The period of menopause is accompanied by pain of various localizations: headache, pain in the lower abdomen, muscles, heart. Joint pain during menopause, treatment and causes should be considered in more detail. Painful sensations in the joints are felt by forty percent of the female population suffering from menopause. What to do if you have such a symptom and when should you consult a doctor? More on this later.
It would seem, how can menopause and joints be connected? It turns out that the connection between these concepts is direct and close.
Menopause is characterized by a decrease in the production of sex hormones: estrogens and progestins. These substances cease to be produced by the ovaries when the supply of follicles in them is depleted. A decrease in estrogen production leads to the leaching of calcium from their bones, which threatens the development of:
A decrease in estrogen production leads to the development of the following pathologies:
The causes of menopausal arthritis during menopause are a decrease in the production of estrogen, which has an anti-inflammatory effect, which leads to muscle pain.
Excess weight also plays a role in the occurrence of menopausal arthritis, as the load on the muscles increases. Since menopause is a stressful period for many females, the stress hormone cortisol is released, which can provoke inflammation in the joint area.
The causes can be various injuries and endocrine diseases (thyroid, diabetes), infections.
The symptoms of menopausal arthritis are as follows:
Unlike other arthritis, the temperature of the skin around the joint capsule does not increase, there is no hyperemia. Body temperature remains at normal levels.
All symptoms do not need to be present to make a diagnosis. Even just a few of them may indicate arthritis. Therefore, if you have symptoms, you should immediately consult a doctor.
To determine why your joints hurt, your doctor will prescribe the following tests:
How to differentiate joint pain during menopause?
Since the cause of all of these pathologies is a lack of estrogen, the first line of treatment will be hormonal drugs, in particular synthetic estrogens.
The following drugs will eliminate muscle cramps and pain:
The listed drugs have different release forms: injection solution, tablets, patches. Taking them will cause calcium to stop being washed out of bone tissue, muscle cramps will stop, and the central nervous system will work adequately. The pain will disappear.
If hormonal drugs are contraindicated, then plant-based drugs or homeopathy can be used. However, in this case, the treatment will be delayed and the pain will not go away as quickly as when taking hormonal drugs.
However, treatment with herbal remedies is more gentle on the body. The following medicines can be used:
In addition to the listed medications, vitamins, painkillers and chondroprotectors are needed to treat pain.
During menopause, bone tissue loses an element important for their strength - calcium. Normally, it comes with food, but during menopause this concentration is not enough. Therefore, they use preparations containing vitamins and calcium. In addition, such drugs stimulate bone cell division. These medications include:
In case of osteoarthritis, it is necessary to restore the structure of the cartilage, and at the same time, you need to act sparingly. The following drugs are available for this:
In addition to taking medications, you should visit exercise therapy, massage, and physiotherapy.
The following collection will help strengthen the skeletal system:
One teaspoon of sleep-grass, one teaspoon of Chernobyl and the same amount of fragrant woodruff are poured into half a liter of boiling water and infused for sixty minutes. Take one quarter glass twice a day. The decoction will only help in complex treatment with drugs.
During menopause, a woman's body gains weight. Therefore, it is necessary to follow a diet. Complete refusal of food is prohibited, as it harms the body (vitamins and minerals are not supplied). You need to eat five to six times a day, in small portions.
The intake of calcium from food should be increased. It is found in dairy products, oranges, beans, and cereals. You should also increase your consumption of fish, flaxseed oil, seeds, and walnuts (they contain omega-3). Spices should be excluded. The largest amount of food should be consumed in the morning and afternoon.
Treatment of menopausal arthritis is no different from the treatment of menopausal arthrosis.
Joint pain during menopause is a common occurrence that can be avoided with proper nutrition and taking vitamins, chondroprotectors and calcium. These same remedies can also help with an existing disease.
Menopausal arthritis is a severe but quite common pathology in women during menopause. It is during this period that many women develop arthritis, which is accompanied by pain, stiffness and swelling.
One of the first manifestations of menopause is the lack of cyclicality of the menstrual cycle, which a woman cannot help but notice. This failure occurs as a result of fluctuations in hormone levels.
