Sore feet and the menopause

[LittleEsme]

Sorry - posting here for traffic.

It's been 3 weeks and the underside of both my feet are so, so sore. It's not stopping me from standing, walking etc but by God sometimes I'm
hobbling. DH walked just 6000 steps this evening and now they're aching to the point where I'm hobbling again and considering swallowing a few paracetamols.

I wear sensible shoes - no heels.

I'm 51 and I think I'm menopausal. 2 years ago I had terrible aching joints which was sorted with estrogel. I came off esteogel after a year (breast cancer er in my maternal family) and I've been ok ever since.

Am I right in feeling that my feet is menopause related? Tempted to ask for more estrogel!

Few typos - sorry.

Bump

Where do they hurt? I had plantar facistis a couple of years ago, it was horrendously painful.

Sounds like plantar fasciitis.

I had this for a few years. Horrendous. I had a steroid injection which helped, but the only thing that completely got rid of it was...hrt.

If you google it there is a lot of advice out there.

Not drinking enough water? Use ibuprofen gel routinely for a few days.

Yeah, same! Oestrogel helped me. However, as that's not an option for you my DH got it a few months after me. His was much worse 🫣🫣. He followed the exercises on YT to help. It took a while but we've just been on holiday and we're both fine. Also, I felt wearing Birkenstocks helped mine.

I have similar with plantar facilities, check out your footwear as I found ballet pumps and converse trainers exacerbated the issue. I should think age / menopause does also play a part, but the biggest thing was poorly supporting footwear!

This may be age related rather than menopause related as the natural cushioning on the soles of our feet decreases over time and our feet are less able to absorb the shock incurred from walking. Things that I've found have helped are
Using a moisturising foot cream
Using cushioned insoles that incorporate arch support though it may be necessary to find the right ones through trial and error
Wearing shoes that provide good support and have thick soles

Ooh my feet have got all tingly while I've been writing this

Yep could be plantar fasciitis if the pain is in your heels. Get some decent insoles - they resolved mine in a week or so. I even have insoles in my slippers!

I didn't consider PF - the pain is more arch located and equally on both sides.

I read exactly this about hydration in the early hours. I'm definitely not drinking enough. Plan on tackling that this week to see if it makes a difference. Thanks.

I had this. I found Converse were terrible for my feet, previously I could wear them all day every day. I swapped to Sketchers. Also stopped wearing heels. Now I’m older I don’t have foot pain any more, if that’s any consolation. I still only wear “sensible” shoes though.

I've had awful achilles tendonitis since menopause. I was all set to start HRT to see if that would help when I got diagnosed with BC after a mammogram, so I'm just putting up with it now.

If you're a 'shoes off indoors' household, get some indoor shoes with support - bare feet/slippers makes it worse. When I was on a regular intake of painkillers post-surgery the pain disappeared completely but it's grim having to be constantly dosing up on painkillers.

The soles of my feet are so tender if I walk too much. Just another joy of aging.

@HellonHeels can you recommend indoor shoes with support? We are shoes off indoors and I'm starting to dread taking my shoes off when I get home. A few months ago my feet started hurting and I bought insoles off amazon for PF just to see if they would help and they've made a huge difference. However, after a quiet weekend at home mostly walking around in socks my feet were noticeably worse this morning!

I had this pain a year or so ago. When I looked it up online I found out about plantar fasciitis and an exercise to do. It is for stretching your calf muscles and involved standing on the bottom step, bending one knee and letting the other heel stretch down below the step. Not a great description (!) but there’s more detail here… myhealth.alberta.ca/Health/aftercareinformation/pages/conditions.aspx?hwid=ad1503

Those insoles sound good! I have heard good things about skechers for foot pain. If you designate a pair for indoors, you need to be disciplined about changing from outdoor to indoor shoes and not sliding around in bare feet (this is my downfall!)

The worst are shoes or sandals with zero support and flat soles like flip flops and ballet flats.

I think soles with less padding is a feature of ageing and why it becomes agony for older women to wear heels. I read an article once years ago saying some Hollywood actresses have injections in their feet to ameliorate this - no idea what - Botox? 😬

Just putting it out there. One of the major signs I have a b12 deficiency was pain in my feet. I would go to the doctor and get it checked out.

Crocs / imitation Crocs for indoor shoes

Hi there,
It doesn’t seem likely that you have this from your post but for anyone else reading this I want to mention an illness called acromegaly. It is caused by excessive growth hormone produced in the pituitary gland.
Acromegaly can cause a wide range of symptoms, which tend to develop very slowly over time.
Early symptoms include:

• swollen hands and feet – you may notice a change in your ring or shoe size
• tiredness and difficulty sleeping, and sometimes sleep apnea.
• gradual changes in your facial features, such as your brow, lower jaw and nose getting larger, or your teeth becoming more widely spaced
• numbness and weakness in your hands, caused by a compressed nerve.
• periods becoming irregular
• fatigue
• aching joints

If you have these symptoms you want to see an endocrinologist and have your IGF1 levels checked. It’s probably not this. Acromegaly is a rare disease. Unfortunately that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. It’s worth checking if you have any concerns. The earlier it is caught the more likely it is to be curable!

Thanks @Andtheworldwentwhite.
I second this (My Mum in the same position. I think she has an injection from her GP for this every few months) .