Joint pain in menopause?

[Sarkyscorpio68]

Ive been having joint pain for the last 6 months and just started on Femostan 2/10 as my Gynecologist thinks its menopause related. It's very bad in the morning... ankles and knees stiff making it difficult to walk till you loosen up. Is anyone having similar experiences?

Have you been tested for vitamin D deficiency? It’s v common and can affect calcium levels which in turn can lead to your body leeching calcium from your bones - starting with joints. It can be stabby or shooting pains, or aches. Worth checking

I've had a bone density scan and have oestopenia and am on calcium supplements. But more curious to know if anyone has tried anything apart from pain killers to help ease the discomfort and if excersize helps

You should find that HRT helps- joint pain is a very common sign of peri meno caused by loss of collagen around the joints (and the same loss happens on the face.)

BTW what wtftodo posted isn't right- Vitamin D is needed for the absorption of calcium and the building of bone, but lack of it doesn't cause calcium to leech from bones. In osteporosis, calcium doesn't come out of bones- what happens is that new bone cells are not laid down in enough amounts, and dead bone is lost faster than it's replaced.

Exercise ought to help and is the treatment for arthritis- which is what you are feeling - stiff and sore joints. Keep walking and exercising!

Thanks so much! I wasnt sure if I was doing more harm than good by excersizing but will get cracking again!

I have exactly the same op! Coming downstairs is very painful in the morning. It gets slightly less painful as the day wears on. It started suddenly, six months to the day after I had a hysterectomy. I just woke up one morning and everything hurt. I am overweight (working on it!) but I never had any pain previous to this. I slap on the Oestogel but it makes no difference at all.

Something definitely "happened" in my body because my toe and finger nails all got a sort of ridge and a bump across them at the same time. Consulted doc, but no inflammatory markers in blood test, so it was put down to "wear and tear" (I have a lot of stairs in my house). Very disappointing tbh when I thought the hysterectomy (for large fibroids and ovarian cyst) would give me a new lease of life. I feel more crumped than ever, just without the lower abdo cramps, dodgy tum and constant nausea! (Don't get me wrong, I'm v grateful my innards function now but it's totally crap being female sometimes. )

Hope the Femostan works for you op, as waking up to the pain every morning is quite debilitating .

[Sorry that was a really moany post ]

Lol all moaning allowed here! I hope you feel better soon and yes! It sucks being female sometimes, but still wouldn't want to be a man 😁

Oh lawd definitely, about not wanting to be a man I mean ... I would happily endure 42 years of menstrual cramps in order to avoid watching Match of the Day.

By chance I have just heard Jane Garvey on a podcast saying that her knee pain has recently disappeared after being quite badly affected, and she didn't know whether it's down to the exercise she's been doing or just a matter of coming out the other side of menopause.

@squanderedcore what age is Jane Garvey
?? and please dont tell me she's 75 as I cant wait that long lol.

I had the same - sore and stiff ankles and knees. I didn't take HRT or anything else and it cleared up over a few years. Back to my usual springy self I wish.

Hi OP

Last October I’d started Pilates, yoga (yin yoga and hatha) and body pump. ;I started with him yoga.) Much of my Peri symptoms were being held in check with these activities. I even started to lose weight and sleep much better. Anxiety helped by him yoga and I’d practice my breathing at night to help me go back to sleep.

Then lick down happened. I developed a pinched nerve in my neck znc lots of Odin in my shoulder. Then painful joints all over my body. Some days all I could go was lay in bed and feel sorry for myself. Too painful to really move. Ibuprofen wasn't really helping.

Thankfully GP surgeries started to be open again and my GP prescribed HRT. (I had blood work done just before lock down and didn’t get a chance to see GP to discuss). I also started taking collagen tablets, apple cider vinegar tablets and a joint supplement. (Physio did my neck/shoulder too). Felt so much better. Gyms are Back open and I’m doing Pilates again. Been going since they reopened but only just now feeling the relief of the joint pain fully. Still stiff in the morning but before getting out of bed, I do stretches. Then once my feet hit the floor, more stretches.

I think your HRT will kick in. May take a while for you to really feel the effect.

Think about a collagen supplement

Get back to exercising. But be realistic. If you stopped for a long while due to lock down, be kind to yourself and acknowledge it’ll take some time to get back where you were before lock down. Don’t expect too much but try a little each day. You’ll get there and feel better again.

Sparky Jane G is the same age as me, 56 yrs. I had a relatively late menopause though, obviously no idea when hers kicked in.

Mmm. ...exercise does seem to be the common denominator here....

Thank you 😊

Yes. How old are you OP? I'm not surewhat is going on with my body at present