Menopause or something else?
Aches and pains are all part and parcel of the menopause. It's a really common set of symptoms: joint pain, muscle ache, stiffness all over, lower back pain or lower backache, aching all over, or just stabbing pains that appear out of nowhere.
So often, women really worry about these and they think that it may be something a bit more serious. Many of you contact me, worried you're going to be developing things like arthritis or sciatica or even osteoporosis.
Whilst the conditions can develop or get worse during the perimenopause or menopause, often this is just due to the impact of hormonal changes on your joints, muscles and nervous system.
Simple strategies that I recommend you try
So, how do you know if it is related to the hormones or whether it's something else? There are a few key strategies that are quite easy to follow. I would suggest you do these maybe for two or three weeks, maybe a month, just to see how you get on with them.
And then you will know whether this is the perimenopause or menopause, or whether something else is going on.
- Keep yourself hydrated. Those of you that follow my blogs a lot, you know how important water is for absolutely everything. And we know that dehydration can have a huge impact on muscles and joints. And if you're dehydrated, your nerves can sometimes get over-excited too.
- Maintain a good posture. It's so easy. Now we're on our phones all the time, we're hunched up. We can get shoulder pain that can cause back pain and lower back pain too. If you're doing a lot of desk work, sitting at a desk for long periods of time poses problems.
So, make sure you keep yourself upright and keep your shoulders back. You can even get great exercises that you can do at your desk on YouTube, maybe a few minutes a day, just to ease things. - Stretch a lot. Do gentle stretching on a regular basis during the day. A lot of you tell me you do the stretches at night, just before you go to bed, and that can make you sleep better and you feel fewer aches and pains in the morning. So that's maybe a nice one to try.
- Stay active. It's not about going mad at the gym; it's just about keeping your muscles and joints moving. You're looking at walking, swimming, yoga. And all of these can improve your circulation and your muscle tone too.
And I know for myself, I try and do yoga just 15 or 20 minutes, three times a week, and if I don't then by the end of the week I really notice the difference. So, it's worth investing a little bit of time. And again, go to YouTube, because you can get 15-20 minute exercises on there.
I do mine first thing in the morning when I get up, and then that's it done for the day.
- Take healthy fats, especially for joint aches and pains. You need fats to lubricate your joints, so look at fish oils or, if you are vegetarian or vegan, you can go for a flaxseed oil supplement.
- Then there are the herbal remedies, the herbal supports. You can look at Atrosan Devil's Claw. This can be used for muscle aches and pains, and back pain. Then you can apply Atrogel Arnica gel to the affected area, just to ease the discomfort.
A.Vogel Atrosan Devil's Claw tablets
- Relieves muscle and joint pain
- For rheumatic pain, backache or lumbago
- Made from extracts of cultivated Devil’s Claw rather than endangered wild harvested herb
- Can be used with other medicines
“Very effective, dramatically reduced back ache.”
Elizabeth J Cowley
What if these don’t help?
What do you do if this doesn't help? If you've tried all of these and three or four weeks later you think it's not made the slightest bit of difference, that's the point when you go and see a healthcare practitioner. You can see either your doctor or a chiropractor, just to get a little bit of a health check.
Sometimes it can be something really simple that just needs a little bit of tweaking that can make a lot of difference. I hope you found this one helpful. It's such a common symptom pattern, and hopefully, with these little tips, you'll get things sorted quickly.
Take care, and have a lovely week.
You may also find these topics helpful:
5 aches and pains of perimenopause and menopause
How to manage menopause pain at night
6 reasons to stretch every day during perimenopause and menopause
