Perimenopause and SEVERE joint pain - any one else??

Julie, yes. I have pain at the back of my neck to the left side mainly , right at the top nr my skull. I also have stiffness in my neck and jaw. Had it for about 2yrs now and despite loads of tests etc all I have been told us that it's musculoskeletal skeletal. No idea why I am getting it though. It's worse some days than others but always there. Quite simply 'a pain in the neck'.Can't help thinking there is a hormonal link.

awww thanku for that. I firstly thought it was my mattress . oh hang on having a flush :-( ................I'm bk ! then my pillows but I've only Had it since the change in my hormone level so I guess ur right. do u take any supplements etc to help u through this rubbish time ?

Just wanted to update you on my latest news. I'm 50 and when i came off the pill in Spring i began to suffer terrible joint pain, randomly, in my wrists, ankles, elbows, knees etc etc.

After some research and talking to my doc, I did decide to go back onto my pill, which is a low dose progesterone only mini pill that i take all the time. I've also started making my own soya milk and burgers from one cup of beans a week, to boost my oestrogen levels with the plant oestrogen that it contains...

I'm please to say that, for now, the horrid peri menopausal symptoms are back in the box and have disappeared. No doubt as the years progress they will creep back but for now, i'm much better.

Hil

xx

Hi everyone,

I've posted before when I wrote about the benefits of evening primose oil; Another tip would be to cut down on your refined sugar intake. I was suffering from a lot of inflammation due to stomach issues and I had to alter my diet. Since I gave up sugar the inflammation has disappeared from my joints and muscles. If you look it up on the net you'll see that cutting out sugar helps with any inflammation problem. In my experience, though, most people can't imagine doing this. I suppose it depends how much pain you're in. If the doughnut seems worth the frozen shoulder then go for it! Personally I feel so much better.

I cannot believe that i am not alone....thanking you all x

Like so many others I want to thank all of you for sharing.. I do wish I had of found this forum months ago! I'm 44 and am in menopause. My youngest child is 11 and I started suspecting I was entering this stage about 6 years ago. My teenage stepdaughter was a difficult child and my doctor chalked all my symptoms up to stress.. which was very much the case. After all, I did have five children, but my symptoms at the time was the change in/lack of periods, constant migraines, VERY emotional and sensitive, very forgetful, couldn't concentrate, etc... basically I was a total basket case!! I even had a few panic attacks. Even though my mother, sister, and two aunts had stopped their periods before age 40 my doctor was still convinced it was just stress. I fought it as long as I could then I agreed to take something for stress and did so for about two years, which did lighten things mildly, but because I see so much drug addiction everywhere I look, I've never been big on using much medicine. After a couple of years on the stress medicine my daughter moved out and things slightly improved. Four months later I took my last round of birth control pills and stopped the medicine for stress. Within the next four months I had only had three migraines and my thinking was clearer, etc.! I thought for sure my doctor had been right, that it was just stress and my period would get back on course.. not so. About a year later I was on the emotional roller coaster again and the insomnia was worse than it had ever been!!! Then I went through about a year where I would go from extremely hot to extremely cold in a matter of seconds! Then I got pregnant, but we lost the baby and I've heard that happens a lot during this stage. I didn't have a period for three months, then no more after that. Immediately after the surgery the hot flashes hit. Thankfully they've not been too terribly bad! None of the above mentioned issues were going on at this time, but I had had this horrible pain in my shoulder and I thought, "okay, I can deal with these hot flashes if I can get my shoulder to stop hurting".. then I start hurting here and there and like so many of you I was sick with worry that I had a terrible illness to come on me like bone cancer, or a muscle disease, etc.! So I go for my yearly physical that I had missed the year before and this time he says "Maybe you are going through menopause".. so a little blood work confirmed I was! With my aches and pains he has talked to me twice about taking natural hormones. I don't want to do this but I hurt so bad some days. I will say this though, *Julie32518*, I started taking fish oil and 5000 UI of D3 and it helped a lot! Still in lots of pain though so he has now recommended I try taking glucosamine sulfate which helps with joint pain caused by various reasons. I was also tested for various other things including lupus, three kinds of arthritis, etc. and everything was good. I will post if the glucosamine helps or not, also like *Loubyonline* mentioned, some stretching will help. I found some that are easy enough to do while still lying in bed that will ease the pain before even getting up! Ladies I do hate that this post has been so long, but have read so many of your stories and they were just sooo familiar, I just had to share mine. I too hate that so many others are going through this, but glad to know I'm not alone, as I've ask so many that have went through menopause about their experience and I've not found NO ONE that has had the problems I'm having, so I am glad to have found you all! Again, sorry for such a long post!

