Body pain: what does it mean when the whole body hurts? (2023)

Does your whole body hurt? There can be many possible reasons. A sore body makes any activity difficult, from everyday life to sleeping at night. Sometimes our bodies hurt from intense work or exercise, but other times the causes of muscle pain can be more complex and come with other symptoms. If you or someone you know suffers from body aches, this guide can help you understand some of the underlying issues that could be causing them. from osteoarthritis toFibromyalgiaThere are many underlying causes of body aches besides the common flu, so read on to find out what they are, as well as some tips for relieving body aches.

The flu, also known simply as the flu, is a viral infection that infects the lungs, nose, and throat. The flu can cause body and muscle aches.

Why does the flu cause muscle pain?

When your whole body aches and you have the flu, there's a reason. Your body hurts because it's releasing chemicals to fight the infection. One of the chemicals produced by your immune system is called prostaglandin (PG). PG helps your body fight infection, but it also causes body pain. It can also cause other symptoms like fever.

Aspirin and other nonsteroidal pain relievers like ibuprofen can reduce body aches and fever when you have the flu because they interfere with PG production. The enzyme that makes PG looks like a jar with a tube in the middle. Aspirin and ibuprofen clog the tube and stop PG production.

Muscle and body pain are symptoms of COVID-19, according to the CDC. However, not all people infected with COVID-19 experience body pain. This also applies to the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Anyone who has had COVID-19, even those who have had a mild infection, can experience post-COVID conditions, which can include muscle and body pain, and abdominal and chest pain. These symptoms can last weeks or months after COVID-19 infection.

If you have hypothyroidism, body aches may be the first symptom you experience. Hypothyroidism is a disorder that occurs when a person's body doesn't produce enoughthyroid hormones. This can have a range of symptoms including muscle spasms, pain, joint stiffness and body aches. Sometimes the pain is vague and non-specific.

Biochemical hypothyroidism is relatively common in the United States, affecting approximately 4.6% of the population. The good news is that this thyroid problem can be treated with prescription medications that can bring your hormone levels back to normal and provide relieffatigueand pain. These drugs must be taken for life and can prevent the dangerous consequences of the disease, which in extreme cases can include coma and death.

If you experience severe pain in your legs after walking, it could be a circulatory problem. Claudication (usually a blocked artery) causes burning, cramping, or pain in one or both legs that is relieved with rest. It is caused by atherosclerosis, a condition that causes the arteries to narrow and harden due to plaque build-up.

People diagnosed with this condition may be prescribed or recommended medications to help them walk more often and stop walking.Smokingand reduce saturated fat in their diet. There are also minimally invasive treatments, including angioplasty, stenting, and more. Surgical treatments may be required for severe symptoms.

The pain you're feeling in your joints could be related to the autoimmune disease known asLupus. Lupus triggers your immune system to attack healthy tissues, which can cause pain throughout the body. During a lupus attack, your body becomes completely inflamed. Part of the inflammatory process involves thickening of the lining around joints. This causes your joints and tendons to swell, causing pain throughout your body.

Some lupus patients describe this agony as similar to arthritis. However, unlike arthritis, lupus does not usually cause permanent damage to bones and joints.

The first line of defense for these types of ailments is over-the-counter medication. Anti-inflammatory pain relievers like aspirin and ibuprofen can help. Heating pads and hot baths and showers can also relieve stiff joints.

One in four American adults has arthritis, one of the most common causes of arthritischronic pain. Arthritis is a general diagnosis that includes more than 100 diseases that affect joints and muscles.

The most common of them isarthrosis, which slowly breaks down the bones and cartilage that make up one or more joints. Along with body pain, osteoarthritis causes stiffness, swelling, and limited movement of the affected joints.

There are ways to control arthritis. Some of these are medicinesweight lossand train properly. Education is provided through the Arthritis Self-Management Program developed by the Stanford School of Medicine and offered in community settings such as churches and hospitals.

