Re: has anybody gotten weaker

[Guest guest]

MsKaturah wrote:

>I am going through a weird thing now. My muscles in my arms are getting

weaker to a point that I have to use 2 hands to pick up a gallon of

milk. It is getting to be a real pain.

> I have been dx with fibro and a few other things for 15 years now. Has anyone

else gone through this?

I started going through that and decided to go back to lifting weights.

Nothing heavy. I worked my way up to five pound ones.

Since I broke my leg and mangled up my foot, I haven't been doing any

weight bearing exercises. It has only been a month and I can really see

and feel the difference. Plus, my arms are more achy too. 'Course, the

latter is likely from hoisting myself on and off the loo. :-)

Lyndi

[Guest guest]

I agree with Lyndi, I have sciatica, lumbar problems, etc. My legs have really

been affected by it all. My legs are weak and sore and painful to touch. The

sciatic and other nerves are being pinched/crushed. This leads to leg muscle

weakness and pain. I have to keep moving though it hurts and I have to be

careful how I walk/limp or some nerve in my lower back speaks up and says No.

It happened at Walmart when I was walking away from the handicap cart I use

while shopping. I overdid it and had to walk back to my handicap seat very

carefully. I could not move my legs much, no telling what people were thinking,

but I am sure they saw the pain in my face.

The thing is, I was getting weak too, I was losing my balance there for awhile

as I had bought a cane and was depending on it too much. I have gotten some of

my balance back but not quite all. I know I need glasses so I don't know if

that is part of the problem. But the pain of not walking right but limping

because you have to favor your painful side causes many problems.

You just have to keep moving and also take breaks. This is the only body you

have so treat it gently. Use common sense. Keep your spine straight, stand

straight if you can. Be gentle, exercise gently, no pain. If you do not use it

you will lose it. Gosh, I hope I am not repeating myself, Lol.

I, in fact, do not do any exercises but am looking to see about stretches for my

sciatica. It seems to be getting worse.   My feet hurt on the bottom like

sciatica. My feet do not tickle much anymore. I used to be very ticklish.

Bummer. Hope I made sense

hugs, Coleen

>Lyndi wrote:

>Since I broke my leg and mangled up my foot, I haven't been doing any

weight bearing exercises. It has only been a month and I can really see

and feel the difference. Plus, my arms are more achy too. 'Course, the

latter is likely from hoisting myself on and off the loo. :-)

[Guest guest]

> MsKaturah wrote:

>I am going through a weird thing now. My muscles in my arms are getting weaker

to a point that I have to use 2 hands to pick up a gallon of milk. It is getting

to be a real pain.

I have been dx with fibro and a few other things for 15 years now.

Has anyone else gone through this?

All,

With my vitamin d deficiency that was one of strongest symptoms as my legs just

got weak and I fell and my muscles felt weak like I couldn't hold my self up.

Can you take Calcium, Magnesium, and Vitamin D supplements to see if that helps

?

It will also make you have pain in your joints, knees, hands, feet (my toes even

hurt) and is horrible. Take it easy Lyndi, and I remember those breast

enhancement plastic push exerciser, Our busts, our busts, we must improve our

bust, sing this as you hoist,

I learned to pee standing after living in Japan, I didn't want to fall over in

their latrines as the squat and pee.

Bennie

[Guest guest]

Fibro, osteo and rheumatoid arthritis, jejunoileitis form of Crohns,

heart disease and whatever else here and LOTS of muscle wasting. My

Internist has me on the same vitamins mentioned earlier and I do arm

weights and sitting in the chair and laying on the bed leg exercises

so I don't break anything.

IMO the doctors don't know enough about fibro to treat us, just enough

to keep us coming back to see them and beg for something to help with

the pain. Also IMO the current med that the FDA says works on fibro,

isn't worth buying but that is for ME. It might work on everyone else

on the planet but doesn't work for me.