hello, my name is josie and my mom has been complaining about her bones for a while now. i always massage her legs and feet, because that's where it hurts her the most. my mom is 52 years old and she is going through menopause. i was reading your post Lesley and i am sorry that u went through that pain and i too went to Dr.Google to search what could be a cause and i also got a heart attack when bone cancer came up but i know she does not have bone cancer.

my mother is very stubborn, she does not want to go to the doctor because she thinks they will chop off her legs! i know sh'es scared to find something out but i don't think she has anything serious like that. today i massaged her legs and she told me that all her bones hurt. I was wondering if you OR ANY OF YOU girls know of any medicine i could buy my mom to help the pain in her bones go away or make them hurt less.

thank you! please respond

This is all very interesting info on here. My problems started just a year ago with a kidney problem, then chest infection and then aches and pains started in my arm spreading to my other arm, legs etc. Pain in my back neck and it almost seemed I had aged years in a matter of a few short months. I should mention I am 52 year old woman with 3 teenage children, working full time. I come from a family with Autoimmune diseases, my mum had lupus. So I started to think that might be the problem for me. I went back and forth to the doctors, they did blood tests, chest x-ray etc. The only thing that came back was low vit D. I kept going back to the doctors as i wasnt feeling any better. Getting also bad pains in my chest area when walk anywhere, so combination of the a pains and aches all over my body with now clutching my chest when I walk up and own stairs or an slightly longer distance. I was referred to a rheumatologist who looked at my joints asked me a few questions and then just dismissed me as an overweight middle aged woman. Told me you get stress on your joints because of being overweight. I did tell him that the cycle is the less you can do because of pain makes your weight go up but he at that point seemed to lose interest. I just came back from holiday and was feeling slightly better and he just mentioned that I had a good tan. I was very disappointed I wanted someone to help me with diagnosing what was wrong with me and he just didnt help, however he referred me to the cardiology department for a running test and they would monitor my heart. What they discovered that there appeared to be nothing wrong with my heart but my blood pressure was very very high. The stopped the test because of it. Referred back to my GP. The current doctor was sympathetic but still has not had any ideas. She is now doing a cholestral test and getting me to wear a blood pressure monitor all day to see about the high blood pressure. Meanwhile the aches and pains are back with a vengenance. Its the feeling that you need to lay down but after you do you become extremely stiff and when I get up I feel like I am 90. Reading some of you posts makes me think this may all be to do with the menopause, which no one has made any connection to. My period have reduced over the last 3 years from 7 days to to 2 only. I get dry eyes a lot and some nightly sweating. I am back at my GP's in two weeks and I am going to flag some of this that I have read to her as I can clearly make all these connections. It would be just good to understand whats going on. I feel depressed a lot and tearful and thats just not me. Thanks everyone for all posting as it really helps to understand.