If your musculoskeletal pain is accompanied byeyelidRashes on the skin, you could be suffering from dermatomyositis. This is an autoimmune disease that causes generalized pain because it inflames the blood vessels under the skin. It can make swallowing and getting up from a sitting position difficult. Common symptoms are fatigue and skin rashes. These can be red or purple and tend to be itchy. And they don't just show up on the eyelids; Dermatomyositis rashes can appear on the cheeks, elbows, knees, ankles, back, or upper chest.

Your doctor may prescribe medications, such as corticosteroids, to treat symptoms. There are exercises that can be learned to maintain your strength and flexibility and therapies to manage the swallowing problems that can result from this condition. Purified blood products can be given as an injection and stop muscle and skin damage for a while. But they have to be administered regularly and they are expensive.

Fibromyalgia causes pain in the body. The hallmark symptom of fibromyalgia is significant muscle pain, stiffness, and tenderness throughout the body.headache, numb hands and feet andthere bellyThere are other tantalizing clues that a person might have this condition.

For unknown reasons, people with fibromyalgia are more sensitive to pain. That's true of the estimated 5 million American adults who suffer from this disorder. About 80 to 90 percent of them are women. For some of these people, fibromyalgia is so debilitating that they cannot get out of bed. For others, body aches and pains come and go, bringing good days and bad days.

Fibromyalgia as a disease is notoriously difficult to understand. We still don't know what causes the condition. However, in order to be diagnosed, a standard scoring system has been developed. A person must have widespread pain in all four quadrants of the body and other conditions must be ruled out.

Those with polymyositis (PM) have weakness in the shoulders, neck, and back, and in the hips and thighs. The weakness may appear gradually over several months or subside over a few days. Sometimes body aches and tenderness also accompany it. Although PM can cause many ailments, it is not usually life-threatening.

For reasons unknown, polymyositis causes your body's immune system to attack muscle fibers. It usually occurs after the age of 20 and is more common in women. The good news is that many people recover partially or fully from PM over time.

Along with extreme exhaustion, people withchronic fatigueThey often share common symptoms such as deep, persistent joint and muscle pain. Your skin may be sore to the touch, and you may also experience a pressure headache.

In addition to pain relievers like acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and aspirin, the Centers for Disease Control recommends stretching, gentle massage, heat, hydrotherapy, and relaxation techniques for pain relief. Pain management counseling can also be helpful when the pain is constant.

for years,chronic fatigueIt was a misunderstood syndrome that frustrated doctors and patients alike. While the cause of chronic fatigue remains elusive, medical experts are increasingly convinced that this debilitating condition goes beyond mere lethargy and that its roots are physiological.

If you experience morning joint stiffness and pain in your upper arms, neck, thighs, and lower back that is worse in the morning, you may have an episode of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). This pain throughout the body usually comes on quickly, sometimes even overnight, and can make it difficult to raise your arms above your shoulders.

The cause of PMR is still not understood. What we do know is that it appears to originate in the joints, and unlike fibromyalgia, PMR causes inflammation. It is more common in Caucasians over the age of 50, with the median age of a PMR patient being 70, and it is more common in women than men.

Unfortunately, the usual anti-inflammatory painkillers like aspirin and ibuprofen don't help much with PMR. Instead, doctors are more likely to prescribe corticosteroids. When PMR is the problem, these drugs can respond quickly and dramatically, sometimes relieving the patient's pain after just one dose. However, this is not always the case, and in some cases treatment may take longer to reduce inflammation.

If you experience muscle pain within two weeks of the tick bite, you may have contracted itRocky Mountain Fleckfieber(RMSF) caused byRickettsia rickettsiitransmitted by a tick bite. Because tick bites can be painless, you may not realize you have been bitten, but the presence of a fever and a rash on your wrists and ankles can confirm the illness.

RMSF means business. People can die a little over a week after symptoms appear. Fortunately, it is also treatable with antibiotics. However, if a case of RMSF is severe, long-term health problems such as blood vessel damage (vasculitis) and clotting and bleeding in the brain and other organs can occur. Treatment is most effective if started within the first five days, when the first symptoms and signs of RMSF appear.

