If you feel achy every day for more than a couple of weeks, see your doctor. You may have a medical problem that needs attention. For widespread pain, for instance, your doctor may have you evaluated by a rheumatologist for fibromyalgia, a chronic condition marked by deep muscle aches and stiffness. “It often starts in your neck or shoulders before spreading to your middle and lower back, arms and legs, and chest wall,” says Don Goldenberg, MD, a rheumatologist and professor emeritus of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. You may also notice specific tender points near joints.
“One of the best treatments available is cognitive behavior therapy, not because fibromyalgia is ‘all in your head’ but because it gives you coping tools to help live with the condition,” Goldenberg says. Low-impact activities like walking, water aerobics, tai chi, and gentle yoga may help, too. “We know that people who do moderate exercise regularly with fibromyalgia have lower pain levels.” You may also need an antidepressant that targets the brain chemicals that process pain. If that doesn’t work, your doctor may recommend an anticonvulsant.
Another condition that can cause muscle pain is polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR), which occurs almost exclusively in people over age 50, Goldenberg says. “We think of it anytime we have an older adult complain of new-onset aches, pain, and stiffness in their neck, shoulders, upper back, and hips, particularly in the morning,” he says. Treatment is a long-term (a year or two, or even more) low dosage of a steroid like prednisone. Your doctor should also monitor you closely for sudden loss of sight, he says. This, and symptoms such as new headaches and high fever, may be signs of a serious condition called giant cell arteritis, which one small 2023 study found was present in more than 40 percent of people with PMR. Treatment for this is usually a short course of high-dose steroids.
Source link
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
