Perimenopause and SEVERE joint pain - any one else??

Hi there I am so glad I found this website it was only due to pure luck I am in premenopause and have been

for two years I have really bad flushes tired etc what most woman have but I have started the painful elbows knees you name it and now suffer from aniexty due to the fact what is happening here im am 50 but feel like

an old lady I have had Tests rumotied arthristis also I was so certain that it would come back as postive but it didnt I thought maybe bone cancer I have done alot of googling and it to was scary my partner had to ban. Me from it my male doctor tells me it is from stress you will be fine I explained that I was going through menopause but he wasnt really listening to me I have had no one to consult with and dont know were to go from. But I am so glad to have read what everyone has written and maybe I am not mad I like to thank everyone. Out there

Hi Lesley, thank you for getting us all together. It's quite comforting to know I am going through the same symptoms as other meno women, all of a sudden I don't feel so alone and unsure. This is so refreshing and far better than going to the GP. What amazes me is the scale of meno symptoms, how debilitating, we are almost crippled. I don't know why night flushes are called night flushes because I'm an expert at the daytime ones. I usually get an overwhelming sensation of feeling insecure just seconds prior to a flush like you would when adrenaline kicks in. Then comes the beetroot juice to fill my head and then it's never mind insecure it's total embarrassement if I'm chatting with anyone. I had frozen shoulder about ten years ago and I've never known pain like it. You can't imagine the endocrine system get so out of sync. The joint aches are only snapshots of pain and completely manageable but what a relief to hear others go through this as I too thought I was going mad. I am 54 and so glad to have found such a great website and such an interesting discussion. Thank you to everyone who took part, I have found it extremely informative.

hello everyone thank god for this website I'm 49 but still think I'm 30 lol I began a year ago suffering anxiety and slight depression with no motivation. I had a perimenopausal test which the gp said was negative ! 10 months on and my periods are up the wall . hot flushes headaches. dizziness and horrendous neck ache which I've noticed is quite common . I don't want to take hrt as mum died at 49 with breast cancer. any other tips and reccomendations i would be grateful for ! I am now very quickly feeling my age :-/ thanku

I enjoy getting email updates when someone adds a post. I don't feel so alone with my aching joints and other symptoms and it is good to know others are also finding this forum and feeling more reassured.

On a lighter note, another "symptom" not mentioned in the usual Perimenopause list is "invisible woman" syndrome, which I suffer from particularly when out shopping for certain items like clothes, technology etc ....

maybe were not invisible we just think we are ? :-) x

Hello Ladies

I am sorry that there are so many of us here, and in this hellish menopause pain club!! But I am so GLAD that many of you have found this site and have been helped by it.Why did no one tell us what meno was really like? I guess it is the same as childbirth...you have to experience it to fully understand it. We are NOT going mad, and all the pain and symptoms we have are real. I felt like I had aged 40 years overnight...hobbling around like a 90 year old. NO ONE told me menopause would be like this, and it seems no doctor understands it!! There must be some menopausal GP's out there, but I have yet to find one. So, we have to help ourselves.

I still have grating, snapping, creaking joints, and sometimes feel like the Tin Man....but since I recovered from my Frozen Shoulder I am not in as much pain.I still have sore neck and back, and am definitely developing a slight hump at the base of my neck....like a rounded back...which is probably first signs of osteoporosis. My mother has this too.For years I was on stupid faddy low fat Rosemary Conley diets, no fat or milk or cheese...so I have probably done myself no favours. I now drink one skinny latte a day, and eat wilted spinach every day (full of calcium, more than in raw spinach) I just buy it in bags from Asda, wash it, and steam it for five mins, salt pepper and a little nutmeg with some grated cheese on the top. I love it, but I know it is not to everyone's taste! Doctors tell us NOT to take calcium supplements because it can cause furred arteries...and we have to look after our hearts.

I have not gone back on HRT since I had the problem with high blood pressure. BUT - I am thinking about it. I am having horrendous sweats - they seem to come in cycles. Three weeks where I get one or two flushes, mostly at night - then bam, a week of 'sweat city'. I cannot drink a hot drink or use a hairdryer without sweating like a pig. Speaking of hair - my hair is thinning, and has lost all it's ooomph. I just feel so OLD.

I also have terrible anxiety - waking in the early hours with this irrational fear. It is like I am standing on the edge of a cliff, or contemplating going to the dentist (my worst fear, lol) ...butterflies in the stomach. I just feel terrified for no reason, and sometimes it lasts all day. Apparently it is to much adrenaline in the system, another symptom of Meno as the adrenal glands go haywire. Gee, thanks.

I am thinking of trying estradiol patches and uterogestan pessaries (progesterone.) I swore I would not try HRT again, but I cannot take the sweats and anxiety any more.

Will post back soon.

hello have u tried fx menopause tabs suggested by doctor Chris Steele from this morning programme I found out about them myself today aparantly they do the same as hrt without the side effects. good luck x

Update from me.

My blood test showed several things the doctor wanted to follow up. Mainly a high Uric Acid level. She is now treating me for Gout. I have been on regular painkillers for 2 weeks and started on Allopurinol tablets last Wednesday. Boy oh boy! Since starting the Allopurinol I have had all my previous pain areas flare up at the same time. Not nice, but expected from the Allopurinol starting to work for gout, which is why she started me on the painkillers before the Allopurinol. I am encouraged that this might be the answer to what has been causing the pains over the past year and that there may be light at the end of the tunnel.

