How much pain is normal?

[Flippingflamingo]

At almost 40, how much pain in day to day activities is to be expected as a “getting older” thing?

I was recently chatting/moaning to a friend about the pain in getting up and about these days and was surprised to find she didn’t experience any!

I find getting up from seating painful, sciatica and pain in my legs mean walking anywhere is painful, my back and neck constantly ache and my fingers and wrists are useless for the first hour in a morning. None of it is stopping me ploughing on through and doing things anyway, but it’s starting to get me down a bit.

I just wondered whether most people experience mild/moderate pain daily at this age, or whether it’s something that I actually need to seek medical advice on!

Oh no, OP, that is not right at 40!

I was pregnant at 40 and, once baby was born, i was totally pain free and fully active.

I do have a bit of stiffness now at 57 BUT i am 2 stone overweight and do myself no favours diet or exercise wise! It is catching up with me.

I'm not in pain at all but just when i get out of bed sometimes in the morning my neck is a bit stiff and if i have been sitting for a couple of hours, bit stiff when i stand up. The stiffness loosens off very fast though.

I have pain quite a lot but only when I HAVE exercised. I have done a lot of weights for the past ten years and got very fit. But I can't drive for more than 30 minutes and then get out of the car without limping with hip pain.

And then...

I've just discovered I'm hypermobile which explains the achilles, knee, shoulder, hip pain!

I find that yoga helps a lot, physio, magnesium for the restless legs etc.

Oh I'm 46 and on HRT

You need to look at your nutrition. I didn’t go into decline with aches and pains until around 56

I'm in my 40s and have no pain at all, sometimes my left arm is a bit sore from carrying a 30lb toddler around all day but apart from that none.

69, arthritis in both knees. The odd twinge, but no real pain, ever

A new mattress solved all my back pain and stiff joints.

I'm early 40s and have no pain. I don't feel any different to when I was in my 20s physically speaking.
I'd go to the doctor if I did feel pain.

It’s normal for me but I have psoriatic arthritis and took a long time getting diagnosed. Meds are helping a bit.

I think you need to see your GP for bloods to check for anaemia etc but also to check to see if any indicators for inflammatory arthritis.

The level of pain you have described is not considered normal in your 40s. It's possible that you fibromyalgia or arthritis, so I would see your doctor. The sciatica explains some of it, but not the neck and wrist/finger pain.

Sounds like me but then I do have rheumatoid arthritis

I have sciatica and it's excruciating. Quite a lot of me aches most of the time. I absolutely know it's my diet and lack of exercise. Or rather lack of exercise. Unfortunately I work a lot of hours at work and once it starts to go dark earlier it's game over for me. All I want to do is lie on the sofa. But I'm going to try Vitamin D and swimming? I'm 60 btw

Mid 70s, no pain since hip replacement 5 years ago. Wish I had got the hip sorted sooner but NHS wanting to investigate everything else first, with multiple waiting lists at every stage, meant it took years to get diagnosed and fixed. Get it investigated now, you don't know how long it will take to get a diagnosis and treatment and when you get to the point where you have a limited number of active years left you don't want to be looking back with regrets that you could have had more.

I'm 63 and I don't have any regular pain. I do walk a lot and I'm quite slim, maybe that helps. I'm very lucky not to have any arthritis because most of the women in my mum's line have had.

It’s exactly how I feel, but I have an autoimmune illness that started in my late 30s.

Not normal. I'm 67 and painfree.

None!

49, overweight.

Just finished a shift where I didn't sit down once (though didn't do anything particularly heavy today). Feet are slightly "tired" after work, but no pain anywhere.

I don't do any sport but walk 4 miles plus a day and so DIY and gardening without problems.

I get a bit stiff now and again, and have back pain - but I've had that since my 20s. I'm 65 and do a lot of walking, and I am a bit overweight. It doesn't sound "normal" for your age OP.

I'm 40
Occasional back pain but that's from cauda equina and a discectomy
Severe pain daily with endometriosis

No sort of aches and pains apart from that

I'm 51, had lots of aches but was due to early menopause. HRT and supplements make all the difference.

That'll be it - I had the same problem.

I had blood tests as my DM has rheumatoid arthritis and they showed raised inflammation markers, but negative for the rheumatoid factor. They also showed I had too low red blood cell count. They repeated the tests 3 months later and my inflammation markers were normal so have ruled out arthritis but said I have a folate deficiency and so have folic acid tablets. B12 was fine. I only started taking them a week ago so hoping they make a difference. I am also exhausted all the time, can sleep 9 hours at night and then need a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.

What is it you have if you don’t mind saying?

My mum had rheumatoid arthritis and so my fingers hurting like hers triggered me going to the GP. They are just investigating that at the minute though rather than the generalised pain.

I have had raised information markers in 2 blood tests, but the last set was normal so I’m assuming anything autoimmune will be ruled out when I see the GP next.

Please go to your GP! I’m 46 and very overweight, I have no regular aches and pains. Good luck.

I'm 42. I don't have any aches or pains. I know I'm lucky. I do do yoga/ swimming/ hiit fit. Not all the time! Twice a week I do something so that might be yoga and swimming in a week.