Chronic pain, fatigue and weakness all over. Especially hands

[cmhofftx]

My name is Chris. I'm a 40 year old, white male and over the last couple months my symptoms started and have been progressively getting worse. The most pressing problem is pain and weakness in both hands. Sometimes they have numbness and tingling and sometimes tightness and pain. But always limited use because they become to tired when writing, holding things or just showering. In addition to that I have muscle pain all over my body and have the urge to squeeze and tighten my muscles all of the time, especially my legs, back and stomach. I also suffer from extreme tiredness and fatigue, from falling asleep when driving to dozing off at work no matter how much sleep I got the night before. The pain, weakness, lack of range of motion is making everything from showering and dressing to cleaning myself after the bathroom, feels like a full workout in the gym. I'm so exhausted everyday and it is wearing me down.

This started about a year ago when I was hospitalized for extremely high CPK levels and debilitating all over muscle pain. I stayed for 4 days until my levels were normal but nobody really explored a cause of the problem.

My medical history is high blood pressure, depression, low testosterone, sleep apnea, obesity and a history of chronic back pain due to 6 herniated discs.

I take topical testosterone, lisinopril for BP, cymbalta for depression, hydrocodone for pain and robaxin as needed for spasms.

I'm a non-smoker, non drinker and don't use recreational drugs.

Please help me get an idea of what is going on. I'm scheduled to see a rheumatologist but can't get in for 2 months and I'm not sure I can wait that long.

[Red_Star]

Fatigue, weight gain/obesity, depression, low testosterone, sleep apnea, oedema, high blood pressure, high CPK - in some cases extremely high, muscle pain/weakness/spasms, peripheral neuropathy are all listed possible symptoms of hypothyroidism.  The most common cause of hypothyroidism is an autoimmune disease called Hashimoto's thyroiditis.  

Recommended to have a full thyroid workup to avoid misdiagnosis: TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone), free T3, free T4, reverse T3, thyroid antibodies - thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb) and thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb).

From Medline Plus - Creatine phosphokinase test:

"High CPK levels may be seen in patients who have:

Heart attack
Brain injury or stroke
Inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis)
Convulsions
Delirium tremens
Dermatomyositis or polymyositis
Electric shock
Lung tissue death (pulmonary infarction)
Muscular dystrophies

Additional conditions may give positive test results:
Hypothyroidism
Hyperthyroidism
Pericarditis following a heart attack
Rhabdomyolysis"

[cmhofftx]

And starting today I now have edema in both ankles. Never had this before.