Menu

Muscle weakness

Hi Wray,
I am 2 months postpartum. One week after I gave birth, it felt like the blood was being sucked out of me and I immediately felt weak in my arms and hands. I went to my doc and she said it is Fibromalgia and gave me a prescription which I have not filled. I can't help but think this muscle weakness and pain is hormonally related. I just constantly feel weak and sore and it hurts for me to pick up my baby. It seems to be getting worse and going into my legs and feet too. Could progesterone help?
Thank you!

Comments for Muscle weakness

Click here to add your own comments

Mar 02, 2013
 Muscle weakness
by: Wray

Hi there Yes it can amazingly! You have myopathy, I had it too after my daughter, so weak I couldn't pick her up, wish I'd know about it then. Luckily I had it again during Peri-menopause. I say luckily as I was able to piece the symptoms together, but only after I'd started progesterone and it went. I looked in to it and found both Progesterone and Vitamin D help. These are some papers on progesterone here, here and here. This last abstract has nothing on it, so I've pasted a passage from the paper which I bought... 'Substantial relief of myopathic disability by progesterone therapy'.....
(We report about a 41-year old woman who was suffering from a general muscle weakness since her early childhood....From July 1998 until July 1999 the patient was treated with progesterone suppositorium 0.4 g once a day from the 14th to the 25th day of the menstrual cycle. In July 1999 her gait had improved significantly and she could get up from a chair more easily, even her ability to walk up and down stairs had improved....Progesterone dosage was increased from 400 mg to 600 mg. In January 2001 the patient reported enthusiastically about the improvement she had gained from progesterone-therapy. The patient reported a clear increase in strength in all affected muscle groups resulting in dramatic functional improvement.) And these on vitamin D here, here and here. Please have a vitamin D test done, I suspect your level is low. For more info on vitamin D levels, test kits etc see the Vitamin D Council, GrassrootsHealth and Birmingham Hospital. Blood levels should be 70-100ng/ml (175-250nmol/L) and not the 30ng/ml (75nmol/L) most labs and doctors regard as adequate. The minimum daily dose should be 5000iu's per day, although recent research indicates it should be 10,000iu's per day, see here. Continued below
Mar 02, 2013
 Muscle weakness Part 2
by: Wray

Hi there It's also vital for the baby too, if breast feeding please see the videos at the bottom of our page on Pregnancy. If not please give some to the baby, see here and here. Dr Cannell recommends the following doses.......

Under 25 pounds: 1,000 IU/day
25-50 pounds: 2,000 IU/day
50-75 pounds: 3,000 IU/day
75-100 pounds: 4,000 IU/day
over 100 pounds: 5,000 IU/day

You will have to use between 400-600mg/day progesterone. Although you might need less if you get your vitamin D up high, near the 100ng/ml level. Do let me know if it helps you. Take care Wray

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Progesterone faq.

Share this page:
Find this page helpful? Please tell others. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.

Search over 8,400 pages on this site...