Muscle weakness and hypothyroidism
Posted , 7 users are following.
Hi there,
Does anyone else suffer from muscle weakness with hypothyroidism?
I've had horrible fatigue, weakness, headaches and a host of other symptoms the past 2 years. Eventually, after lots of blind alley endo tests, my TSH went to 8.2 and T4 went down to 9, so finally I was 'believed' by my gp that I was not just a hypochondriac and she put me on eltroxin. But after 5 weeks, there's not much improvement and the muscle fatigue, pain and stiffness is getting worse, so much so that I'm hobbling and waddling by the end of the day with hips, legs and feet so sore and useless. Muscles also spasm and sometimes jerk. I'm 45, have always done yoga and been active. Muscles seemed to have all turned to fat in the last 2 years. Am worried that there's something else going on with this extreme weakness so am going to ask gp for ref to a neurologist. Or could this new 85 year old body be just what I'm stuck with now?? I was on 10mg of amitriptiline for the pain but read that side effects can include muscle weakness so I've stopped that 2 days ago (don't know how I'll sleep now, but...)
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
0 likes, 37 replies
katbat45
Posted
Just curious if any of you were diagnosed with fibromyalgia as well as/prior to diagnosis of thyroid problems? I was, but find it a difficult diagnosis to accept as no one can tell me definitively what it is. Now I'm hoping my symptoms were thyroid all along and can eventually be resolved. But maybe not..
eva92960 katbat45
Posted
Yes I was. I'm not sure about that diagnosis either. Over the years I did have a neurology consult twice to rule out other problems.
katbat45 eva92960
Posted
That's a relief, I think I'll go ahead with a neuro just to be sure, especially because of Peter's experience below..
eva92960 katbat45
Posted
PeterAK katbat45
Posted
Spent 7 years thinking all my muscle weakness was due to hypothyroidism (which I have). Turned out I also had myasthenia gravis. A neurologist is definitely the way to proceed at this time. Its interesting your thyroid numbers are about what mine were when my new endo said the problem wasn't hypo and sent me to a neurophysiologist.
katbat45 PeterAK
Posted
Thanks Peter and I'm sorry to hear that, I hope the proper diagnosis has meant proper treatments and back to some sort of reasonable health?
MtViewCatherine PeterAK
Posted
Sadly, the synthetic meds are known to cause and worsen both hypothyroid disease and autoimmube disease.
The meds work best at the high end of normal but it’s impossible to keep them stable because they suppress your own thyroxin production. The ratios are not bio identical so you tend to get T4 on the high end and T3 on the low end, so you’re hypo and hyper at the same time. Aside from that, the ratios of T3/T4 being off from biological are very disturbing to the body, as hormone regulation in the body is based on ratios. When the hormone ratios are correct, our hormones are ‘balanced’.
There was a huge long term study done in Scotland that showed no relief of thyroid symptoms from the synthetic T4 meds.
katbat45 MtViewCatherine
Posted
That's V useful re the ratios and the synth meds Catherine thank you. Will try to find that study. I find getting docs to take any info from the patient is a major hurdle. The ones I've seen don't like you to know much at all. What would we do without the Internet.. My sister has chronic fatigue and high tsh and TPO abs and her endo prescribed her efforex for her 'depression'. Thankfully she looked it up on the Internet as it would have been quite dangerous to take it with an anti anxiety med she was already on. More than likely she's got anxiety from thyroid dysfunction but no thyroid meds were offered to her. Baffling.
MtViewCatherine katbat45
Posted
Most meds cause kidney and liver damage (both very serious) as well as the disease/symptoms they’re supposed to cure.
PeterAK katbat45
Posted
katbat45 PeterAK
Posted
katbat45 MtViewCatherine
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Minefield... V difficult to be sick while also research your meds and clinical studies, stand strong with blasé doctors, manage diet, supplements, exercise etc etc .. Argh!.. I've decided. I'm going to be a fairy princess in my next life.
MtViewCatherine PeterAK
Posted
Interesting that the MG caused the hypothyroidism. How did you treat the MG?
PeterAK MtViewCatherine
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The hypothyroidism didn’t cause the MG or vise versa but they often occur together. I believe my MG was triggered by Simvastatin, and I don’t even have high cholesterol. The best I can tell, stress is the major driver, and not necessarily big stress, but lots of small stresses can make the disease worse. Drugs and chemicals react differently under MG, you have to be careful with magnesium for instance. Tried Westhroid and I’m not sure if there was an allergic reaction or an MG reaction but that was nasty.
PeterAK MtViewCatherine
Posted
Did you ever use the Thyroid Scale Matrix. It is a very interesting way of organizing and evaluating thyroid disease.
http://www.drrind.com/therapies/thyroid-scale
My TSH averages 2.0; FreeT3 3.4 pg/ml; FreeT4 1.1 ng/dL
I use 175 mg levo and 10mg Lio
katbat45 PeterAK
Posted
Peter can I ask you, was it purely the Neuro doc who diagnosed your MG or did preliminary exams raise suspicion? I ask cos I mentioned it to my new gp today and he said I wouldn't have it because he performed a test whereby I had to follow his finger with my eyes, up and down repeatedly. He said my eyelids didn't tire quickly so ruled it out. Were eye symptoms predominant for you?
MtViewCatherine PeterAK
Posted
I also agree about the use of meds for short term treatment. Only, I take that one step further and would add that thyroid medication should be used with short term protocols for most people, and the goal of remission. I love that approach!
I’ll send you a pm. I’d love to get your thoughts on some of the things that have worked for me.