If a patient is diagnosed with breast cancer, she is prescribed drugs that block the enzyme that stimulates the production of the hormone estrogen.
This factor, in turn, can provoke joint pain, in particular arthritis. Thus, there is a direct connection between joint diseases and low estrogen levels.
Arthritis lesions can be classified as:
First, hormonal changes that occur in a woman’s body during menopause cause the development of primary menopausal arthritis. Secondary arthritis is provoked by damaging factors, such as infectious or systemic diseases.
The menopausal type of arthritis can be idiopathic in nature, the nature of which has not yet been studied. Doctors believe that the causes of idiopathic arthritis can be various injuries, infections, hypothermia, and taking protein drugs.
So, the main causes of menopausal arthritis are the following factors:
The symptoms of menopausal arthritis are in many ways similar to those of deforming arthrosis and rheumatoid arthritis. The woman notes the following symptoms:
When visually examining the joint, the doctor may observe a change in its shape and slight swelling. Pronounced symptoms (local increase in temperature, redness of the skin) are rare. To confirm the diagnosis, it is necessary to carry out a number of research activities.
The doctor makes the final diagnosis based on the totality of symptoms and other menopausal manifestations: “jumps” in blood pressure, hot flashes, facial redness, general weakness, increased sweating.
Pathology can begin in a woman even before the onset of menopause.
The symptoms of arthritis can be controlled if the disease is treated early, but its development cannot be completely stopped.
Treatment of menopausal arthritis has three main goals:
To do this, the doctor prescribes a set of therapeutic measures. First of all, a woman must compensate for the lack of calcium and vitamin D in the body. The following drugs are indicated to reduce arthralgia and inflammation:
It is necessary to treat joint diseases and their symptoms comprehensively, so the doctor recommends to his patients physiotherapy sessions, herbal medicine, massage procedures, and physical therapy.
To strengthen the knee joint, you can wear a knee brace, which limits the mobility of the joint, thereby reducing pain.
You can eliminate joint pain during menopausal arthritis by increasing the flexibility and strength of the joints. To do this, the doctor will prepare a complex of exercise therapy for the patient, which will also include a kind of exercise for the joints. But if discomfort or pain is felt in the joints while performing exercises, the exercises should be stopped immediately.
Isometric exercises are essential to improve circulation and prevent stiffness and pain. But they must be performed with caution. Thanks to isometric exercises, the range of motion in the joint is maintained.
There are other joint exercises that are effective for menopausal arthritis, but they need to be discussed with your doctor, as some of them may be unsafe in a particular case.
The doctor may recommend that the woman exercise on an exercise bike or ride a bicycle. A good prevention of arthritis is visiting the pool and water aerobics.
If your knees hurt a lot, they need to be given rest. To do this, the woman should lie on her back and place a pillow under her knees. This measure will improve blood circulation in the joints, reduce pain and stiffness.
Swelling and pain in the joints during menopausal arthritis can be treated with traditional methods, for example, using an apple cider vinegar compress.
These measures should definitely be discussed with your doctor, since apple cider vinegar has contraindications, and such treatment is not suitable for everyone.
A proper diet plays a significant role in the treatment of menopausal arthritis. A woman should eat foods that have natural anti-inflammatory properties every day. These include vegetables and fruits, foods high in omega-3 fatty acids.
With the doctor's permission, cold can be applied to the sore joint, but the following precautions must be observed:
Menopause is not evidence that a woman's life is approaching the end. This is just a new stage that should not cause inconvenience or discomfort. A woman who begins preventive measures before the onset of menopause is likely to protect herself from the insidious disease of menopausal arthritis.
Many people turn to a doctor when the destruction of the internal structure of the bones begins to cause them serious problems and interferes with their ability to live and work fruitfully. First of all, this disease threatens the fair sex during menopause. With this disease, a fracture of the femoral neck, ankle or wrist bone may not heal for a long time, or there may be a high probability of ending up in a wheelchair for the rest of your days. In the event of a spinal fracture, even more so, we risk becoming bedridden. And therefore, prevention of osteoporosis during menopause is extremely important for you, dear ladies!