If you notice joint pain within a month of a tick bite, you may have itLyme-Borreliose. When Lyme disease was discovered in Lyme, Connecticut in 1975, researchers initially thought it was juvenile arthritis. Symptoms can resemble those of arthritis, with joint swelling in the later stages and general joint pain throughout.

So how can you tell if you're dealing with Lyme disease or arthritis? An absolute sign of Lyme is a large rash around the bite, which can be solid red or shaped like a porthole. This is an important warning that you need immediate treatment and occurs about nine times out of ten. Other common symptoms of the infection include swollen lymph nodes, headache, dizziness, shooting pains, numbness, tingling, and a general feeling of pain. Lyme disease occurs when bacteriaBorrelia burgdorferiThey are transmitted through tick bites.

Statins

A common drug used to treat high cholesterol has been linked to muscle and joint pain in 20 to 30% of patients taking it. Statins are commonly used to prevent arterial plaque that can cause itheart diseaseand other cardiovascular hazards and are prescribed for about one in four Americans age 45 and older. The reason statins cause pain could be due to an energy-producing coenzyme called Q10. Scientists have discovered that statins deplete the body's natural supply of coenzyme Q10. Does taking coenzyme Q10 supplements help? Study results were mixed, so talk to your doctor to find out if this might help you.

The reason statins cause pain could be due to an energy-producing coenzyme called Q10. Scientists have discovered that statins deplete the body's natural supply of coenzyme Q10. Does taking coenzyme Q10 supplements help? Study results were mixed, so talk to your doctor to find out if this might help you.

Opiate

The class of drugs known for dull pain can also cause this in some cases. Long-term opioid use and addiction can produce an effect known as opioid-induced hyperalgesia (OIH). OIH actually makes your body more sensitive to pain. Taking opioids can suppress your body's natural pain-relieving functions, leaving users vulnerable to pain after the onset of the drug.

Stress and anxiety can cause a variety of physical pain. This includes the jaw, neck, chest, and stomachback pain, as well as headaches and muscle cramps.

Body pains caused by anxiety disorders can be controlled. Getting the right balance of sleep, exercise, and proper nutrition into your daily life can go a long way. There are also relaxation techniques that can be helpful, such as meditation and breathing exercises. Medications sometimes treat this problem as well and vary from patient to patient. Some medications that can help are SSRIs, MAOIs, and tricyclic antidepressants.

Depressionit can cause the pain to last longer and be more intense. And the worse a person experiences pain, the more likely they are to become depressed and the more severe their depression tends to be. Body aches are a common complaint among people diagnosed with depression, so much so that according to a major survey, nearly 70% of patients diagnosed with depression have seen a doctor with only physical symptoms. The rationale for this is complex.

Neurotransmitters are the chemicals that send messages from one nerve cell to another. The neurotransmitters that respond to both mood and pain are the same: serotonin and norepinephrine. For this reason, people with chronic pain are sometimes prescribed antidepressants. Other treatments may include psychotherapy, pain rehabilitation, and a variety of lifestyle changes such as exercise, meditation, and journaling.

It's easy to see how living in agony can get in the way of a good night's sleep. When it hurts, it can be so distracting that it makes it difficult to sleep. A little more difficult to understand is how lack of sleep can make painful problems worse. Some studies suggest that lack of sleep leads to more pain. The reasons for this have not been determined. But if so, getting a good night's sleep can help reduce your pain, and relieving your pain can help you recover.sleep betterin addition.

The saying “no pain, no gain” is often heard in science. But studies show that the opposite can be true. According to a study of nearly 40,000 Norwegian adults, those who exercised more than three times a week were 28% less likely to suffer from chronic musculoskeletal disorders. Those who exercised regularly were 50% less likely to experience painful symptoms on more than 15 days in any given month.

Another study in the UK asked more than 2,000 adults if they had felt pain in the past month and if they had exercised in the past month. Those who experienced "some pain" were 70% less likely to exercise as much as others their age, and those who experienced chronic widespread pain were four times less likely. However, what none of these studies show is whether body pain causes inactivity or whether inactivity causes body pain.

