There are two things that can happen with untreated Graves’ that might cause the soreness in your knees ~ one is bone loss, the other is "muscle wasting" that occurs in the large muscle groups (upper arms, upper legs, chest and back). As your levels come back into the normal range following treatment, and especially once they stabilize, you’ll get some real improvement. Until then, you may continue to have some trouble, though it should get a little better all the time. There are important things to know about this ~ until you are no longer hyperthyroid, the muscle wasting continues to be an issue. We’re not completely certain of the mechanism, but it appears that the "tearing down" of muscle tissue is accelerated, and the "rebuilding" of muscle is suppressed. That means the more you exercise your muscles, the worse it will get. There aren’t many other times in life when this is true, and it seems contrary to rest when your muscles are weakening, but it’ll help minimize the damage until your levels are normal again. So go easy on yourself for now. I’m glad you got a diagnosis, at least, that seems to be the biggest hurdle for us. Once we know, we have some choices to make and then we can proceed to health. Do learn everything you can about what’s going on in your body, because it’ll help you get through this whole thing with the best possible outcome. Everything Graves’ takes TIME, so please understand that right away. You will need to accept small improvements rather than leaps forward, so look for those small improvements and celebrate them each as one step closer to normal. I hope this helps ~ good luck with your treatment, feel free to ask any other questions that come up!
