Hashimotos & pain after any exercise - Thyroid UK

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Hashimotos & pain after any exercise

mistygrey profile image
mistygrey
β€’20 Replies

Does anybody feel like they have been hit by a train after any excerise?

I played football for the first time in months on Sunday and I have been in agony all over ever since. It feels like a big Hashimotos flare up kicked off since then and every muscle hurts and aches like never before, even walking hurts.

Does anybody else with Hashimotos not tolerate excerise like this? How can I loose weight if I everytime I do any exercise that is remotely difficult, I hurt like I've been hit by a train afterwards? It's really offputting πŸ˜ͺ

It feels more than just unfitness (I am unfit but..) I am starting to feel like I might have fibromyalgia also!

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mistygrey profile image
mistygrey
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greygoose profile image
greygoose

It's not just Hashi's, it's being hypo that makes your feel like that. You don't have enough T3 to support that level of exercise. And, because exercise uses up your calories, it has a negative impact on your conversion and you make less T3. Have you had your FT3 tested at all?

You should not be doing strenuous exercise until your FT3 is optimal. Just gentle walking or swimming. :)

mistygrey profile image
mistygreyβ€’ in reply togreygoose

Thank you gregoose you are so right I am completely regretting the strenuous exercise I won't be doing it again in a hurry.

I haven't got an up to date FT3 result yet as I am currently upping my T3. I just started taking 5mcg in morning and 5mcg T3 in late afternoon along with my 62.5mcg t4, when will this make a difference - if any? And when do you suggest having a FT3 sample taken?

My FT3 must not be optimal if I am feeling this sore two days later all I want to do is sleep 😴

greygoose profile image
greygooseβ€’ in reply tomistygrey

Are you self-treating or prescribed T3? If you have control over your T3 dose, I would continue increasing T3 by 5 mcg every two weeks until you reach 20 mcg, then hold for six weeks and retest. 10 mcg is only a tiny dose, and probably won't make much difference.

mistygrey profile image
mistygreyβ€’ in reply togreygoose

I've been prescribed t3 by my Endo I think she had hoped to get me to 15mcg of T3. What shall I do about my T4 if I am upping T3 further? I think Shaws had mentioned to keep it the same at 62.5 for now going off my previous results, I will get the full panel done again when I have been on the 10mcg T3 long enough 😊

greygoose profile image
greygooseβ€’ in reply tomistygrey

I really don't think you need to lower such a tiny dose of levo. I expect your FT4 is very low. It's only when the FT4 is right up the top of the range, and converting to excess rT3, that you need to reduce the levo. :)

mistygrey profile image
mistygreyβ€’ in reply togreygoose

Yes I agree, I tend to take what the Endo says to me with a pinch of salt nowadays as I alway have much more beneficial advice on this forum than I have ever had from any doctor!!

Do I continue with the 10mcg T3 and 62.5mcg T4 and if I feel better soon I can try add another 5mcg to the regime? When would be best to take that? Also what vitamins do you suggest?

I already take vitamin D, Iron, B12 methyl lozenges, vitamin C

Anything else that might help lift the tiredness until I adjust?

Thank you 😊

greygoose profile image
greygooseβ€’ in reply tomistygrey

You can increase to 15 mcg two weeks after starting the 10 mcg. When you take it is entirely up to you. Myself, I don't split my dose at all, I take all my 68.75 mcg T3 and 25 mcg levo together in the morning. So, you could take the extra 5 in the morning, or in the afternoon - or even start taking it all at the same time. You have to find out what suits you best. :)

If you are taking vit D, you should also be taking vit K2-MK7, and magnesium. When taking vit B12, you should also take a good B complex - one with methylfolate, rather than folic acid. And, you could also add in some zinc. But, don't start them all at the same time! Leave about two weeks in between starting each one. :)

mistygrey profile image
mistygreyβ€’ in reply togreygoose

Thank you for your help, I will do that and see what happens. It's a shame I have to wait so long before adjusting more but it takes time, I will just need to be patient haha.

I will look out for those supplements I am not yet taking and add them in gradually 😊

greygoose profile image
greygooseβ€’ in reply tomistygrey

You're welcome. :)

Cooper27 profile image
Cooper27

Hashimotos does this. When I found out I had it, it suddenly made a lot of sense why I would get so exhausted after a few weeks of visiting the gym (running in particular). I'm careful not to take on too much too quickly now.

I think it comes down to adrenals - I did a month of adrenal supporting supplements and made sure to get 10 hours of sleep a night (for 2 weeks, not forever!) to support mine, and noticed a big difference.

mistygrey profile image
mistygreyβ€’ in reply toCooper27

It's awful isn't it? I am starting to think it's getting worse before it gets better I was fine a few months ago then it all went down hill and I got ill.

What adrenal supporting supplements do you use? Trouble is I struggle to sleep that long I go to bed around 10/11 and wake up at 630/7 am usually but sleep is always restless.

Wish I could sleep for 10Hours haha!

Cooper27 profile image
Cooper27β€’ in reply tomistygrey

This might help you: thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

I've been on a crazy amount of supplements recently, I forget what ones came when! I recall Pure Encapsulations Adrenomax, B12 (but this will depend on what your numbers are) and Selenium. I also cut out sugar, dairy, legumes and grains for the month (to balance blood sugars).

I was initially meant to get 12 hours sleep a night - it literally would have meant going straight to bed an hour after getting home! I compromised by aiming for 10 hours, I probably got 8.5-9 hours in reality.

mistygrey profile image
mistygreyβ€’ in reply toCooper27

Thank you I will have a look at this 😊

I tested my adrenals with a cortisol Saliva test where my Endo checked them and said they were normal levels but from an Endo this is probably meaning they aren't normal and all low πŸ˜‚

Did you have your adrenals tested before supplementing?