Also have to do the two hands to lift a gallon of milk and have to get

someone to put the turkey in the oven and take it out (husband is huge

turkey lover and I love only having to endure cooking meat once a

week, lol).

Something that might be helpful - use the smallest pots you can get

away with in the kitchen because if the gallon milk jug is too heavy,

the 4 to 6 quart pots are going to be very painful to lift AND

dangerous because your hands and arms might not support the load and

fail, causing you to spill hot stuff all over your tummy, chest, feet,

etc.

If you use large bottles of things like cleaning liquids, have someone

pour a bit into a smaller bottle for you to handle. A cheap plastic

funnel helps in doing that.

Good luck, Jeanne B in GA

>MsKaturah wrote:

>

>I am going through a weird thing now. My muscles in my arms are getting weaker

to a point that I have to use 2 hands to pick up a gallon of milk.

>

> I have been dx with fibro and a few other things for 15 years now.

> Has anyone else gone through this?

[Guest guest]

I have many of those problems along with RA .I use those special needs carts

in Walmart. I hate to but if I don't I will fall. My whole body is weaker. I

fall a lot if I don't use my crutches.Last July I thought I could walk 20feet to

the bathroom. I fell and broke my ankle and foot, along with a ligament tearing

off taking a chunk of bone with it.Now it hurts more than it did when it was

broken due to the cold.

    Exercising is very hard for me to do. Just walking is hard to do when you

need crutches just to stand up without falling on my face. I tried yoga and fell

all the time. My eyes are perfect and my ears are perfect. It is my body, after

20 years of fibro and other stuff, that is getting worse.

I also found that my body has messed up my time line.I have to have naps now. I

never did before. I was too busy with 4 boys,a husband,a job,and a house to take

care of. Now my hubby takes care of me and the house.It makes me feel even worse

now that I am on disability.

Gentle hugs,

   Ms.Katurah

[Guest guest]

are you on a statin drug.   My husband had severe weekness due to a drug.

>MsKaturah wrote:

>

>I am going through a weird thing now. My muscles in my arms are getting weaker

to a point that I have to use 2 hands to pick up a gallon of milk.

>

> I have been dx with fibro and a few other things for 15 years now.

> Has anyone else gone through this?

>

[Guest guest]

I have had similar symptoms, but have not been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia.

Spinal stenosis causes mine, and may be causing yours. My weakness is from

pressure on the root nerves and spinal cord. YOu may have developed similar

problems.

Have you had any medical imaging? How did your doctor reach your diagnosis?

I ask because doctors are lazy. They will latch on to the easiest, most popular

diagnosis.

An MRI of your spine may show that your problems are not related to your

original diagnosis. In fact, they may prove the original diagnosis wrong.

In your shoes, I would have an MRI of the cervical and thoracic spine.

>MsKaturah wrote:

>

>I am going through a weird thing now. My muscles in my arms are getting weaker

to a point that I have to use 2 hands to pick up a gallon of milk.

>

> I have been dx with fibro and a few other things for 15 years now.

> Has anyone else gone through this?

>

[Guest guest]

I to have noticed that I'm 'weaker', and more tired. I'm in a wheelchair, stil

trying to strengthen my legs by myself.

I'll clean a few counters, or make a small meal and I'm worn out. Forget puting

the Ham in for Christmas, with my Daughter doing the sides - I'm too tired to

eat it.

I can't do 'Big' shopping, I'm in a lot of pain. This is when I even use a 'ride

cart'. I've had back problems since I was 8. 2 years ago I tripped and shatered

my left knee. That lead to me falling and breaking bones. I was told I had

'Fibro' 20 or so yrs. ago.

Anyone have any ideas? I've just pushed myself to do more, thinking I can build

myself up, that doesn't work, either.

Thenks for bring this up, I thought it was, just me. What can we do? I found a

good pain management doctor, only to wonder why I'm so tired and hurt more then

usual.

[Guest guest]

I had that also while I was on Crestor (a statin) It got immediately better

when I stopped taking it.

