cure. The diagnosis is a blood test for thyroxin or T4 in the blood which should be about 16 - 20 pmol/L. T4 hormone is produced by the thyroid gland and is consumed by all the organs of the body. It contains iodine. For many people, the gland stops producing sufficient T4, which has multiple unrelated symptoms (coldness, overweight, lethargy, muscle spasm, and in extreme cases brain fog). By taking a T4 thyroxin pill every day, such as Synthroid, this debilitating matter is resolved. Testing for T4 in the blood is a bit costly, so physicians suffice to instead order test for THS, a related compound, in the blood, which is cheap but a highly unreliable test, with a lot of false negatives.

The other day, I received debilitating lower back muscle pain when I lifted a heavy cement block with my back muscles. I was bed-ridden for 3 days and was wondering why it was taking me so long for the pain to subside, and in fact at times it appeared to be getting worse. Then I remembered I had neglected to take my T4 pill for a few days, because of this mishap. A couple of hours after I caught up with the medication, the backpain was 80% gone and I could get out of bed!

Hypothyroidism can strike at any age and with no warning, and can be hereditary. A T4 (and NOT THS) blood test is a must every 12 months to avoid this hidden debilitating condition.

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