Muscle pain relief through thyroid meds

[BenLabrador]

I have a torn cartilage and osteoarthritis in my left hip. At night I have pain in my hip and back but after I take my T4 and T3 tablets the pain dissipates. Has anyone else experienced this? Or have any ideas about the mechanisms involved? Thanks in advance.

[RedApple Administrator]

BenLabrador, My simplistic answer is that low thyroid hormone levels exacerbate pain levels, and sometimes actually cause pain. So, before you take your daily dose, your hormone levels will have dropped. Take your dose and hormone levels rise again, helping the pain and also enabling / contributing to the healing process.

[BenLabrador in reply to RedApple]

Thank you RedApple, I did suspect that might be the case but I was surprised by how far my levels had dropped in the 24hrs since my last dose. I might take them earlier, perhaps last thing at night. Best regards.

[J972 in reply to BenLabrador]

Yes, this is absolutely a thing with me. So much so that I saw a rheumatologist last year about the joint pain which is improving as I work towards optimising my thyroid medication. I also have an inkling that HRT is helping too.

[BenLabrador in reply to J972]

Thanks, it’s interesting to know your experience.

[Bertwills]

Do you split your doses or take all at once? If you can split them it might increase the pain relief effect throughout the day.

[BenLabrador in reply to Bertwills]

I take them all at once but I’ll look into splitting them. Thanks.

[Brightness14]

Yes often low T3 causes mine.

[BenLabrador in reply to Brightness14]

Interesting. Perhaps I need to increase my T3 dosage. Thanks.

[arTistapple]

Just one wee word of warning. Even if the thyroid meds are capable of doing what you describe (and I definitely do not disbelieve you) just be as wary as if it was a painkiller you were taking. Just because the pain is better it does not mean that you are in the clear. If you have been hypothyroid for some time there will be inherent weakness in any muscles and other tissues that will need time to get back to hopefully ‘normal’. Excellent news though.

[BenLabrador in reply to arTistapple]

A good point, thanks.