This is a disease of the musculoskeletal system, in which the bone tissue of the skeleton thins and becomes fragile. Bones consist of an outer dense layer and an inner porous one. When menopause occurs, female hormones cease to be produced, and their functions include helping to restore bone tissue. The structure of the bones changes, dense tissues become thinner, and porous ones become even more loose.
In a young body, up to the age of 30, the mass of bone tissue constantly grows, the skeleton becomes stronger. From 30 to 50 years, it is approximately at the same level, that is, the restoration of minerals in the bones compensates for the leaching of calcium and other substances.
But after 50 years, with the onset of menopause, hormonal levels change, and a failure occurs in the body’s phosphorus-calcium metabolism. Bones gradually lose density and become porous. During the first year after menopause, bone mass drops by up to 10%! In subsequent years of life, 2-5% of calcium is lost per year. There is a need to replenish the loss of minerals in order to lead an active lifestyle for the rest of your days.
There are other causes of this disease in women, and bone loss can begin long before menopause. Osteoporosis risk groups:
This disease is hidden from us for a long time, and at the beginning of the disease there are no visible symptoms. Calcium loss occurs unnoticed, but when the lack of building material in the skeleton reaches a critical level, the disease begins to manifest itself.
In the early stages of the disease, osteoporosis can masquerade as joint diseases, and it cannot be recognized without special tests. But don’t be afraid of this, because preventing the destruction of bone tissue is possible and practiced in the modern world.
You don't have to wait until you break your femur or radius and an x-ray reveals that you already have advanced osteoporosis. Detecting the beginning of bone thinning when calcium loss is only 5% is real! At your healthcare facility, your doctor may prescribe the following methods to determine your likelihood of illness:
The most obvious symptom is frequent fractures of the limbs, then, with age, decreased height, stooping, a “widow’s hump”, which is formed due to small fractures of the vertebrae, and bone pain. The patient cannot sleep peacefully in one position, experiencing pain and discomfort. All this leads to difficulties in movement, the inability to care for oneself, moreover, to a wheelchair, and even to premature death.
If your nails begin to break, peel, teeth crumble, hair is falling out a lot, periodontal disease has appeared, or you are experiencing night cramps, it’s time to sound the alarm and don’t delay in contacting a doctor about this.
Dear readers, we will not deceive ourselves that, as if by magic, our bones will become like those of 18-year-olds, but it is very possible to stop the destruction of the skeleton! There are two groups of drugs that restore hormonal balance in the body, which is beneficial for the absorption of minerals. Let's look at them:
Do not forget, dear women, that under no circumstances should you self-medicate! Find a good specialist who will help you choose medications and monitor the treatment process.
Women in Europe and the USA are trying to take care in advance that the onset of menopause does not turn them into frail old ladies. Starting from the age of 35–40, they regularly take hormonal medications, vitamins, take care of their bodies, and by old age they look much younger than our dear compatriots.
Having studied all these facts, we see that osteoporosis in women during menopause is not a death sentence. The main thing that is required is to go to the hospital on time and follow all the doctors’ recommendations. And don’t let this terrible disease scare you, because the knowledge gained in time will help you fight it. Well, if you are healthy, then now you know what you need to do to keep your bones strong.
Interesting video on this topic:
During menopause, many unpleasant symptoms arise, some of which are more difficult for women to tolerate than others. These include joint pain, which requires timely and effective treatment to eliminate. If you ignore and try to endure the pain, this will lead to increased sensations and stiffness of movement.
The changes that occur in the female body during menopause are associated with a gradual decrease in the level of sex hormones: progesterone and estrogen, produced by the ovaries. The latter substance affects the genitourinary organs, nervous system, skin, mammary glands and bones, therefore, when its amount is reduced, a woman experiences menopausal symptoms: mood swings, hot flashes, dry genitals, joint pain.
