Basic diseases as a cause of muscle weakness
Various illnesses can be accompanied by muscle weakness, among others:
- Slipped disc
- Muscle inflammation (myositis)
- Circulatory disorders
- The autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis
- Inflammation of nerves
- Botulism Poisoning with the botulinum toxin, which can enter the body through spoiled food, for example
- Arterial occlusive disease
- Diabetes mellitus
- Metabolic diseases (especially thyroid gland disorders)
- Malignant cancers
- Morbus Parkinson
- Stroke
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
In the first moment it may seem astonishing to the layman if the reason for the own muscle weakness is supposed to be the thyroid gland. However, the thyroid gland is an organ that turns many of the screws of our metabolism and is responsible for our body growth. Over- or under-functioning of the thyroid gland can therefore bring the body out of balance and cause a wide variety of complaints.
These include hypothyroidism, i.e. an underactive thyroid gland, as well as many other symptoms such as muscle weakness. Symptomatic hypothyroidism should therefore always be treated. A thyroid gland dysfunction can also be very relevant in the newborn baby.
A so-called “congenital hypothyroidism“, i.e. a congenital hypofunction of the thyroid gland, must be clarified in the course of the newborn screening. Immediately after birth, it can lead to lowered body temperature (hypothermia), muscle weakness (muscular hypotonia), laziness in drinking, constipation and much more. If undetected and untreated, such an underfunction in the child, in addition to the muscle weakness, can have serious consequences such as mental retardation.
In general, therefore, if there are general symptoms of exhaustion and muscle weakness, the thyroid gland values should be controlled. Hypothyroidism and associated muscle weakness can be treated very easily by taking the deficient thyroid hormones alone. Muscular atrophy (muscular dystrophy) is a hereditary disease.
There are different types of muscular dystrophy. What they have in common is that a deficiency of a protein called dystrophin, which is very important for proper muscle function, leads to a gradual progressive muscle atrophy. In the Duchenne type, this protein is completely missing, in the Becker type, it is just not available in sufficient amounts.
Accordingly, Duchenne type is associated with the more severe disease pattern, the disease manifests itself earlier, is characterized by a faster progression of paralysis, and ties patients to a wheelchair at an early age. Patients with muscular dystrophies usually die at some point in time due to a failure of the respiratory muscles. A stroke occurs when a certain area of the brain is no longer adequately supplied with oxygen and therefore no longer functions properly.
This can happen either as a result of a cerebral haemorrhage or the obstruction of a cerebral vessel (thrombosis, embolism). If the area of the brain responsible for muscle control is affected, the stroke can manifest itself in the form of muscle weakness or even complete paralysis. These symptoms occur on the opposite side of the affected hemisphere.
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the nervous system. The initial manifestation of this disease is usually in young adulthood without any apparent cause. It is characterized by the destruction of the myelin sheaths of the nerve fibers. However, these are absolutely necessary to enable the rapid transmission of impulses along the nerve fibers. Depending on which nerve fibers are affected by the atrophy of the medullary sheaths, patients may have motor or sensory disorders.
