Do I have an Autoamune disease with Hashimoto's?

[Jennifer_C]

Ok I am trying to pt 2 and 2 together so bare with me.

I have HAshimoto's the right side of my thyroid is 4 times larger than the left. I am on 100mcg of synthroid. I also have extremely tight hard as a rock muscles in my neck and shoulders, which will not losen. (I've had tight muscles for about 10 years now and I do not know how long the thyroid problem has been going on). Another thing is that every time I have blood work done it comes back pos. for Lupus but when they go back and test just for lupus it comes back neg.

I was wondering if there is an auto-ammune disease out there that can cause hashi's and tight muscles.(the DR. says that Hashi's does not cause muscle tightness like the tightness I've got.) I've tried to do a search on the internet with no luck and was hopeing that someone out there is going throught the same thing and might have an answer. Thanks

[Mark Lupo, M.D.]

Hashi does not usually cause tight muscles -- that may be a result of chronic stress.  The positive ANA is nonspecific - I am glad the additional tests did not show Lupus.  Would ask the rheumatologist about the tight muscles and auto-immune disease but more than likely you will get the suggestion of massage and relaxation therapy.

[Doreen313]

Hi Jennifer,
I have Hashimoto's and have been having terrible shoulder (and some neck) pain also.  I do believe Hashimoto's can affect your muscles and joints.  I am in physical therapy right now, until I see my endo who hopefully will raise my meds again (I'm at 125 right now).  When I look back, I can pick out all the thyroid symptons that I've been having for almost three years.  I know hindsight is 20/20, but I kept chalking things up to getting older - I'll be 46 this month.
As far as the lupus testing goes, I don't know much about that.  Sorry.  But good luck, and hopefully if they raise your meds you'll start to feel better.  And hopefully sooner rather than later.
D

[Jennifer_C]

Thank you for your responses. I have gone through massage and relaxation theropy for a straight 2 years. The massage theropist told me it felt like I have steel rods in my shoulders. No matter how hard she tried they would not loosen. I pretty much have a stress free life and I am the type that doesn't get stressed out. I usually just go with the flow and whatever happens happens. So I'm not sure that the muscle tightness is due to sress. I've been put on every muscle relaxent out there with little or no change. I have had 36 injections of Botax A injected right into the tight muscles (wow that hurt!) and the pain management Dr. could not believe how tight they were. The needle kept bending when it hit the muscle. I have also had a nerve block which didn't help a bit as well as trigger point injections and an AC joint injection. None of this even touched the tightness. I have headaches every day and I've forgotten what normal muscles feel like. I'm going to see a ruemetologist (sp?) next month. Maybe he will have some answers for me.

[edra]

Hashimoto's/HAIT is an autoimmune disorder.  That is, you have antibodies that are attacking and destroying your thyroid.

When I had HAIT, I didn't have problems with tight muscles, but I did have tremendous problems with tendon/ligament pain.  I had severe epicondylitis (tennis elbow) which, in hindsight, was caused by low thyroid; my body just couldn't repair itself.  So if somebody told me tight muscles could be caused by hypothyroidism, I wouldn't be surprised.

Have you checked for food allergies and excessive levels of common environmental toxins?  My HAIT was actually caused by the gluten in wheat, so I'm a believer in checking for dietary/environmental issues.

[d.hall]

Hi i have Hashis which the dr believes has been caused by wheat intolerance.Do you mind me asking what kind of treatment you have been prescribed ,is it a matter of just cutting out the wheat and hoping symtoms disappear.im real confused as symtoms for hashi and the intolerance are similiar.Any help appreciated.
donna