During menopause, there is a natural drop in the level of sex hormones: they stop being produced by the ovaries when the supply of follicles is depleted. Why do joints hurt during menopause? Since progesterone and estrogens affect many organs and systems, their sharp reduction causes discomfort in a woman. This is the main cause of joint pain during menopause and requires mandatory treatment. Aching bones can occur due to:
Getting rid of the problem is not entirely simple: painkillers provide only temporary relief and the disease manifests itself immediately after stopping their use. Doctors strongly recommend that women undergo testing to determine the exact cause of the symptom. In this case, diagnostics include:
Therapy for pain syndrome should contain hormonal agents, since their lack provokes the problem. Thanks to the introduction of the necessary hormones into the body, the processes that ensure healthy joints will be restored. As a result, the woman will experience cramps and pain. To treat joint pain during menopause by normalizing hormonal levels, the following medications are used:
The listed drugs are available in different forms: tablets, injection solutions, patches. Thanks to their use in bone tissue, the process of calcium removal will stop and, as a result, the pain syndrome will disappear. If for some reason a woman cannot take hormones, herbal medicines and homeopathic remedies containing substances of plant origin with similar effects can replace them. Experts recommend using the following drugs:
Many diseases of the musculoskeletal system arise due to the loss of their strength, the basis of which is calcium. This substance is found in some foods, but during menopause, nutrition alone is not enough to fully provide the body with calcium. An additional source of the mineral are vitamin complexes containing this substance. In addition, it is worth treating joint pain with medications with a high concentration of vitamin D, without which calcium absorption is impossible. These include:
It is worth supplementing therapy with medications with high doses of minerals, which can normalize bone density during menopause. Such funds include:
A doctor may prescribe a postmenopausal patient to take bisphosphonates that can inhibit the action of substances that destroy bones:
Treatment of joint pain during menopause involves taking medications that can relieve unpleasant symptoms. The following drugs can eliminate aches, muscle spasms and quickly relieve pain:
Joint pain occurs in most women who have reached menopause. At the same time, degenerative processes occur in their bones: osteoporosis, arthritis, osteoarthritis and other diseases begin. Any of the listed pathologies requires complex treatment with the mandatory use of medications that stimulate cartilage renewal. During therapy, it is important to relieve stress from sore joints. Chondroprotectors that are prescribed for joint pain are:
Bone pain and menopause often accompany each other. To prevent the occurrence of unpleasant symptoms associated with the restructuring of the body during menopause, and to alleviate the condition, women use a diet. The diet does not allow obesity and includes a huge amount of vitamins, phytoestrogens, and calcium. List of substances and products necessary for the female body:
The listed substances affect the strength of bones, the tone of muscle tissue, mental activity, and the hormonal background of a woman. To prevent bone diseases, it is important to eat foods that contain vitamins A, C, B, and D. You will have to limit sodium, the bulk of which the body receives from table salt. This substance in excess negatively affects the functioning of the heart and inhibits metabolic processes.
The cost of therapy will depend on the treatment package prescribed by the doctor. As a rule, specialists try to select inexpensive drugs for patients from the groups of painkillers, chondroprotectors, bisphosphonates, etc. Suitable drugs can be purchased at an online pharmacy, and you can order targeted delivery. The price of treatment for joint pain is different for each patient and depends on the set of products that the doctor prescribed to her. The average cost of therapy can be calculated by compiling an approximate list of drugs:
Menopausal arthritis is a common severe pathology in women during menopause.
This name for the disease arose due to the fact that there are so many women who develop arthritis and the accompanying pain, swelling and stiffness when they are in menopause. When a woman has breast cancer, she receives a medicine that blocks the enzyme that produces the hormone estrogen. Therefore, these women experience joint pain. All this proves the connection between low estrogen levels and joint pain. Such pain is so common during menopause that doctors call the condition menopausal arthritis.
Damage from this disease may include:
Sometimes primary menopausal arthritis occurs as a result of changes that occur in a woman’s body during menopause. The secondary form of the disease occurs as a result of damaging factors, such as those caused by infection or concomitant diseases.
Idiopathic menopausal arthritis of unknown causes is sometimes observed. Scientists suggest that they can be caused by infection, injury, hypothermia, the use of protein substances and others.
What are the causes of this disease?
Arthralgia appears first. Arthralgia is the medical term for joint pain. Many women notice stiffness in their hands and knees as they get older.
This disease can occur in women even before menopause. Early medical intervention can delay the development of disease symptoms. However, it cannot stop its development.