Vivien

Ann Marie R.wrote:

are you on a statin drug.   My husband had severe weekness due to a drug.

[Guest guest]

I am going through a weird thing now. My muscles in my arms are getting weaker

to a point that I have to use 2 hands to pick up a gallon of milk.

>

Hello MsKaturah,

I hope this may help you. Such weakness in the arms may be caused from trigger

points in the arms and/or hands. Anyone can get these. Doing any kind of

repetitive motion can cause them to form or they can be present and you don't

know (latent) and something like vacuuming can cause it to trigger.

I tried posting this website before and for some reason it didn't post. I'll

try again as I'm hoping anyone with unexplained pain will look at it and

possibly get an answer to their pain.

For you personally Ms Katurah, check out www.myofascialtherapy.org. Click the

Symptom Checker. On the body front click on the arms and a box will open with a

number of pictures showing how the arms can be affected in several areas. Click

the one that says Extensor Carpi Ularis and Extensor Carpi Radialis and you will

get more information I think you will find interesting, plus it will show where

a trigger point can be with an X. Redness in blotches means pain and stippling

in red is referred pain, so when people investigate TrPs they can really come to

understand why they may so much pain.

Trigger points love to be anywhere near where muscles, ligaments etc. attach to

bone and in this way can cause pelvic pain, groin pain, finger pain, toe pain,

hip pain, buttock pain, knee pain, elbow pain, and even sciatic pain. If MRI's

or X-rays have not been taken to actually show a bone problem, quite often we

are told we have sciatic pain because a vertebrae is pressing on the nerve or we

have OA because of complaints of bone pain and this goes on and on for other

conditions.

It's usually easier to find TrPs if you rub some moisturizer on your hand or on

the limb. Sometimes I use grape seed oil which is very good for your skin. I

close my eyes and slowly run my fingers down my forearms. If I feel an area

that seems even a bit sore I use my index finger and press around. A TrP can

feel like a small pea (or larger), but it can also feel like a piece of cord.

Somewhere in that area as you press it will suddenly really hurt ..... you have

hit the trigger point. Once you have found it, keep your finger on it but

lighten the pressure until you feel no pain. At that point palpitate your

finger up and down on it lightly, or you can " milk " it which means that you

light apply pressure without pain and rub over the bump/cord for a few seconds

then rest your finger on top of it again maintaining light pressure.

You have to be patient to release a TrP so you may hold it for awhile (10 mins.,

sometimes less) and if you still feel something, palpitate or milk it again.

TrPs are a collection of blood and calcium that have blocked a fiber or bundle

of fibers in the muscle. Muscles weaken and if you try to do things like

lifting something heavy or twisting a wet cloth (overtaxing the muscle) it can

go into a spasm. Overdoing anything will exhaust you.

As you work a TrP, you may feel warmth in the area suddenly which means the TrP

is releasing and allowing the blood to flow through the muscle properly again

supplying oxygen to the muscle. Muscles spasm due to lack of oxygen.

Sometimes I have found that I don't completely feel the TrP go down, but the

pain becomes less so I leave it alone then. Once you can de-activate the TrP

you will be able to get more strength back in your arms. Muscles with TrPs

cannot be stretch as in exercise as the TrP will constrict the muscle even more

causing more pain and possibly spasms. Also, muscles work in pairs and when one

muscles is affected then another muscle will try to do it's work. Now that

muscle will become weakened too.

Oh, ladies this information is for all of you. My myotherapist was working on

me and said " Oh good, you are not wearing an under wire bra. " He told me that

85% of his clients are woman and apparently we all seem to complain about the

same TrPs. He said to me " The under wire bra usually rests on a woman's body

with the wire landing between the ribs onto a muscle. The woman will feel pain

at some point, so she pulls the under wire up onto her rib. Now she is really

asking for trouble with TrPs.

I hope this will be of help to you and to others who are suffering.

Wishing everyone a better day.