Hi josiebriones, if you read back through the posts you will see there is no magic pill that will make your Mum feel better instantly I'm afraid. Vitamins help some, HRT others, it is all a bit hit and miss and she needs to try some things and see what works for her. I do feel though that she should go to the doctors to rule out anything like arthritis or anything else that they can treat. Sometimes just talking to someone and finally knowing the cause of the problems can make you feel a bit better. I have found that being more active has helped me, since I left my office job and do something that keeps me on my feet more during the day my stiffness and aches/pains have eased a bit. You are being very kind and supportive and your Mum is very lucky to have you.I hope you can find something that helps her feel a bit better soon x

Hi. I have posted on here earlier. I have also found activity helps and also cutting down or cutting out refined sugar is really helpful. I have muscle pain and stiffness and a physio has helped this but it can get quite expensive. Definitely worth trying cutting out sugar and see if it helps. It is very difficult living constantly with this but Trying different solutions really helps you to keep going and gives you a new focus. I'm also trying natural progesterone cream which has helped my dry itchy skin on my legs ( I don't even put it on my legs). Can't say for sure if it helps anything else because the symptoms and the drug side effects are all mixed up together so hard to tell. Good luck with everything. Xxx

Hi josie have you thought about a foot spa for your mum? You can heat up the water to an acceptable temperature and turn on the spa jets and the warm bubbling water might sooth your mum's feet, in particular. You could add some salts or a few drops of oil like lavender. The smell of lavender is calming. In Australia you can buy foot spas from pharmacies and department stores and they are not expensive. Also a heated wheat pack on both legs might soothe the ache. Good luck. I think a trip to the doctor is warranted to have your mum's feet and legs checked.

Hi everyone,

i agree with dollyhouse, the wheatbags work a treat (and they're so cheap, bought mine from the oxfam shop) I find heat treatment is better than ibuprofen for inflammatory pain. Also, a word of warning about ibuprofen, if you're having nerve issues this drug can excite your nervous system so use it with caution. Actea racemosa is a homoeopathic remedy given to me by a doctor, giving it a go as it can't hurt.

Josie you can buy magnesium salts in the chemists for your mum.

Keep posting girls!

Hi All

Have got to bottom of page two of this fasinating blog having googled 'back pain and menopause'.

KATIE13 - Agree - and would be very interested in the Women's Health Research on Menopause.

They have such a lot of specialist advice for pre natal and post natal periods in a woman's life - why not this end as well?

I dont have time to go into it all at present suffice to say Ive had increased awareness of lower back and hip pain when sleeping in particular and after bending (e.g. gardening) and getting 'moving' - hips dont seem to have any movement initially after these tasks! and pain at night has been woken me.

GP has referred me to Physiotherapist (NHS long wait) but back pain got so bad I took myself off to private Physio who had worked wonders when I suffered (and suffer we do) with FROZEN SHOULDER - one at aged 40 & the other aged 45 (Im now 54). One I had the cortozone injections (very painful) and the other I didn't. Slight difference in pain thresholds - used a Tens machine second time round and took pain killers only at night, in order to sleep basically. Keep up the exercises no matter how minimal they seem at first, eventually it gets 'better' - it takes time.

Re: current BACK PAIN - Ive seen private physic twice and it has 'helped'. I do the very low impact, stretching exercises in the morning before going to work and it helps.

What dosent help is being sedentary for long whether sitting, standing or lying down.

Im off to Boots today to purchase and try out some of the suggestions on this blog such as the the 'menopause' magnet and to purchase some Manuka honey.

Fortunately, for me I havent had massive sweats or the like and could possibly put that down to general good level of fitness and taking things such as crushed linseed (they need to be crushed to get real benefit), sprinkling seeds (pumpkin, sesame, sunflower etc) on fruit, cereal, yoghurt regularly. still early days and who knows! But a couple of friends of mine who have been through this have recommended this remedy and its worked for them.

Have to say a routine fitness regime is less and less appealing these days and this is possibly due to gradual Energy drop....the list goes on! But I am trying to keep up fitness with swimming.

Hope to find the time to read rest of the blogs and interested in anywhere where one might be able to get some good advice.

Thanks!

Zoe