There are three main tasks that the patient performs during treatment as prescribed by the doctor:
Effective treatment methods are available to the patient, but they must be prescribed by a doctor after diagnosis:
It is beneficial to eat foods that have natural anti-inflammatory properties:
This will help fight joint inflammation and pain.
The female sex hormone estrogen has a very positive effect on the body. But when a woman enters menopause, estrogen levels drop significantly, which can lead to the development of menopausal arthritis . It can also occur due to infection.
Proper treatment helps maintain health during menopause and menopause.
Chest pain is the most common symptom experienced during menopause. As a rule, they appear due to changes in hormone levels that occur in the body during this period. During menopause, many people experience breast pain. The sensations may be sharp, pulling or aching. The breasts become very sensitive and swollen.
Painful sensations in the gland during menopause are called “mastalgia”. Their nature may be different. Most often these are recurring pains that are sharp, aching and stabbing.
Usually, discomfort is accompanied by swelling of the mammary gland. There is increased sensitivity when touching and even moving.
Other symptoms accompanying pain include:
Usually the chest hurts during menopause, the same as before before menstruation.
If the sensations in the chest become local, then you should be wary, since such a symptom may indicate the presence of a neoplasm or cyst. In this case, you need to consult a doctor as soon as possible.
During this period, pain in the glands occurs for the following reasons:
Cancer can be suspected in the following cases:
Diagnosis of pain during menopause is carried out through questioning and manual examination. The specialist must find out:
The examination involves checking the condition of the mammary glands and lymph nodes in the armpit area. The doctor may prescribe a mammogram or ultrasound if a tumor is detected.
If there is no obvious pain, then the condition of the chest wall, joints and muscles is examined. It is also worth consulting with a neurologist to rule out neuralgia and muscle spasms.
Before eliminating the symptoms, it is necessary to find out exactly the cause of the pain. A woman is recommended to have an ultrasound or mammogram.
You can take synthetic estrogens and herbal medicines only after consulting a doctor. They are usually prescribed to eliminate other unpleasant signs of menopause. But they are practically useless for relieving pain. In case of mastopathy, estrogens are contraindicated, as they can provoke cell degeneration.
Usually, for pain, vitamins B, A, C, E, D are prescribed. The following drugs are used as an analgesic:
Taking sedatives is indicated:
At home, you can temporarily relieve pain by:
It is necessary to avoid sudden movements, during which the chest may hurt more.
How to determine whether you need medical help or whether you can cope with unpleasant symptoms on your own? It is necessary to see a specialist if one breast is bothering you, and the pain is well localized. You should not overlook symptoms such as:
It is necessary to be examined in order to exclude the presence of infection. If the pain only gets worse over time, you should immediately consult a doctor. It may be a symptom of a neoplasm. Only a doctor will accurately determine whether breast pain is due to hormonal imbalance during menopause or a more serious reason.
After 35 years, women are at risk of developing osteoporosis
Before talking about prevention, it is necessary to find out what osteoporosis is and what it threatens?
It cannot be said that this disease is purely female, but it is women during menopause who make up the main statistics of an orthopedic doctor’s patients. We’ll talk about the reasons later, but for now let’s look at the diagnosis – osteoporosis.
As can be seen in the figure, with osteoporosis, there is a disruption of the structure and a decrease in bone density, which in turn leads to bone fragility. The spine, hips and wrists are primarily affected. This happens due to the leaching of calcium from the bones. This process is also observed in older men, but women during menopause are the main risk group.
This feature is due to a sharp decrease in the production of estrogen in the female body. The danger of osteoporosis lies in the fact that bones that are too fragile are susceptible to fractures even without prior falls or bruises. In older women, vertebral fractures can occur with normal downward bending.
In addition to the hormonal changes in the female body during menopause, there are a number of other reasons that also contribute to the development of the disease:
At the onset of the disease, the symptoms are not pronounced, but can manifest themselves in brittle nails and hair, early graying, reaction of joints to changing weather (you can often hear complaints that “joints twist due to the weather”), leg cramps, tooth decay and deterioration posture, severe fatigue.
