I have days when moving my arms and legs (or my whole body) feels like I am trying to move lead weights or a ton of bricks! Does anyone else feel this way? Does hypo cause this, or could it be something else such as anemia? (I don't think I am anemic, though, but my ferritin was at 16 in Jan. on a scale of 10-291.) Any other ideas?
I felt like I had lead legs whe I was more hypo. It was amazing that the body and it's limbs could feel sooooo heavy. I felt like nobody understood how I felt, and thought I was exagerating for some reason.
When was your last blood test?
Yes yes yes - I have said my arms and legs feel like they each weigh 100 or 200 pounds!! I also have trouble keeping my head up - have to sit and brace it against the back of the chair with pillows or a blanket to keep it from falling to the side.
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"I'll make it"
Jewel TT 1/26/06 -Levothyroxine 75-88
yes! i call them 'lead legs'. i've got hashi's. on meds for 6 months now, still working towards optimum dosage, still having hypo symptoms off and on and lead legs is one of them. sometimes the whole body feels like lead. yes indeedy, another fun hypo symptom!!!!
The condition is called "leaden paralysis." It is seen in "atypical depression," which is linked to - guess what? Thyroid disease.
I have suffered with this condition for over 17 years now - and none of the anti-depressants helped me because, while I was dx with "atypical depression," no one discovered the thyroid disease, so none of the AD's they tried me on worked. The only relief I have ever had from the leaden arems and legs is when I took Effexor XR (after I was dx with Hashi's, and was taking Armour Thyroid). But the Effexor made my ears hyper-sensitive, and I quit taking it. After trying a few other AD's, to no avail, I went back on the Effexor, and it didn't work the second time!
Now, I am on Cymbalta, and it helps a little with the leaden paralysis. Nothing has ever made it go away completely except the Effexor XR. Both of these AD's (Effexor and Cymbalta) act on two neurotransmitters - norephinephrine and seratonin - which may be why they work on the leaden symptoms.
Some docs use MAO inhibitors to treat it, but they never worked for me. But then, I was not being treated for thyroid disease. Maybe if I tried one now, it would work. I think that treating me for thryoid disease has helped other meds to work that never worked before I was treated for thyroid.
I sympathize with all of you who have this condition. Little is know about it - as I said, I've had it for over 17 years, and just found out this past year what it is called! It is one of the reasons I became disabled from my job - it is exhausting just walking from one room to the next.
Do any of you have muscle/joint/soft tissue pain, too?
Illmakeit... I used to tell my doc at every checkup, "It feels like I'm wearing a lead overcoat!" Fortunately, he never once told me it's all in my head, like so many would while whipping out the script pad to Rx an AD. We worked together for well over a year, adjusting my Armour up and down. We finally have it right now, and my overcoat is in mothballs.
The Following User Says Thank You to midwest1 For This Useful Post: miaou (04-20-2011)
also2tired:
I think the concensus is (drum roll in background)............................. ........................................ ..... probably hypothyroid.
Midwest.......I HAVE been told it is all in my head - when I had - I think - a pinched nerve which seem to bring on the fibro. MANY docs I went to in 1997-98 told me I needed to see a shrink. Course, it was work comp, so you get no care there - just denials of everything. One doc, with my mother there, came in the room, talked a little, wrote on the chart and NEVER looked at me or touched me. Just didn't care. When you are hurting, have no energy etc. that is all you need to push you over into the padded cell! Lucky for me, I had my family who KNEW me. KNEW I wasn't a hypochondriac or crazy. They stood by me 150%! They still are. I this endo I see Tuesday doesn't work out I may drive east across the state of Missouri to St. Louis and see YOUR doc. It's a terrible drive across I-70- but better than going west!!!!! Glad your overcoat is in mothballs - hopefully you can just toss it to the junk pile someday.
__________________
"I'll make it"
Jewel TT 1/26/06 -Levothyroxine 75-88
TT 1/26/06 -Levothyroxine 75-88