Cooper27 profile image
Cooper27β€’ in reply tomistygrey

I didn't go for the testing - the Izabella Wentz book I was following said it was optional. Chances were, based on symptoms, adrenals were in need of some support. If my levels happened to be high enough for any of the vitamins, the timeframe you'd be on them wouldn't be long enough to cause harm.

wsenior profile image
wsenior

I experience this. I'm happy someone else can relate to me, but I'm sad for your pain. I was an athlete and exercised intensely 5-6 days a week for 20 years before getting Hashimoto's. For me, the first muscle symptoms I noticed was an increase in hip/knee stiffness. At first I thought I wasn't warming up enough, I added an long warm up before every workout only to be stiff the next day. Looking back, I think that stiffness was me not being recovered from previous workouts. Normally 3 days after squats my soreness is nearly gone. This has been getting worse for the last few of years little-by-little. This happens to other muscles too, i'm just using squats here as this one affects me the most. Any muscle I work has this issue, but the hamstrings, deep calf muscle soleus, and my lat muscles cause me the most discomfort.

I've tried massage and I've done the TENS unit electric stimulation. They only help cover the pain for an hour or 2. And deep tissue massage in those areas of your soreness will cause you to scream/cry. I even took 6-months off and only did swimming.....but the moment I lifted weights or tried to do hill sprints again it came back. I've read that Hashi's sufferers muscles get changed from Type II (fast twitch) to Type I (slow twitch), I think that that is the result of us not being able to do intense exercise without encountering either an injury or the extreme soreness which trains us with pain to back off. I'm still fighting it. But muscle strains are easy to get with this problem.

I now get extreme soreness after doing a few sets of squats that lasts anywhere from 6-9 days. For someone who can't relate, think back to a time when you took 6-months off from the gym and then one day hit the weights hard. It is like the worst soreness you've ever felt that hits you 2 days after the exercise (DOMS), except this lasts at least a week or more. I believe the autoimmune Hashimoto's is acting on my muscles as well, somehow my cells are not getting what they need. I once saw after sitting in a hard chair a line of bruising where the chair had pressed on the back of my legs during that soreness period which shows me that I have internal bleeding inflammation that is going on after exercise (much more than normal). ****The muscle fibers are being torn down worse then normal and they are recovering slower than normal****

I take 5g of creatine monohydrate powder daily, which seems to help a tiny bit (might just be my imagination). I listen to my body and if an area is still sore/stiff I wait until it's not before doing that exercise again. I swim 3 days a week while I'm suffering my soreness to fill in the cracks. I'm still looking for a solution, I don't have med insurance at the moment so I'm limited as to what I can experiment with.

I take 75 mcg of Liothyronine (T3) daily. I don't take any T4 since 6 months ago.

Can i ask what all the med's that you take are?

Walter

JAmanda profile image
JAmandaβ€’ in reply towsenior

I think that was an old post so doubt the OP will reply. Love you to post this afresh though as I'm in a ton of pain from just walking nowadays. Did just read the advice here from grey goose so will up my T3. I may even take it all at once in the morning as she says as I know by 5pm I'm useless even after I take a final half of T3. I don't understand the adrenals thing at all!

wsenior profile image
wseniorβ€’ in reply toJAmanda

Hey JAmanda, yeah I'm still new to all this even if I've had Hashimoto's for 7 years now. That's a good Idea I will post this as a new post, thanks for the idea. I'm on T3 only (75 mcg in the morning) and it improves my fatigue symptoms, but I still have all the stiffness and muscle soreness issues. When I used to take T4 I couldn't take much T3 late in the day as it would give me palpitations when I mixed them. I might experiment taking some T3 right before I lift weights in the afternoon to see if that helps.

Yeah, I did walking much more when I didn't have the opportunity to do swimming. Let's keep in touch. I'm thinking about trying the AIP diet as I'm sure it's an autoimmune issue creating inflammation. I'm also hoping to get insurance by Jan 1st.

JAmanda profile image
JAmandaβ€’ in reply towsenior

Having read this I increased my T3 from 10-15 and that seems to be helping (I also take 100 t4). Off for a good walk and let's see how I feel!

What I liked about your post was the way you described that everything was tight and wrong - I saw a physio who gave me some stretches and exercises and I couldn't convince him that they just wouldn't work. I can't stretch out the hurt in any way. The only cure for me is strong painkillers and rest. But let's see if the T3 works miracles.

wsenior profile image
wseniorβ€’ in reply toJAmanda

Yeah, the very early morning is when your T3 levels are naturally highest and the slowly decrease until the next morning. It uses a circadian rhythm and parallels cortisol I think. I'm no expert. Your body can handle a lot of T3 if it is taken in the morning. It's in the late afternoon or evening where I had issues with taking T3. I've taken up to 125 mcg in the morning and I didn't feel abnormal.

When I was on T4 I also tried taking my whole weeks dose 1 day per week week which was better than daily for me, it allowed by body to cycle and coast on its own somewhat and not just stay high all the time. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Yeah, stretching only helped me for the next hour or so, Dr's are always looking for a way to discount your symptoms and blame it on aging or inactivity or say there is "no cure"....they are very unmotivated and lazy at times. I'm leaning towards the stiffness and pain being an autoimmune cellular issue causing inflammation in the tendons and muscles. Not sure T3 will do the trick, but I feel better on it alone than I did when I was taking T4. At least I have less fatigue. I'm also planning on trying the AIP diet soon. Maybe they will find some biological med's to send us into remission soon. Something like Rituximab.

Wired123 profile image
Wired123

Are you sure it’s not just doing too much too quick? Even people with no illness will struggle when they take up exercise.

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