Riyadh: Dr. Birra Mubarak
Sure you get upset when opening a jar of pickles or jam becomes difficult for you, but that’s to be expected if you’re not interested in strengthening your muscle skills.
But are there other causes of muscle weakness that have nothing to do with how much exercise you do to strengthen your muscles? Yes, there are several reasons for this, and some undiagnosed medical conditions can cause muscles to wear down faster or make a person feel fatigued while using muscles. Therefore, it is worth paying attention to it and treating it to cure it, so that one of us does not allow the matter to escalate and attribute its muscle weakness only to its lack of exercise.
Causes of muscle weakness
Among these reasons are reasons that some people may not expect and their cause of muscle weakness is an indication that they should be advised to seek medical attention. Here are the most common reasons:
* Anemia. Anemia is a condition that occurs when the blood does not contain enough hemoglobin in red blood cells. Therefore, the blood’s ability to carry the required amount of oxygen to the body’s tissues and organs, especially the muscles, decreases.
There are many causes of anemia and it often occurs for more than one reason, either acutely and rapidly or chronically and slowly, or because the body doesn’t make enough healthy red blood cells that contain normal amounts of good hemoglobin. It also comes from a lack of iron or vitamins folate or B-12, or the presence of disease in the bone marrow (where red blood cells are made), or genetic disorders related to disorders of hemoglobin production (sickle cell anemia, thalassemia or others).
Also, anemia can occur as a result of bleeding that leads to loss of red blood cells more quickly than the body can compensate. Especially in women with menstrual disorders. Or when the body breaks down red blood cells abnormally.
Signs and symptoms of anemia may include: fatigue, weakness, pale or yellow skin, irregular heartbeat, shortness of breath, lightheadedness or dizziness, chest pain, cold hands and feet, or headache. The infected person may have some or many of these symptoms.
Muscle weakness has multiple causes in anemia, the most prominent of which is lack of oxygen supply to the muscles and the ease of feeling fatigued, tired, and out of breath. Anemia can also, according to some of its causes, affect the structure of muscle fibers, their functional capabilities, the speed of their renewal and other mechanisms.
Diabetes and thyroid
* diabetes. The primary sign of diabetes is a disturbance in the body’s ability to control blood glucose levels. This is accompanied by, and results in, extensive disturbances – functional and structural – in several systems and organs of the body, including muscles, nerves, blood vessels, kidneys, heart and others.
It should be noted that increased fat mass is not the only reason for increasing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Rather, a lack of muscle mass in the body, sarcopenia (or so-called lean fat), is related to risk of developing diabetes.
The negative effects of type 2 diabetes on muscles can be divided into three categories: muscle fatigue, poor muscle strength, and decreased muscle mass. In muscle fatigue, the strain on the muscles in motion leads to a faster weakening phase and increases the time it takes for the muscle to recover or return to its full strength. That is, diabetics lose muscle faster than a healthy person and take longer to recover.
Type 2 diabetes also reduces overall muscle strength, regardless of age, gender, smoking or obesity. People with type 2 diabetes have less punch strength than healthy people.
And the muscle mass in the body in people with type 2 diabetes is less than in healthy adults in general. The longer you have diabetes, the more frequent is the loss of muscle mass, especially in the lower extremities.
* Thyroid disorders. The thyroid gland, located in front of the trachea in the neck, plays an essential role in the activity of all cells in the body. By secreting thyroid hormones. Therefore, it is the symptoms associated with thyroid disorders (hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism) that often alert you to the possibility of these conditions. This is confirmed by blood tests for low or high levels of these thyroid hormones. Females in general are more likely to suffer from thyroid disorders than males, by almost ten times. One of the initial symptoms of conditions affecting the thyroid gland is muscle weakness and pain, as well as joint and muscle pain.
In cases of thyroid sluggishness, the level of activity of many processes in the cells of the body, including muscles, decreases. Thus, muscle strength is weakened. The stiffness of joint movement associated with thyroid sluggishness increases the complexity of issues in the freedom and activity of movement of the muscles, the extent of their force efficiency, and the spasm and discomfort of the muscles. In some cases, the percentage of muscle enzymes in the blood increases, as an indicator of muscle cell damage and breakdown.
