Are Joint Pain And Muscle Aches Common?

[Guest Alex]

hello again,

i am unsure if it would be a good idea to start a poll on this topic - maybe you'll let me know, but i'm just wondering if joint pain and muscle aches (particularly in the arms, hands, legs, feet) are a common symptom in people diagnosed with POTS.

i am experiencing this mainly while at rest - funny enough a 15 min/2.5 miles on my stationary bike makes the pains go away. Too bad that I have days when my standing hr doesn't really "behave" and then i'm afraid to exercise. Also I have days when these are my "first thing in the morning" symptoms. Could it be due to the fact that I don't move too much during sleep, or that my body somehow tenses during sleep?

thanx

Alex

[Serbo]

have a read and search on Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. certainly causes musceoskeletal pain

[natalynn22]

I always have joint and muscle pain... My parents have told me that sine i was little i would sleep stiff/tense. I still sleep tense alot. i have no idea why. My legs arms hands feet and lower back are the most painful. When i took muscle relaxers at night it would help with my muscle pain but slowed my intestines down even more so my gastro took me off of them after i had a small bowel obstruction.

[Guest Alex]

hi Serbo,

I already did that, it doesn't really fit - I don't have any of the rest of the symptoms of EDS - no hypermobile joints, no "extra" elastic or super soft skin, also my skin is not fragile, and I never bruise easily, and if i get a wound it heals itself really fast. I guess it's just the aches and pains, but I'll mention EDS to my dr. Thanx

natalynn22,

thanks for sharing

[Chaos]

I think it's a fairly common complaint. There is a lot of overlap between POTS/dysautonomia and fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME). Joint and muscle pain is common with both of those syndromes as well.

Personally I have days when I ache all over. Makes me feel very tired as well but when I lie down it doesn't ease the fatigue or the achiness. I have some relief with ibuprofen or aleve, at least with the pain issues.

[goodnuff77]

I've had the joint and muscle pain for awhile told it's a POTS thing. But I also tested positive for lyme disease this past summer. So who knows the cause in my cause could be either or something else too.

[Guest Alex]

Thanks for sharing that.

Just a thought - I've read that it can also be a vitamin D deficiency symptom (which I'm guilty of, but trying to correct - I'm currently taking 5000 IU a day as per my Dr). Have you had your vit D levels checked, and do you think there might be a connection?

Chaos, my Dr mentioned fibromyalgia as well, but he's not 100% sure of that ... And since there is no test for that I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

goodnuff77 - I hope you find a good Dr to help you with your lyme disease diagnosis. Good luck with that. Who knows, it might turn out you don't even have POTS after all as from what I've read there are so many overlapping symptoms and a fair number of people being misdiagnosed. Again, good luck to you.

[goodnuff77]

Alex I got excited with the lyme disease diagnosis thinking I didn't have pots. But I guess my Dr has been testing me all along (every few month's with my other blood work). I got my Pots diagnosis in 2008 and the lyme diagnosis this past summer and I guess the levels of something to do with Lyme indicated I only had it for about month or so. They sent me to a infectious disease dr. They said it's under control with the 25 day's 3 times a day meds I had to take. I was told even though it's treated I will still get affects from it as its always in your system and I'll aleays get positives for the results.Weird! But thats what they say. Oh I guess I shouldn't say I got exicted but thru researce I saw that sometimes lyme is easly treated if caught soon enough. I also have low vitamin d levels and am on 5000 iu a day as well. But the levels aren't going up and my doctor is talking about a hat mounted light to help in production of the d. Throught out the years I've been to so many Dr's and had the test and it apperars I have a strange case of pots according to Dr. Roy Freeman in Boston. I guess he's supposed to be a good pots dr. He even pressured me into a 5 day study because of my symptoms and thought it would be good for research.

[goldicedance1]

Fibromyalgia may be a possibility. Drugs used for POTS are frequently the same...SSRIS and Lyrica/Neurontin

[rubytuesday]

I have fibro and arthritis and ehlers-danlos, but the specific pain I notice with regards to my dysautonomia relates to the pain of blood pooling in my feet and legs--if I've been sitting for a prolonged period (with legs elevated) and/or when I first get up in the morning. When I stand to walk--I have a very bad burning pain in my feet and legs that makes it hard to walk (much worse than when your arm or leg 'wakes up' after its been 'asleep'). I will sometimes experience chest pain when I lie down (especially at night). Otherwise I don't think my joint pains are related to dysautonomia.

[Katybug]

alex - I have joint pain in all my major joints and have recently been dx'ed with either chronic lyme or some sort of inflammatory autoimmune disease. Labs are inconclusive as to which one we are dealing with. So, I don't know whether the chicken or the egg came first as far as the POTS and joint pain are concerned.

goodnuff - I don't know how much you know about the great debate in the med community about Lyme/chronic Lyme. If you would like to read more from those healthcare professionals that believe that chronic Lyme should be treated with long term antibiotics (and that chronic Lyme even exists as opposed to the "post-Lyme syndrome" that it sounds like you were told about) send me a PM. Also, there is some info that could explain why someone with late stage Lyme may have a positive test but sisn't test positive in early stage Lyme.