What Your Muscle Pain Is Telling You

Typically when you have muscle pain it's equate to soreness from working out or maybe an injury. But what most don't consider is how muscle pain is often associated with chronic health conditions.

Muscle pain tops the symptom list for many illnesses and health conditions from the flu to fibromyalgia. Subtle differences in severity and location of muscle pain provide hints about what's going on inside your body. What does your muscle pain say about your health? Here, five common conditions that may be causing your muscle pain.

1. Osteoarthritis is inflammation of a joint caused by wear and tear or injury. The tissues that line the joint deteriorate over time and can create damage to the bones, nerves, and muscles surrounding the joint. Muscles responsible for that joint's movement get tender when bones become misaligned and when nerves become trapped between bones or due to tension from trying to keep the joint functional. Your muscle pain may be associated with arthritis if it's located close to a joint in your hands, knees, shoulders, neck and/or lower back.

2. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease that leads to inflammation of the joints, surrounding tissues and other organs. Muscle pain associated with RA usually occurs on both sides of the body, especially in the fingers, wrists, elbows, shoulders, hips, knees, ankles, toes, and neck. It's also associated with fatigue, recurring fevers, poor appetite, redness and inflammation of skin and a host of other symptoms. 

3. Fibromyalgia is a chronic autoimmune disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory, and mood issues. Fibromyalgia is currently thought to cause pain because of the way your brain processes pain signals.  You might have fibromyalgia if your muscle pain feels like a dull ache on both sides of the body, especially in specific tender points located in these areas:

Back of the headBetween shoulder bladesTop of shouldersFront sides of neckUpper chestOuter elbowsUpper hipsSides of hipsInner knees

4. Lupus is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease that occurs when your immune system attacks different body systems, including joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, heart and lungs. Muscle pain occurs in response to inflammation of associated tissues. Lupus is suspected when there's a butterfly-shaped rash on the face, covering the nose and cheeks and deep fatigue, hair loss, joint pain, stiffness, and many other symptoms.

5. Influenza. Muscle pain doesn't always indicate chronic disease. Sometimes it's associated with the flu, a viral infection that causes high fever, respiratory congestion and cough, severe fatigue, headache and muscle pain. While some people are at high-risk for serious complications caused by influenza, most people recover within a week or so. The best way to avoid the flu is by getting an annual flu vaccine.

Sources:

The Arthritis Foundation

www.arthritis.org

National Fibromyalgia Association

www.fmaware.org

Lupus Foundation of America

www.lupus.org

National Institutes of Health

Influenza

http://health.nih.gov/topic/Influenza

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Digestive Problems Could Stifle Your Weight Loss Goals

The basic rule of weight loss says that if you take in fewer calories than you use, you'll shed pounds. But sometimes, no matter how hard you try it seems that the scale just won't budge. If you feel that you've been exercising and no results ensue, it may be time to consider whether digestive problems could be getting in the way.

Most doctors recognize a handful of gastrointestinal problems that could interfere with weight loss or cause weight gain. In addition, some medical professionals believe that the way we eat can affect digestive health in ways that prevent weight loss.

Your physician may diagnosis constipation if you have fewer than three bowel movements per week, but each individual has his or her own rhythm and range of normal according to gastroenterologist Donald Henderson, MD, MPH. Dr. Henderson, Medical Director of Encore Wellness in Los Angeles, California, explains that in cases of severe constipation, your body may be holding five to fifteen extra pounds that won't shed through exercise. Often, constipation can be managed by proper fiber and fluid intake. For continued problems, Dr. Henderson recommends an over-the-counter laxative with polyethylene glycol such as MiraLAX®. If these methods don't ease constipation, your primary doctor can offer additional treatment options.

If you suffer from ulcers, heartburn, or indigestion, yourself-cure might interfere with weight loss efforts. People with these conditions, says Dr. Henderson, "find that they eat because eating itself helps to neutralize acid production." The best approach: be honest about what you're putting into your mouth. "Medicinal" spoonfuls of ice cream used to ease heartburn still count as calories. If you realize that you are eating extra calories to deal with gastrointestinal problems, seek more effective solutions by talking to your doctor.

