This was done to help you decide to put more points in strength <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> (just kidding of course).
Many posts have discussed this problem. I, like you, can only pick up a couple of items before becoming encumbered and my strength is at 67 points. My impression is that this may be related to the problem that occurred where items, icons, stats, and maybe weights were improperly applied to generated items. I am sure (fingers crossed) that this will be corrected. But I fear that if it is corrected the existing items you have may be useless (as were all the stored magical items I had when 1.41 and 1.42 were installed).
Hang in there, I expect the next patch to be a doozie <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
btw, does anyone know if many of these problems are unique to the English version, or are they the same in the German version?