My blood tests did not confirm perimenopause, or menopause, but doc says that from my history I'm definately there.

I'll post again to let you know how things go.

OMG - I just googled pain and menopause and was provide this shining star!!! I can stop worring...i am not alone. Just turned 50 in April and have been having a multitude of issues. I searched the internet and found another site that listed 34 Menopause Symptoms!! What! 34!!! Are you kidding me. I knew of about 7 or 8, but 34? Start reading and it was like a light from the heavens above!!! Now this site. Everything I have been going through and dating back to the last 10 years...explained... finally. I thought I was loosing my mind. Yes another Symptom - panic disorder. Now pain. I feel like I am 80. I sit for more than 10 minutes, and I can't get up off my butt. My last job I was told I had "an odor" in my performance review. I as mortified!! All of these things = menopause!! Why are we not told of these. I didn't have anyone or talk to about it. No females left in my family to discuss this with. Didn't have a family doctor until just last month. Boy will she have a list of things to discuss with me at my first physical.

I only read the first few posts, but I will get back to ALL of them. Thank you all for sharing. I guess it is all trial and error for now. I have seen so much it will be hard to decise what is best for me. For starters, I think hiting the gym for more of a regular routine is best. And yes beat another symptom - depression which stops me from doing just about anything.

Keep the posts coming -- love the information and knowing that I am not alone....

Thank you Julie - will have a look at the tabs

Good luck Tania and Kit, thanks for posting x

well I am back from the GP today too... happily blood pressure is back to normal (it flared earlier in the year while going through a very very stressful family death/family arguments), and back on lowest dose Crestor as the Dr said when I was on it before my cholesterol went down well... aches and pains I am just living with, but I wonder how long for? 55 soon, and can you believe in the past 12 months have had 2 x 2 months of periods.... last two were June/Jul so fingers crossed the damn things STOP!! Everything else all fine, so just putting up with the aches looks like the future for some time. I have had not many sweats at all but have certainly had the pounding heart/palpitions, anxiety and more .. great time isn't it! Throw in a retired husband to the mix and things can certainly be 'interesting'

Hi ladies.

I just had to share this with you.

I was on HRT from the age of 50 to 58 because I had severe hot flushes which left me exhausted (know the routine? Your body wakes you just before the surge starts during the night, so you throw off the covers to minimise the sweat, you fall asleep while waiting for your body to cool, then wake up because you are cold.. covers back on, back to sleep until the next one.. absolutely exhausting - torture!) The (combined)HRT was a Godsend and stopped the flushes.. However, after 5 years I was found to have some fibroids, which over time grew to 8cm. Not relishing the idea of a hysterectomy, and now 58, I thought I'd try coming off the HRT, hoping the sweats would have improved, to see if the fibroids would shrink. After 6 months scans showed they had reduced in size by half, and the hot flushes gradually subsided.. even though I was still woken 3 or more times a night.. I thought I could live with that. HOWEVER.. during the course of the year, since coming off HRT I began to get joint pains. At first I could cope with them.. aqua fit classes are great, and I go twice a week.. but over the months the pains in my joints progressed from just one hip and my back to both hips, both knees, thumbs and, recently, both elbows. The pain got so bad that to get up from sitting in a restaurant was agony.. or out of bed in the morning.. I hobbled like a 90 year old. One day the pain was so bad I was in tears, so I went back to see my gynaecologist and asked if he thought my severe pains were due to coming off the HRT. He said quite possibly.. that not only does HRT help prevent osteoporosis, but it can help with arthritis/joint pain too. I decided to test it out, and went back onto the combined HRT at the beginning of this month.. and after 10 days... the pain has gone from 9/10 to 2/10 The relief.!! I can't tell you. I don't care if the fibroids grow back.. honestly ladies.. I'd rather be laid up for a few weeks following a hysterectomy, if it comes to that, than be in agony with my joints every single day for the foreseeable future. I intend to stay on HRT for good, because the quality of life it gives me - minimal joint pain, no hot flushes, vaginal lubrication (as a bonus!) makes it the best invention ever, as far as I am concerned.

Thank you ladies for sharing your stories. Having suffered for 8y with many of the symptoms you have all described and having had similar GP experiences, there have been times when I thought it was all up in my head, even though the pain and 'other symptoms' were very real. I am so happy to have found you and know I am not going bonkers, although I am sad that so many others share the same pain and other debilitating aspects of human female ageing that is menopause.

Personally I have found yoga (I have practised it most days for over 40 years, just a little stretching makes me feel so much better in the mornings if I am well enough to do it), McTimoney Chiropractic when joint stiffness becomes unbearable and massage have all helped me overcome some of the more debilitating episodes of joint pain. Talking with my friends has also been a real comfort. At 56 I am one of the older ladies in my circle of friends/work colleagues and being able to keep smiling, giving the younger girls a laugh about how awful it is when you are having what I term 'an old lady day', makes me see the brighter side. It is also giving them some education on what they might expect in the years to come so I feel I am being useful on that score at least. I am recommending this page to many of my younger friends so that they can learn from our experience. Keep going girls and thanks for all your input. Fingers crossed the GP's in the UK will pick up this thread and take on board all that we have discovered for ourselves.

thanku everyone for all your posts. has anyone suffered aching in the bk of their neck ? I've Mathis for a couple of months some days worse than others. with stiffness too .