Every part of your body has a receptor forVitamin-D, from your bones to your muscles to your brain cells. And there seems to be a link between very low vitamin D levels and chronic pain. What causes the other is up for debate, but since it has other health benefits, some researchers believe vitamin D supplements make sense if someone has chronic pain. Whether or not supplements provide relief is up for debate.

Arthritis sufferers should be particularly concerned for two reasons. For one, vitamin D keeps calcium in your blood and keeps your bones hard and strong. On the other hand, corticosteroids (a common treatment for arthritis) appear to decrease your body's levels of vitamin D.

It's easy to get more vitamin D in the summer. By simply exposing 50% of your skin to sunlight for about 15 minutes, your body will produce the vitamin D it needs for a daily dose. This can be more difficult in winter, especially in northern areas with very little sunlight. For people who can't be out in the sun, oily fish provides plenty of vitamin D, and raw fish provides even more. Many grains and cereals are also fortified with vitamin D.

While chronic pain has many causes, the good news is that you don't have to suffer. There are many ways to get relief from persistent torment. Some approaches are more effective than others, so talk to your doctor about what treatments might work best for you. They include:

• relaxation therapy
• psychotherapy
• Biofeedback
• behavior change
• Tai Chi
• Acupuncture
• message therapy
• Meditation
• self-government programs

dehydrationIs the fluid lossDiarrhea, vomiting, fever or excessive urination. You need enough water in your body to maintain blood volume, digest food, regulate body temperature, and perform many other important functions. Losing water and electrolytes can lead to body aches. How do you know if you are dehydrated? Signs and symptoms includedry mouth, tiredness, sunken eyes, decreased urination, extreme thirst, dark colored urine, dizziness and confusion. If you have symptoms of severe dehydration and are unable to drink or maintain fluids, you may need intravenous fluids to rehydrate yourself.

Fever, muscle pain, runny nose, nasal congestion, chills, headache, and fatigue are typical flu symptoms but can occur with the flu.a coldin addition. However, it is usually the severity of the symptoms that differentiates the two. Flu-like symptoms are usually more severe than cold symptoms. If you have a cold or flu, rest and drink plenty of fluids. Home remedies like chicken soup can help. See a doctor if you have severe symptoms. Certain tests can be done in the first few days of your illness that will show if you have the flu and thus rule out a cold.

Histoplasmosis is a fungal infection caused by Histoplasma. The fungus lives in soil contaminated by large amounts of bird and bat droppings. People can become infected with Histoplasma by inhaling airborne mold spores. Affected people may suffer from cough, fatigue, fever and body aches. People who develop histoplasmosis usually get better without treatment, but in some cases, people with compromised immune systems can experience severe symptoms. Many people who inhale spores have no symptoms. The fungus is found in the central and eastern parts of the United States, as well as areas of Africa, Asia, Australia, South America, and Central America.

Delayed muscle soreness (DOMS) is muscle pain and stiffness that occurs about 1 to 2 days after a new or strenuous type of exercise. The pain occurs due to microscopic trauma to the muscles that occurs during stretching activities during exercise. An example of an eccentric exercise would be curling your biceps after lifting a weight. Over-the-counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and massage may be helpful in relieving late-onset muscle soreness. Take a break if you're delaying muscle soreness and give your body time to rest and recover. Always get your doctor's approval to begin an exercise program, and start each new type of exercise slowly, increasing your activity level as you get stronger.

Trigger points are tender muscle areas that cause pain. Areas where this occurs show decreased blood flow, increased contraction, and spasms. Increased nerve sensitivity causes pain. Tender points can be assignedthe sum, tension headaches,back pain, ear-jaw joint (money machine) and limited range of motion in the affected areas. Muscle areas affected by trigger points feel hard compared to the surrounding areas. They can also cause pain in more remote areas. This is called referred pain. Trigger point injections are an effective treatment for this type of pain.