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[da66]

Hello all - am back for advice and support after a 2 year gap. With all your tremendous help I got the HRT I needed 2 years ago (Evorel 50 + 100mg utrogestan daily, along with twice weekly vagifem) and have been as right as rain since then. But in last few weeks am not feeling good and have had a resurgence of my joint pain especially in my feet which seem to really ache quite badly all the time.  I start limping if I have to walk any distance. In the 2 years I have been doing well I have forgotten all the hormone / menopause knowledge I gained! Can anyone tell me is my oestrogen likely to have dropped down a level and is that what's causing this? Would it help to go up from evorel 50 to a higher dose? And what other things work from a joint pain point of view? Glucosamine?? Sometimes the only thing that helps is a warm bath. Am 52, no periods for 4 years.

[Dotty]

You could need a higher dose of Oestrogen. X

[Emerald2017]

Maybe something it is wrong with the absorbion of estrogen and you need higher dose or another type of hrt.

[Dancinggirl]

da66 - to be honest, HRT can only do so much.  Joint aches and a general deterioration of our joints will happen with age - it could well be arthirtis.   I would suggest you see a physio or osteopath for advice.  Stretching and strengthening your feet is very important as we age.  I assume you take Omega 3 oils, vitamin D, magnesium and calcium?
Keeping the weight under control and keeping things moving are very important. Even on HRT, if I had been ‘standing' a lot through the day (not walking and moving about), I would find my feet seized up and felt really stiff.  I am now off HRT and walk a great deal and move about as much as possible - I even teach dance classes - and my feet are much better.

You may need a bit more oestrogen now you are post meno, if flushes are returning, but I wouldn't expect it to make that much difference to joints.  I saw a rheumatologist last year to get a diagnosis on my back (I have deterioration between L3&L4 vertebrae) and he said we just have to keep the weight down and “ keep moving”.  DG x

[Joaniepat]

da66, while I agree with DG up to a point, especially about stretching and strengthening the muscles, I have found that oestrogen has had a significant impact on my joints. Every time I increase my oestrogen a bit my joints improve further. You may like to try increasing your dose a little to see if it helps.

If it is your feet in particular, I'd recommend seeing an osteopath. All kinds of things affect foot function, and it might be tight (and weak) muscles elsewhere in the leg or hip that are putting a strain on your feet. An osteopath would be able to assess this and provide appropriate treatment and exercises.

JP x

[dahliagirl]

I have had a resurgence of symptoms     I find that vit D and magnesium help.

It is really infuriating after a good summer, and plenty of outdoor activity, but I feel as if my joints are all held together with pins, I have soreness in my lower finger joints, and I find it hard to straighten out after sitting down for long. My neck hurts.  Staying in one position is the worst.  I went to pilates a couple of weeks ago and really didn't enjoy it at all for the first time ever.

I have gone back on the vitD spray when I brush my teeth, and take a joint supplement with magnesium in it once a day which I will replace with something more magnesium based when I have finished the 3for2 stock I mistakenly bought (some of the joint supplements are a little hard on the intestines )

[da66]

Thank you ALL - really helpful as ever.

I too found that the oestrogen helped my joints immeasurably but you're quite right I need to help myself in other ways too. I have lost half a stone recently and need to keep that up. Have managed to get a follow up appointment at the meno clinic so we'll see what they say. I will try magnesium - have been meaning to do that. And yes the Vit D spray by the toothbrush a v good idea

 

[Katejo]

Hello all - am back for advice and support after a 2 year gap. With all your tremendous help I got the HRT I needed 2 years ago (Evorel 50 + 100mg utrogestan daily, along with twice weekly vagifem) and have been as right as rain since then. But in last few weeks am not feeling good and have had a resurgence of my joint pain especially in my feet which seem to really ache quite badly all the time.  I start limping if I have to walk any distance. In the 2 years I have been doing well I have forgotten all the hormone / menopause knowledge I gained! Can anyone tell me is my oestrogen likely to have dropped down a level and is that what's causing this? Would it help to go up from evorel 50 to a higher dose? And what other things work from a joint pain point of view? Glucosamine?? Sometimes the only thing that helps is a warm bath. Am 52, no periods for 4 years.

Hi Da66   I can't advise you because I haven't been on HRT as yet. I am however interested in the degree of  improvement you got from taking HRT. I have had aching calves and later feet ever since early peri menopause (2009). I went to a GP then and no mention was made of HRT. I put a question about it on this forum at the time. I have wondered many times whether HRT might help it. Did your aching start before your periods finished? How much improvement have you had up to the recent recurrence?
I am seriously considering asking my GP to let me try systemic HRT (have just started Vagifem).

[Ladybt28]

Katejo - I am 56 and been on hrt for 10 years but not the right HRT for me it seems.  I have had major joint problems and aches and pains for years, turns out it was hormonal. I have been told I had chronic fatigue, ME and lastly Fibromyalgia.  The pain was everywhere, particularly in my knees and the soles of my feet. 
At one point I was actually on morphine patches and amyltriptoline for nerve pain plus a heap of other things.  Now they are all gone bar a normal painkiller!  However since I am on a better (still not right but we are getting there) HRT for me the joint pain has certainly gone from +8 all the time down to about 2!  I was on one form of hrt that actually made it worse but now I know what made it worse I knew what to do. But it became very clear through the menopause that the joint issue were hormonal all along going back 20 years or more. 

