Feeling so achy and awful

[FeelingOldAndKnackered]

I am 47 and feel 100 years old. My ankles, toes and finger joints all ache. Could this be Peri-menopause? Did anyone else have this and does HRT help?

Hi, it could be menopause related, and if it is then HRT may well help. Could also be low vitamin D levels. I recently went to my GP cos I’m already on HRT, been on it 6 years but I started feeling the same, achey joints everywhere, stiffness, also feeling tired. She did a load of blood tests and said my Vitamin D levels were low and this can cause aches & pains. I didn’t know this. I was also a bit dubious because I already take a multivitamin for age 50+ which gives you the recommended daily dose, so how could I have low Vit D?
Anyway, she’s got me on a 6 week course of super-high dose Vitamin D. 50,000 micro grams per week. (Bear in mind the usual adult recommended level is about 1000 mcg per day!) and half way through my joints are much better. Definite improvement, I would never have thought it could be something like that. Might be worth seeing your GP and getting it checked out.

Hello, yes I had this. Aching, swollen joints all over. My hands especially - I had to have my rings made two sizes bigger.

I didn't take HRT but I cut out alcohol which really helped and started a daily routine of stretching which I've stuck to. I cut down on sugar, caffeine and fat and lost the 3stone plus of weight that had crept on over the years. These things made a real difference.

Something I would add is that when I was in your situation I thought the symptoms of the menopause would last forever - that I was stuck with them for life. What I have found is that after I'd been through the menopause all the symptoms disappeared. Nobody tells you this and I didn't read it anywhere either.

At 60 I feel better, have more energy and am more flexible than I was at 47.

There are a lot of things HRT didn't do for me but one thing it definitely did was stop my joints aching! Worth exploring I think

Yes and yes. Might take a while to get the doses right but pains which I thought were ageing just disappeared.

Following with interest. My muscles burn and I’m so stiff and keep twitching. I keep wavering between thinking I’ve got on awful undiagnosed illness or maybe it’s just perimenopause.

HRT got rid of most of my menopausal aches and pains. Remarkably quickly, too. I still need twice yearly steroid injections in one knee because I have arthritis, but HRT sorted all the other twinges out.

I've had awful pain in my knee and feet, something I've never experienced up until now.. it actually started to affect my ability to walk any sort of distance. DR switch my HRT to conti and it got worse and worse!! I've switch back to Femoston and I'm starting to feel the benefits. I'm also taking many vitamins..! I'm finding drinking more water is helpful, pretty sure I had some sort of water retention on the conti patches. Go to the doctors, definitely worth a discussion.

I felt the same when I hit 50. Went on HRT and found the dosage that suited me and the aches have all but disappeared. It was definitely hormones that was causing it in my case.

Yes HRT really helped me with the aches I was on HRT from 45 to 51 obviously you can be on it longer if you want but definitely look into it.

It was Femiston I was on and it started working after the first month.

Yes I remember my hands hurting and my knees. The aches still come back if I’m ever lacking HRT for any reason.