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Symptoms

WHAT IS IT?

During perimenopause, some women notice an increase in aches and pains and joint stiffness.  Aches and pains can be a minor annoyance or a source of major disability. They can be caused by muscle tension, overuse during physical activity, and injury from overuse. They can also be caused by specific conditions like arthritis or fibromyalgia.

Some women have an increase in migraine headaches during perimenopause. Migraines typically decrease once you are postmenopausal. Let your health care provider know if you have new or increasing headaches.

Pain is considered chronic if it persists for more than 12 weeks.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TO MY BODY?

Since estrogen helps to decrease inflammation, as your levels decline it may take longer to heal inflammation and arthritis in your joints. Estrogen fluctuations affect the chance of migraines, too.  Sleep disruptions may make pain feel worse, too.  Some of your aches and pains may be due to aging.

WHAT TO EXPECT

One study of women found that the proportion of women reporting aches and pain is similar across the stages of reproduction. That suggests that aches and pains may not specifically be due to perimenopause.

You may have more chronic pain after menopause. This may be due to both body changes from menopause and other aspects of aging.

RESEARCH SHOWS THIS TREATMENT HELPS

There is a huge body of research on aches and pains, but only a few treatments have been studied specifically during the menopause transition. Pain treatment studies tend to focus on specific conditions such as arthritis and migraine. But our suggestions may help.

 

TREATMENTS THAT MAY HELP, BUT WE NEED MORE RESEARCH

RESEARCH SHOWS THESE TREATMENT DO NOT HELP

  Treatments that are inappropriate or have not been studied for this symptom are not listed.

REFERENCES

Alexander JL, Dennerstein L, Woods NF, Halbreich U, Kotz K, Richardson G, Graziottin A, Sherman JJ. Arthralgias, bodily aches and pains and somatic complaints in midlife women: etiology, pathophysiology and differential diagnosis. Expert Rev Neurother. 2007 Nov;7(11 Suppl):S15-26. doi: 10.1586/14737175.7.11s.S15. Erratum in: Expert Rev Neurother. 2008 Jun;8(6):1000. Dennerstein, Louise [Dennerstein, Lorraine]. PMID: 18039063.

Dugan SA, Powell LH, Kravitz HM, Everson Rose SA, Karavolos K, Luborsky J. Musculoskeletal pain and menopausal status. Clin J Pain. 2006 May;22(4):325-31. doi: 10.1097/01.ajp.0000208249.07949.d5. PMID: 16691084.

Frange C, Hirotsu C, Hachul H, Pires JS, Bittencourt L, Tufik S, Andersen ML. Musculoskeletal pain and the reproductive life stage in women: is there a relationship?. Climacteric. 2016;19(3):279‐284. doi:10.3109/13697137.2016.1163332. PMID: 27095066.

Gibson CJ, Li Y, Bertenthal D, Huang AJ, Seal KH. Menopause symptoms and chronic pain in a national sample of midlife women veterans. Menopause. 2019 Jul;26(7):708-713. doi: 10.1097/GME.0000000000001312. PMID: 30839364.

Geneen LJ, Moore RA, Clarke C, Martin D, Colvin LA, Smith BH. Physical activity and exercise for chronic pain in adults: an overview of Cochrane Reviews. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017 Apr 24;4(4):CD011279. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD011279.pub3. PMID: 28436583; PMCID: PMC5461882.

Ripa P, Ornello R, Degan D, Tiseo C, Stewart J, Pistoia F, Carolei A, Sacco S. Migraine in menopausal women: a systematic review. Int J Womens Health. 2015 Aug 20;7:773-82. doi: 10.2147/IJWH.S70073. PMID: 26316824; PMCID: PMC4548761.

Vickers AJ, Vertosick EA, Lewith G, MacPherson H, Foster NE, Sherman KJ, Irnich D, Witt CM, Linde K; Acupuncture Trialists’ Collaboration. Acupuncture for Chronic Pain: Update of an Individual Patient Data Meta-Analysis. J Pain. 2018 May;19(5):455-474. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2017.11.005. Epub 2017 Dec 2. PMID: 29198932; PMCID: PMC5927830.

Watt FE. Musculoskeletal pain and menopause. Post Reprod Health. 2018;24(1):34‐43. doi:10.1177/2053369118757537. PMID: 29412042.

Authors: Dr. Katherine Newton & Dr. Leslie Snyder.  Last reviewed: April, 2021.

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