What Your Symptom Is Telling You www.health-website.net
The windows sparkle, the walls are washed and the back porch is clean. Spring has sprung and your annual cleaning is done. You snuggle under the covers for a much-deserved and long-awaited night of sleep, ready to admire and enjoy the results of your toil and trouble in the light of a new day. But when morning breaks, you ache all over. www.health-website.net
Overexertion is one of the more common reasons for total-body achiness. Viral infections, arthritis or other diseases could be responsible, in the absence of excessive activity, doctors say.
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Anytime you do something strenuous that you're not accustomed to doing—spring cleaning, an unusually hard workout, sack-race at the family reunion—you're bound to be sore the next day. But don't be surprised if the aches don't hit until two or three days after the exertion, says Clayton W. Kersting, M.D., a family physician in Newport, Washington. Muscle soreness may take its time in appearing.
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That's especially true if a fall or an accident jars the whole body, according to Anne Simons, M.D., an assistant professor of family and community medicine at the University of California in San Francisco and coauthor of Before You Call the Doctor. "And the soreness could grow progressively worse for a couple of days before it gets better," she says. health
Outside of exertion or physical damage, viral infections—from a cold or flu to pneumonia—can make you feel as if you've constructed your house the day before, not just cleaned it. Invasion of your body by a virus sets off inflammation as your immune system attempts to fight back, causing the soreness in your muscles, Dr. Kersting explains. www.health-website.net
Bites from ticks carrying Lyme disease can cause aching joints all over the body. While the threat from those little buggers has abated somewhat, it still is a problem, Dr. Kersting says. You'll get a tip-off to Lyme disease because a "bull's-eye" rash or a reddening of the skin may appear at the site of the bite or anywhere on the body. (A trip to the woods a few weeks before the achiness struck is another clue.)
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Several other diseases target the joints and transfer soreness into the muscles to which they're connected, giving you a total-body achiness. Connective tissue or autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis or (in rare cases) lupus might be the culprits, according to David R. Rudy, M.D., a professor of family medicine and chairman of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Health Sciences/Chicago Medical School. "There are all degrees of severity with these problems," he says, "and mild forms could be mistaken for something else."
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Rheumatoid arthritis pain typically is worse in the morning after you've risen from a night's worth of stillness, but it improves once you begin to move around for 30 to 60 minutes, Dr. Rudy notes. Wear-and-tear arthritis (called osteoarthritis) is usually worse toward the end of the day. health
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Achiness from overactivity and most infections clear up with time. More stubborn causes require more determined treatment. Here's how to feel a bit better no matter what is causing the problem.
Go soak yourself. Twenty to 30 minutes of heat three times a day provides soothing, relaxing relief for total-body aches, Dr. Kersting says. Saunas, Jacuzzis, hot showers and long immersions in a tub filled with hot water all make you feel better. Dry heat from an electric blanket or chemical heat from one of those over-the-counter salves also feels good, Dr. Kersting says. (Warning: don't use an electric blanket or heating pad at the same time you use salves. You could be severely burned.)
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Take a load off. If an accident or a viral illness is causing your aches, just take it easy for a couple of days until you feel well enough to resume your regular activities, Dr. Simons says. health-website
Take a tablet. Aspirin or other over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications like ibuprofen offer temporary reprieves from mild achiness, according to Dr. Simons, but they won't eliminate it unless the source is an inflammation.
For more discomforting aches, your doctor will be able to prescribe more potent drugs. Doctors prescribe antibiotics for Lyme disease and infections, and anti-inflammatories for connective tissue aches.
Move it. For aches related to overexertion or arthritis, mild exercises and stretching will make your body feel better. "Don't give into the aches," Dr. Rudy says. Choose exercises, such as swimming or light weight training, that take your muscles and joints through their full ranges of motion without overstretching the joints.
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