Skeletal pain

[marti]

First a little background. I am 62 yrs old and was dx in 2001 with RRMS. Have Graves disease and IBS and a few other problems.

I've lost some weight and am hanging around 93 lbs. I'm 4ft 9 in. So you see I'm not very big.

The problem now is that I can't lift anything (big or small) or do much of anything physical without my bones and muscle hurting. I try to put wood in the stove and my abs and ribs hurt. Sometime even gives me a slight headache. I do have a lot of bulging discs which could account for some of this. My chest hurts everywhere. Probably costochondritis.

I'm wondering about this skeletal pain. Is this consistent with MS? I don't remember reading anything about it before.

[HellsBells1]

Hi Marty,

I also have Graves Disease and IBS, along with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (which actually is opposite effect of Graves). When I had my thyroid irradiated, my Endocrinologist told me that I would have to take calcium supplements for the rest of my life, because once you have had a hyperactive thyroid gland, you are at significant increased risk for Osteoporosis.

Also, if you have chronic IBS, this could impact your absorption of the necessary vitamins and minerals to be strong, both muscularly and skeletally.

Given your slight stature and your skeletal pain, I would talk to your doc (if you haven't already) about having a bone density scan done to see if you have Osteoporosis. It would seem more likely to me that this would cause skeletal pain over MS. On the other hand, it could be a sensory type pain that you are just perceiving as "skeletal" when in fact it is neurological pain. Anyhow, I'd check the bones.

[marti]

Hi Marty,

I also have Graves Disease and IBS, along with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (which actually is opposite effect of Graves). When I had my thyroid irradiated, my Endocrinologist told me that I would have to take calcium supplements for the rest of my life, because once you have had a hyperactive thyroid gland, you are at significant increased risk for Osteoporosis.

Also, if you have chronic IBS, this could impact your absorption of the necessary vitamins and minerals to be strong, both muscularly and skeletally.

Given your slight stature and your skeletal pain, I would talk to your doc (if you haven't already) about having a bone density scan done to see if you have Osteoporosis. It would seem more likely to me that this would cause skeletal pain over MS. On the other hand, it could be a sensory type pain that you are just perceiving as "skeletal" when in fact it is neurological pain. Anyhow, I'd check the bones.

Thanks so much! My last bone density (several years ago) showed Osteopenia. I never treated it so it's my own fault. I had RAI 2 years ago which does complicate things. I'm wondering why you had your thyroid irradiated. Were you hyper thyroid at one time? I really get all these thyroid terms mixed up. Anyway, you make sense to me. Thanks again.

[HellsBells1]

Hi Marty,

Yes, originally dx'd due to presentation with "anxiety disorder" but had blood work ordered at the same time my doc prescribed Ativan to get me through my "anxiety". As soon as results came back, showed I was very hyper-thyroid (over-active), so she told me not to take the Ativan, I didn't have anxiety, and all of my sx were related to my thyroid (palpitations, sweating, racing heart, tremors, insomnia, difficulty breathing, etc.) Was sent to an Endocrinologist, who did all of the proper antibody testing, and showed that I had both Graves Disease (which causes over-active thyroid) and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (which would normally cause under-active thyroid). However, at the time of dx, the Graves immune response was active and causing months of hyperthyroidism. The treatment was irradiation. Dosage was a little too high on the iodine radiation, destroyed too much of my thyroid, and so now I have to take Synthroid. However, between the battle of two opposing auto-immune conditions, my dosage of Synthroid changes frequently.

It is also shown that 3-4% of women in general population have thyroid autoimmune conditions, whereas 13-14% of women with MS have thyroid autoimmune conditions. They did not find an statistically significant difference in men, however, from general population to men with MS.