The initial stage of osteoporosis can easily be confused with arthrosis of the joints, when similar sensations are observed - aching pain in the joint area (usually the wrist, pelvis), crunching when moving. Vertebral compression fractures are the main symptom of osteoporosis. They are characterized by pain in the spine that appears and then subsides. After such fractures, the spine acquires a kyphotic shape, which can be observed in many older people.
The development of kyphosis in older people is a consequence of osteoporosis
The most informative diagnostic method is x-ray densitometry - determination of bone tissue mass.
Also, diagnostic results may require the results of ultrasound and computed tomography. Urine and blood tests are mandatory.
The main drugs in treatment are those aimed at bone formation and stopping bone destruction.
Curing osteoporosis is quite difficult, almost impossible. You can only slow down the destruction of bone tissue. Therefore, prevention of osteoporosis during menopause is of great importance. .
First of all, women must be examined by a gynecologist and endocrinologist every 6 months in order to prevent the onset of menopause and related thyroid problems. In addition, it is necessary to undergo X-ray densitometry examination to monitor bone mass.
During menopause, hormone replacement therapy is performed.
Hormone replacement therapy during menopause
Since during menopause a woman’s body decreases the production of estrogen, which is involved in the process of bone formation, calcium is gradually washed out of them and, as a result, osteoporosis. That is why taking hormonal medications can serve as a preventive measure for this disease.
They also have a beneficial effect on the overall course of menopause: hot flashes do not cause unnecessary discomfort, mood swings are much less disturbing, and sleep improves. Treatment with hormones is a long process. Only a doctor can prescribe a regimen and duration of such treatment, due to a fairly impressive list of contraindications. It is prescribed to patients who do not have cancer, liver problems, high blood pressure, blood clots in blood vessels or swelling.
Getting calcium into your body every day will prevent bone fragility. There is a daily dose that must be strictly observed: during menopause it is 1200 mg of calcium, after it - 1500 mg. To avoid overdoing it and consuming more calcium than you need, you should familiarize yourself with the quantitative calcium content of foods. If a sufficient amount of calcium does not enter the body with the foods eaten during the day, it is necessary to supplement it with a calcium-containing preparation.
You need to know that the best absorption of calcium occurs thanks to the sun's rays. At least 40 minutes a day should be spent under ultraviolet rays. Foods that contain a high percentage of calcium: spinach; broccoli; salad; dairy products; legumes and nuts.
Consumption of calcium-containing foods is an important component of osteoporosis prevention
Don't forget about other vitamins that are essential for health. In general, we can say that proper nutrition should become the norm, since the abuse of fatty foods, coffee and other harmful foods can cause other serious diseases. You should also give up alcohol and smoking. In addition to the fact that alcohol actively flushes calcium from the body, it also actively contributes to its clogging with toxins. If there are problems with weight, then they need to be eliminated.
With osteoporosis, any load on the bones can lead to fractures, and excess weight hangs over its owner like a sword of Damocles. But here you need to be careful. Under no circumstances should you go on a strict diet, which will provoke a stressful situation in the body and also deprive you of the required amount of vitamins. Nutrition culture will help cope with the problem of overeating. To do this, you should divide your meals into 4-5 times a day, eat in small portions, chewing your food thoroughly. It is advisable to devote more time to this process so that the brain has time to signal to the stomach that it is full.
It is also necessary to monitor the daily amount of clean water consumed. In addition to the fact that it improves digestive processes, accelerates the delivery of nutrients to all organs and joints, water can also satisfy the feeling of hunger.
Physical activity is an excellent prevention not only of osteoporosis, but also of many other diseases. It is necessary to regularly engage in gymnastics, aerobics or other sports. You can replace them with daily long walks or trips to the pool - the main thing is to do this at least three times a week. Then the muscles will be in good shape and become a reliable frame for the bones. You should not overwork yourself and overload yourself with physical activity; in everything you should observe the permissible measure.
Physical exercise strengthens muscles
If you monitor your health, do not miss scheduled examinations with doctors, go on fresh holidays more often, eat right, get rid of bad habits - osteoporosis will not make itself felt for a long time.