Can hashimotos and joint / nerve pain be related?

[Llantnerb]

Lately I have had a few pains and I wondered if they are common in hashimotos. Hip pain when walking, jaw pain, sudden and painful nerve pain in lower leg, pain in toe joint, and nerve pain under the armpit. I think the jaw pain is just me grinding my teeth at night and being 41 I could just chalk it all up to middle age aches and pains but wondered if it’s a common experience in hashimotos patients?

[SlowDragon Administrator]

How much levothyroxine are you currently taking

Do you always get same brand levothyroxine at each prescription

What are your most recent thyroid and vitamin results

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking

ALWAYS test early morning, ideally before 9am and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

As you have Hashimoto’s are you on strictly gluten free diet or dairy free diet

List of private testing options and money off codes

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

Medichecks Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins

medichecks.com/products/adv...

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes antibodies, cortisol and vitamins by DIY fingerprick test

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

[Llantnerb in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks for replying. I seem to get a different brand levothyroxine quite often. I take 150 levo and 5 liothyronine, and generally speaking asides from the pains described I feel a lot better than I did two years ago when first diagnosed. I am gluten free. I take vitamin d and when I was last tested I was in range. I don’t take other supplements. My most recent results were good;

Free thyroxine 20.7 (range 12-22)

Free t3 6.4 (range 3.1 -6.8)

My iron is slightly too high but I don’t supplement iron or have a particular high iron diet.

These results were in October. I’m due a retest soon.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Llantnerb]

Many people find it essential to always get same brand levothyroxine at each prescription

Work out which brand suits you best and always get that brand

Was last test done early morning, before 9am, last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

Did you split 5mcg T3 into 2 x 2.5mcg, taking last 2.5mcg approx 8-12 hours before test

Essential to test vitamin D, folate and B12 at least once a year

High ferritin levels common post menopause

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Llantnerb]

Come back with new post once you get thyroid, vitamin D, folate and B12 results

[TSH110]

Afraid so:

jnnp.bmj.com/content/68/6/750

Make sure you are optimised:

TSH between 0.2-0.5

Free T3 and Free T4 in top third of the range (numbers in brackets after the value given) same for total T4 and total T3

According to Toft an eminent endocrinologist (now retired)

Thyroid U.K. can give you a copy of Question 6 I think from an interview in Pulse where this information is given to show the GP if they are not getting you into this sort of area with your medication. It is valid for Levothyroxine.

Free T3 is best indicator of optimisation. NHS unlikely to test for it. You can get private tests.

Also vitamin and mineral deficiency is common with thyroid disorder and can cause a miriad of symptoms so worth getting those tested. Vitamin D deficiency can cause all sorts of terrible aches and pains. Your GP might be run some blood tests for them. It’s worth asking.

I do my own and use thriva. There’s a list of providers of private blood test in thyroid U.K. main pages but the full panel ones are quite costly.

If GP will do the vitamins and minerals you could do the basic thyroid ones including free T3 which are quite reasonably priced.

Hope that helps

Brilliant that SlowDragon beat me to it and has put in all the links plus a bit more than I mentioned!

[ClareP5]

Shooting pain through buttocks, legs and tingling in feet can be sciatica - it's one of the big causes of back pain/time off work etc. Lots of information on search engines....

[HashiFedUp]

In a word, yes. My hashimotos (like many peoples) gives me global muscle and joint pain. Its like an arthritis. The auto immune system attacks healthy cells all over the body including tendons, particularly where they attach to the bone, causing swelling and trigger points to develop.

I’m on celebrex which is life changing. I also have sports massage which is great.

[buddy99 in reply to HashiFedUp]

I also find that massage is great for pain. When I can not stand it anymore I see a really good massage therapist and he works on the affected areas like thighs, arms and shoulders and for a couple of days I'm completely pain free. Sometimes the pain goes away for a longer stretch. He says that my muscle are hard as rocks and knotted up terribly but he gets the knots out. If I have the money I try to go every week till I feel good again for a longer period of time. The therapist thinks that the muscles and tendons get inflamed and seize up. So it would make sense that an anti-inflammatory medication would help.

[Llantnerb in reply to HashiFedUp]

Thanks that’s very interesting, I will look into a massage.

[AtemiM]

Hi Llantnerb I've had 18 months of terrible joint pain and neuropathy symptoms (to the point I've had to give up martial arts training (and teaching) which I've been doing for 13 years) because I just can't cope with the added stress on my joints ☹️

In that time I've had 2 rheumatology referrals (I have raised Rheumatoid Factor so my GP kept telling me it was Rheumatoid Arthritis). Rheumatology say absolutely not RA, but definitely something autoimmune.

I'm also waiting on a gastroenterology appointment (next Wednesday) as my coeliac marker was very high.

My GP finally came round to the idea it could be thyroid related when I pointed out to him that I had a Thyroid peroxidase antibody test result of 413 u/ml (against a range of 0-59) in June, alongside several above range (but less than 10) TSH tests. I honestly think he missed these because he was so hung up on it being RA 🙄

That was a longabout way of me saying Yes to your question. Lol.

Also, with regards the bruxism (teeth grinding), I've suffered with that for years, particularly bad when my stress level is high. The only thing that helped me was a nighttime mouth guard from the dentist. It was about £80, but absolutely worth it to wake without an aching jaw every morning.

Mx

[jgelliss in reply to AtemiM]

Interesting I have the same problem grinding my teeth druing sleep and sleep with night guards. Would this symptom be related to hypo symptom?

[JAmanda]

I think they’re related. My hip pain and funny shooting pains have mostly gone now my T3 is high in range. Lots of people on here talk about hip pains.

[Sboop]

Most definitely Hashimotos related especially the muscle pain moving around the body I attribute to Fibromyalgia which often accompanies Hashimotos. I am much older than you so most of my joint pain I attribute to osteoarthritis which has been confirmed by x-ray but it may be Fibromyalgia as well.

[Pepekins]

Interesting as 20 years ago when my thyroid was removed I was given 150 of levo per day. Over the years it has been reduced to 100 x 5 and 0.75 x 2. Result, cholesterol has shot up and I now hav eawful thigh pain. A couple of years ago I changed from Actavis to MP and the pain went away!! Now it is back and as I have had hip replacements I thought it was hips playing up, but I think it is muscle/tendon pain. I have had colitis in the past which is an auto-immune problem, this is now quiet. Not sure whether to try switching back to Actavis again! My endo won't even talk about NDT, it's like a swear word!!!