No one can say if hrt will relieve the issues for you, everyone is different but it has certainly made a difference to me.

[Katejo]

Katejo - I am 56 and been on hrt for 10 years but not the right HRT for me it seems.  I have had major joint problems and aches and pains for years, turns out it was hormonal. I have been told I had chronic fatigue, ME and lastly Fibromyalgia.  The pain was everywhere, particularly in my knees and the soles of my feet. 
At one point I was actually on morphine patches and amyltriptoline for nerve pain plus a heap of other things.  Now they are all gone bar a normal painkiller!  However since I am on a better (still not right but we are getting there) HRT for me the joint pain has certainly gone from +8 all the time down to about 2!  I was on one form of hrt that actually made it worse but now I know what made it worse I knew what to do. But it became very clear through the menopause that the joint issue were hormonal all along going back 20 years or more. 

No one can say if hrt will relieve the issues for you, everyone is different but it has certainly made a difference to me.

Thanks  Ladybt28. Which type of HRT did help you please?  I know that I might be different but it would still help to know. mine isn't as bad as yours sounds. I don't take any painkillers most of the time. However my favourite form of exercise is country walks. I have had to avoid the longer ones due to badly aching feet and, more recently a knee problem.

[Dancinggirl]

sparkle - interesting that you don't like doing floor exercises - I'm not surprised.  I have actually starting teaching a community dance class.  I have people in their 70s and 80s in the class and they are loving it because they don't want to be lying on the floor. I try to do simple exercises that strengthen the feet and ankles, improve balance and works the brain - most importantly we do routines to a variety of music styles which makes it great fun and lifts the mood.
I think dance classes are springing up around the country so perhaps so if you can find one.  Tai Chi is great though. DG x

[dahliagirl]

That sounds fun! 

I did a contemporary dance for fitness class - we added Bollywood, tango and some other stuff.  (There was some floor work, which I love.  However, I have had teachers that have no idea how anyone works who is 40+ and they make you feel that you can't do any of it.  There seem to be ways of doing it!).  I love a bit of running and jumping too.

I am now doing a creative dance for oldies class 

[Ladybt28]

I love dance classes - I used to be a dancer - well there is still a dancer trying to get out! but the classes we have here are too fast for me as I am now so unfit. I get worn out and breathless after 20 minutes and then cant walk for a week!   We have zumba gold for the over 50's but jesus the instructor really goes for it  - I personally cannot see any difference between it and the normal zumba.  I just wish they would'nt go at it like we are only 25!


I am on 4 pumps of oestrogel (I like oestrogel because you can start at 1 pump and work up without having to as the GP every time and I am on 12 days of Utrogestan progesterone although I think this needs to be shortened to 7 - read some other threads on short cycles of prog Katejo.  I have had Femoston tablets before - no good and Evoril patches both kinds - no good and Premarin 1.25 and Provera mg - now the provera was the problem there as they has me on a continuous regime because I am post meno.  I changed to what I am now after 6 weeks on the Prem/Prover because I couldnt deal with Provera and because I had read here that oestrogel and Utrogestan were more flexible and helped quite a few ladies.  I have got rid of my pain and my anxiety attacks but my depression is still not under control and I have problem with motivation and energy but I am working on that and hopefully should be able to find the solution about January.

I would go back to the Premarin if I had to but some ladies don't like it because it is made out of horse urine  I took that when I was offered it because in my first few years on hrt I too PrempakC which is no discontinued but much loved by lots of ladies here and Premarin is the nearest thing to the oestrogen in PrempakC.  Dont concern yourself about Prepack its totally discontinued.

Hurdity who writes here loads will tell you that other than Premarin and Tiblone all other oestrogens are the same in hrt it is just the delivery method (patches, tablets gel etc and how you absorb it (different women absorb in different rates in any method) that varies massively for women and why what suits one wont suit another.  There are various types of progesterone and that is usually where women find the problems.

I started by reading up on the various types and finding threads by women whose situation sounded like mine to try to work out what might be good.

[SueLW]

My oestrogen levels were very low despite HRT for a number of years.  I had a lot of joint problems.  Never hot flushes though.

Now I'm on a better HRT for me and my levels must be rising because I have very much less joint pain.  My foot pain which was bad in the left foot particularly, is gone now and all sorts of other good things are surfacing slowly.  I would definitely try adding to your oestrogen.  Either ask for some gel to apply alongside the patch or go for the 75 patch if they do one.

[Katejo]

My oestrogen levels were very low despite HRT for a number of years.  I had a lot of joint problems.  Never hot flushes though.

Now I'm on a better HRT for me and my levels must be rising because I have very much less joint pain.  My foot pain which was bad in the left foot particularly, is gone now and all sorts of other good things are surfacing slowly.  I would definitely try adding to your oestrogen.  Either ask for some gel to apply alongside the patch or go for the 75 patch if they do one.

Did you get the oestrogen  levels checked by a GP?  I also have joint problems but have never had proper hot flushes (or rather very mild ones but not anymore).