Can HRT stop the osteoarthritis?

Hello marlene. I have osteoarthritis in quite a few joints and have had a lot of pain which has required steroid injections in a few joints and a lot of painkillers. However last December I saw my GP because of my menopausal symptoms, hot and cold flushes, low mood, insomnia to name a few so I was prescribed HRT. Within less than a week my joint pain had miraculously disappeared and now I just have occasional pain particularly in my knees which I can cope with. So it seems it has definitely helped my joint pains.

In my own experience, Marlene, I have found that a diet high in calcium and especially weight-bearing exercise such as walking and jogging has actually increased my bone density. I'm now 68! Remaining mobile is key, in any case, especially if you have athritis.

Hi I just came across your post.

Did the HRT work ?

Ive just started it for the same reason in 50 in menopause and

have had really bad joint pain since my periods became iregular.

I came across this post researching something else. Yes, HRT literally saved my life.

I am 71 now and have been on it from the age of 50. When I was younger (about 35-40) I had some joint problems mostly in my shoulders. At times it got really bad and I was given steroid injections into the shoulder, on 2 or 3 occations,

otherwise I was not diagnosed with any arthritis then. I went on HRT for other menapausal symptoms and few years later tried to come off as it was considered controversial by some doctors and it was not known about long term effects.

This is when the arthritis kicked in... I had pain in every joint and other conditions developed like trigger finger and my frozen shoulder started hurting again. 

I was in agony for 6 months, was prescribed all sorts of pain killers and other medication (but not steroids) until my doctor put me back on HRT. 

Within a month I felt like newly born. the pain was gone. I inted to keep on taking it for the rest of my life. I also feel a lot more energetic. There are many different kinds of arthritis, I read somewhere that there is a "menopausal arthritis" which is possibly what I had. I met a lady several years ago, she was about 80 at the time and had very advanced arthitis in all the joints, especially hands and feet/legs,

with severe swelling, could not put the shoes on easily. She told me that she developed those symptoms after the menopause and was never on any HRT.

I hope this helps.

   

 

Hi Marlene

I'm SO pleased I found your article & everyone else who is on HRT. I had a hysterectomy 5 years ago & have been on HRT since. However I decided to wean myself off HRT & with doctors ok hv been only on 2-3 a week for the past 2 months. Omg the pain in my joints for tha past 4 weeks has been horrendous. Getting up in the morning my legs could hardly bend & my neck & lower back makes we walk like an old crock. I am only 59. So here I am sitting in s cafe having just been told that my varicose veins r not the cause of my leg pain but athritis. So while I've been consoling myself with bacon roll I suddenly had s lightbulb moment. What have I done that's different in my life? Well apart from moving my mum up to live with us( who has dementia) the only other major thing I'd done was stop HRT. So asking the question to your trusted website I found that I'm not alone with my belief how useful HRT is. I'm going home to take my "hibernating" HRT & I will keep you posted as to my progress. SO GLAD I decided to take time to myself from life's fast forward to read, share & digest ( & not just my bacon roll)

Marlene,  when I got color set to menopause everything started hurting. Lower back pain, frozen shoulder, and then got muscle and ligament pain. It was chronic and debilitating. I hurt all the the time. And yes, at one point my Doctor has used those words, osteoarthritis. Four  years later I got into vaginal atrophy and dryness. That’s when I was given vaginal Estrace. When I started using it regularly all the pain went away.   It was nice thing short of a miracle.