Menopause Feet? Are They a Thing?

[Margritte]

I'm currently enjoying the menopause I'm using one swipe of hormone gel each day and feel fine, EXCEPT for my feet.

Joint pain was the reason I started HRT and it's really helped, except for the foot pain. For background, I'm an ex-ballet dancer, have had an untreated stress fracture in my left foot and two treated fractures in my right foot. I also had/ve plantar fasciitis in one foot.

I walk a lot, run etc, and I'm usually fine to do stuff, but the day afterwards, my feet are so painful and stiff I can barely walk normally.

Yesterday I walked around a city and park for 6 hours, and today my feet are so bloody painful, it's awful.

I've got a high pain threshold, I'm really active and it's getting me down a lot. Is menopause feet a thing? Can anyone relate to this? It seems to affect my arches and heels mainly.

Menopause doesn't help but mainly you are experiencing what ex ballet dancers experience after years of repeated damage to their feet. You need really good shoes and will almost certainly have some degree of arthritis, plus a bone density scan might be a good idea.

Blood tests for arthritis might be a good idea

Oh yes along with the soreness and achy in the morning the extra itchy feet at night which I have to put avenno cream on most nights now.

any good recommendations for insoles?

If you have tight sore skin (like some of you have mentioned) Weleda Skin Food (the original one) is a miracle for reviving your feet. My husband is a big fan of it too. It really stops that tight feeling.

So glad I found this post and I know it was back in March but I am panicking! I have a stress fracture - broken 2nd metetarsal. I have broken this foot before, coupled with sprains so there is a weak point. I have a very developed bunion on the left foot and one starting on my broken foot. I have put the bunion operation off as I have researched this and not everyone has good results from this and some end up in even more pain. The consultant refused to do it as I live alone and said the recovery is very difficult and I would need someone to care for me. I was walking every morning for 30 minutes, have a sit down office job and a two hour cleaning job in the evenings. The fracture came out of no where and I do not feel my exercise was anything excessive. I am 52 and wake in agony. Before the break I would have to go down the stairs sideways holding on to the bannister like a 90 year old. Take tumeric, collagen vitamin B and C and have a good diet/not over weight so just feel this is so unfair. Looks like I will lose my second job as a cleaner which I depend on to pay the bills as I live alone.

@bluebells34 bless you...you sound sad. Have you looked up any benefits you may be entitled to if you pack up the cleaning job.. because you sound in so much pain. How long have you had the pains xxx

Thanks for this thread

Anyone else get itchy feet.

My foot starts itching on sole especially at night

I did go to GP but they said it could be linked to menopause

I have terrible aching in my feet when I wake up (I’m 51 and on HRT) I look like Tina Turner trying to come down the stairs 😂 just another bloody symptom to deal with.

I hope this thread is still open. I too had a stress fracture - 2nd metatarsal. I thought I was doing the right thing to remain fit and healthy - walking an hour every day working full time plus a 2nd job. The bones in my foot literally felt like someone was pulling them. soles of my feet, heels and even tips of my toes feels like I have run a marathon in bare feet on tarmac. Bloods all came back normal - waiting for a bone density scan and put on HRT incase of osteoporosis. HRT has not helped - podiatrist has given me some orthotic insoles which has made my feet even more sore. All I can wear is mens wide fit trainers and completely lost my identity as loved my shoes and boots. I am terrified I will have another fracture as the podiatrist said I have literally worn my feet out at the age of 52 - convinced I will end up in a wheelchair.

@@Loubelle70 I had a pip assessment last week - the questions were gruelling and upsetting. I was hoping I would get PIP and give up the cleaning job before I do further damage to my feet or worse another fracture. I don't think I will get it as I have heard it is very difficult to get

I have the itchy soles of the feet too and a feeling of lose skin from the soles of my feet swelling and reducing in swelling

I'm enjoying a chemical menopause (thank you breast cancer 'hormone therapy'), the joint pain and stiffness is horrendous 😕 Obviously I can't take HRT.

I did however try acupuncture which helped massively, I'm on a break now due to recovering from reconstruction surgery but will start again next year.

Mine have calmed down a bit, were so bad in the Summer

I have rheumatism anyway but first thing in the morning the tops of my feet are stiff so I stamp around! Pain everywhere bck of neck, feet ankles back and front of knees etc etc . Not on HRT.

My feet are terrible too. I was unable to even walk far due to the pain, I’m on HRT. I do physio exercises and use ice packs but getting a pair of Hoka Clifton’s has helped enormously (i have 3 pairs in different colours), I can now walk quite far. It doesn’t cure my planar but it helps. Also I always use foot cream and see a podiatrist every 8 weeks.

I saw my podiatrist today and feel so down. X ray on right foot shows severe osteoporosis in the big toe joint and the foot in general. This was the cause of the stress fracture and advised will more than likely fracture again. It is a ticking time bomb. Can not operate on the toe joint or the bunion on the left foot due to the poor bone density as it will just 'crumble'. So that is my future at the age of 52. I asked if I will end up I a wheelchair and he could not comment. Advised to wear Hoka trainers - they are so expensive and ugly looking.

@Sampler could I ask what the podiatrist offers you every 8 weeks? Mine just gave me a grim outlook for the future - nothing mire they can offer

Try using a magnesium lotion or spray.

Ow yes - sore middle of feet/arches. Reflexologists will tell you that it's caused by toxins in the corresponding body-part.

I've found that stretching and flexing the feet, calves and rotating ankles every day helps more than anything else. I have peripheral neuropathy, and before I started the foot stretching regime, it sometimes felt like I was being stabbed in the feet!

I had this pain too and I've only just realised, reading this thread, that mine are now better! Turmeric too.

Oh no, makes horrendous wailing sounds, I didn't know this was a thing.

I've been assuming my aching, sore feet and ankles were from the blasted menopause belly that wont shift.

Please say it gets better, and this is not how things are going to be forever.

Thank you to those that mentioned Hoka, I think I may need some, though there're not a thing of beauty if they help who cares.

Hoka trainers are very expensive - and very ugly designs - the podiatrist recommended these to me today

Retired ballet dancers famously suffer crippling arthritis in later life due to the battering their feet have taken.