Your liver plays a crucial role in digestion. Liver disease can cause digestive problems and lead to weight gain. As Dr Henderson explains, dysfunction of the liver results in fluid retention, which leads to increased weight. To manage liver disease, you may need to modify salt intake and possibly protein intake. "You may also need to receive treatment to handle clots or anything else that might be causing obstructions of flow to the liver," says Dr. Henderson.

Beyond physical ailments, it's possible that habits such as eating late at night or eating quickly are disrupting how your body digests food or processes calories.

Though it's not clear why, a 2011 study suggests that if you eat late at night you may be more likely to gain weight than if you ate the same food earlier in the day. Some research, including a 2008 study of 30 healthy women, finds a link between eating too fast and increased calorie consumption. You may not even realize you're consuming more food; thus, your regular exercise plans won't be enough to offset those quickly ingested, unplanned calories.

So before you give up on exercise, look for some basic ways to ensure you're going into a weight loss plan with a healthy digestive system: get a check up from your physician, monitor what and how much you're eating, and be mindful of when and how you're consuming those calories.

Sources:

Baron KG, Reid KJ, Kern AS, Zee PC. "Role of sleep timing in caloric intake and BMI." Obesity 19(7):1374-81 July 2011. Web. October 13, 2011.

Kathleen J. Melanson, Ana M. Andrade, Geoffrey W. Greene. "Eating Slowly Led to Decreases in Energy Intake within Meals in Healthy Women." Journal of the American Dietary Association 108 (7) July 2008. Web. October 13, 2011.

Nafisa K, Kuwajerwala, MD. "Intestinal Motility Disorders." Web. October 13, 2011.

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5 Tips to Avoid Break-Up Weight Gain

Everyone knows digging into a carton of ice cream or polishing off a bag of cookies spells contentment, even if it's fleeting. After a traumatic breakup, turning to food for solace seems like a great solution.

Nothing terrible will happen to your figure if you spend a night or two indulging in your favorite comfort foods. But unfortunately, if you get into the habit of noshing as a way to numb the pain of a breakup, you may be horrified the next time you hop on the scale.

Here's how to prevent post breakup weight gain:

1. If you feel like you simply must splurge, get out of the house for your splurge, says Erin Palinski, RD, owner and founder of the Vernon Nutrition Center in Franklin, New Jersey. You'll eat much less ice cream if you have to drive to the local ice cream shop to buy it than if you bring home an entire carton. "Once you've finished, it's gone and you can't eat any more," Palinski says. "The same thing works with pastries. Buy just one or two, and you won't be tempted to stay up all night eating a boxful."

2. Try burning calories instead of ingesting them. The post break-up period is when people go crazy for rich, fattening comfort foods, not raw fruits and vegetables, Palinski says. "When you eat simple sugar and carbs, your body releases more serotonin, which makes you feel good and gives you a mood burst," she explains. But the good mood is short-lived, and invariably you feel worse afterwards. So don't go that route. "Even if it is painful, force yourself to go out and be social," Palinski says. "You aren't going to feel good about yourself after a gallon of ice cream, so you may as well go out."

3. Try to avoid simple carbohydrates. After a breakup, people tend to eat carbs because they go down so easily and make you feel good, agrees Jean Cirillo, Ph.D., practicing psychologist and author of The Soul Mate's Nest: How to Find True Love without Compromising. "High carb foods stimulate the production of oxytocin, the cuddle hormone," she explains. "You want carbs because you are experiencing a drop in oxytocin after the breakup. You aren't getting the sex, the cuddling, the relaxed feeling of being with the person you have been so attached to."  A great substitute, your body figures, is to binge on carbs.

4. Eat balanced meals. But if you really can't help but give in to cravings, go for some lower-calorie alternatives. Melt a little dark chocolate over fruit, order pizza with a scant amount of cheese and a lot of vegetables and, if you are having alcohol, cut white wine with club soda for a spritzer. If you're going for the hard stuff, avoid sugary mixers, and use diet soda as a mixer instead.

5. Don't give in to lethargy. Put some aerobic exercise into your life and you'll get the same feel-good effect as you do by eating "comfort food" carbs. "Intense physical activity gives the same good feelings," Cirillo says. So find something you like to do, whether it's swimming, tennis lessons, or biking through the park. Make time in your day for exercise, and you will be surprised at how much better you feel. And who knows? On your walk or jog, you may even meet an interesting new guy.

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