In case of increased thyroid activity, the muscles are affected quickly and the symptoms appear at an early age. Such as body aches, weak strength and small size.
– Sleep disturbances and salts
* Sleep disorders. In their study published in the February 2018 issue of J Sci Med Sport titled ‘Inadequate Sleep and Muscle Strength: Implications’, Australian researchers from Deakin University in Australia state: ‘Inadequate sleep impairs muscle strength in the execution of movements.
And many other studies indicate that lack of sleep impairs the activity of protein synthesis in the muscles. The Brazilian researchers explained it by saying: «Sleep is necessary for the cellular, organic and systemic functions of the organism. And lack of sleep reduces the activity of protein synthesis pathways and increases the activity of protein degradation pathways, which causes a loss of muscle mass, as well as insomnia hinders muscle recovery after damage caused by exercises, injuries and some cases associated with muscle atrophy.
Medical sources also report that sleep disturbances, such as insomnia, can lead to muscle weakness and daytime fatigue. A person who needs to stay in bed due to a medical condition may also experience muscle weakness. This comes from the fact that the muscles are not being used as regularly as usual.
In medicine it is observed that the muscles need a sufficient period of sleep, to reorganize their anatomical structure at the level of the muscle fibers, and to re-coordinate their communication with the muscle tendons that connect them to the joints and bones. Therefore, it regains its ability to perform its duties with normal strength. And sleep disturbances clearly hinder this.
Salt disturbances. The precise anatomical structure of muscle cells contains muscle fibers. They are chains of proteins. And those chains slide over each other and close and compress, and muscle contractions occur. Then they move away from each other, to become long, and a state of diastasis or muscle relaxation occurs. One of the key factors is the availability of what are called electrolytes.
Electrolytes are elements of the electrolytes sodium, potassium and calcium… They are very necessary in the formation and completion of processes for normal contraction of skeletal muscles and their rest after such a contraction. Its deficiency or its high percentage in the body is a major cause of muscle dysfunction, muscle fatigue, muscle weakness and muscle pain. For example, excessive accumulation of ammonia and hydrogen ions after strenuous bouts of physical activity leads to slow muscle contraction and poor strength. Some medical conditions or nutritional deficiencies also cause disturbances in levels of electrolytes such as calcium, magnesium, potassium or sodium. Excessively high or low levels of these ions in the blood are associated with symptoms such as muscle weakness or muscle cramps.
Therefore, one of the most important signs of salt disorders in the body is muscle capacity disorders. Conducting the necessary tests to ensure the moderate proportion of these elements is a first step in diagnosing the cause of muscle weakness. So the search for the cause of any of them is disturbed. That is, poor nutrition or impaired functioning of the kidneys, digestive system, liver or others.
– medicines
* Types of drugs. Medicines that a person takes, whether regularly to treat chronic conditions, or occasionally for health or unhealthy reasons, are one of the possible causes of feeling muscle weakness, muscle pain, or muscle fatigue easily.
There are many possible causes of muscle problems from taking different types of medications. One of these mechanisms is to cause inflammation in the muscles, which leads to weakness, wasting and pain. Several commonly used types of medications are linked to the development of myositis in some people, including certain recreational drugs, antibiotics, chemotherapy drugs, drugs that affect the hormone system, cholesterol medications, as well as heart and stomach medications.
For example, several medical studies have indicated that taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen, can weaken the body’s compensatory response to repair injured muscles, which contributes to chronic muscle weakness and pain. It also hinders the processes of muscle reconstruction. Therefore, it is worth reducing its intake except when necessary and according to the advice of the doctor.
So are the cholesterol-lowering drugs of the class of statins, which are commonly used. It can cause some patients damage and muscle pain. It can cause body aches in a higher percentage of them, especially in women. It has effects on muscle growth. Therefore, it is taken under medical supervision, monitoring the extent of any resulting muscle symptoms and conducting the necessary tests to ascertain the level of muscle enzymes, and the doctor may need to advise reducing the dose or stopping it.
* Consultant in internal medicine
