Introduction

Surgical menopause joint pain is one of many symptoms that is often overlooked or ignored all together.

The reason for this is because it’s usually not the first symptom that pops up on the long roster of symptoms that women in surgical menopause are dealing with.

I also think it’s because we don’t look at surgical menopause joint pain as a hormonal issue, we tend to think about it like an aging issue instead.

You can read more about it here.

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1. Why Does Surgical Menopause Joint Pain Happen?

Estrogen, the hormone that is responsible for so much… 

The sudden drop in estrogen levels in surgical menopause can significantly impact your body’s inflammatory response and joint health. 

Estrogen plays a crucial role in:

Reducing inflammation: Estrogen has anti-inflammatory properties that protects the joints. It also protects the cartilage tissue and other tissues surrounding the joints.

When estrogen levels plummet dramatically, many women experience:

Increased joint stiffness: In my research, estrogen actually makes our muscles very lax, which can make us hyper flexible, so when our estrogen is cut off in surgical menopause, it does the opposite which causes stiffness and rigidity.

Estrogen also supports the production of synovial fluid, which lubricates the joints. So it stands to reason that with the inflammation increasing in and around the joints and the lubrication drying up that you’re going to experience some pain and stiffness.

Read here for more information about the differences between surgical and natural menopause.

2. Common Areas For Joint Pain

Women experiencing surgical menopause often report pain in:

Neck & Shoulders:  These two areas are a very common place for pain. I actually have neck and shoulder pain both from when I was younger and both have gotten worse since I’ve entered into surgical menopause.

Knees & Hips: Especially painful if you are overweight. Just a small amount of weight loss can be beneficial for pain management in these areas.

Hands and Wrists: Here the stiffness and swelling is noticeable and these areas can definitely affect your daily life.

3. Management Strategies for Menopausal Joint Pain

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)

If any of your surgical menopause symptoms don’t respond to natural remedies or lifestyle changes, you may want to talk to your physician about hormone replacement therapy.

Some of us can’t benefit from HRT because of a current cancer diagnosis or if you’ve had estrogen sensitive cancer. Other women choose not to use HRT because of risks and still others HAVE TRIED HRT and have said that they never could find the right balance of hormones and their symptoms ended up getting worse.

Whatever you choose to do, I respect your decision either way. We all have our own reasons for doing things, and the only thing I hope for is that your choice is based on facts and not fear. 

Lifestyle Modifications

The good news in all of this is that despite what we’re dealing with, we can help ourselves by improving our lifestyle, which will only improve everything else around us!

Regular low-impact exercise: I can tell you from experience that I’ve started trying different workouts and literally after the first one, I had 75% pain relief for hours after I was done! And when I exercise, I sleep better, which is huge!

There are numerous apps and YouTube videos that you can try and so many different types of exercises that you can do. I searched YouTube for a 30 minute stand-up workout for beginners and it ended up being just right. I was sore the next day but it felt great!

Maintaining a healthy weight: This isn’t just about eating right, it’s about the whole picture. It’s about a lifestyle change, not a diet! Thinking of it as a diet will just make you miserable because you’ll feel like you HAVE TO do it.

If you’re overweight and you hate it, then change it! I don’t mean to sound harsh, it’s just when all is said and done, it’s going to be YOU that is responsible for what gets done!

I’ve come to the realization that I had to be sick of the way I felt “enough” to do something about it. If you’re complacent, nothing will happen and no one can do this for you. We can cheer each other on and celebrate milestones, but at the end, it’ll be you doing the work.

Please Note: Always talk to your doctor FIRST when starting any kind of exercise program or changing your diet. 

Eat Good Food!

Eat a normal diet of fruits and veggies, chicken or fish, whole grains and healthy fats. Get off of the ultra-processed food!

Our food is full of garbage, and I will not eat something if the ingredients are in fine print and a paragraph in size. Moderation and paying attention to what you put into your body is more important than ever.

Anti-inflammatory diet

Here’s a few foods that are inflammation fighters:

Berries: strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and cranberries! Studies show that eating these berries lower the risks for diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

Adequate hydration: Here’s the math for water consumption that I use. Take your weight, divide that in half. Take the half that’s left and that’s the water you should consume in OUNCES per day.

Dehydration will make you feel like shit in every way, whether you’re in surgical menopause or not. Think about all of the hot flashes that you have in a day and top that off with the hot flashes at night, (night sweats,) and you can see how easily we get dehydrated!

Keeping hydrated is essential for lubricating the cartilage and tissue around your joints, warding off migraines and keeping your skin and hair as soft as possible.

5. Stress Management Techniques

Let’s not forget about stress and how that will wreak havoc on our bodies as well. Yes, your joints can hurt more when you’re stressed out and not sleeping well. 

It’s a vicious cycle where you feel like crap, eat junk food for comfort, not sleep because of eating garbage and stressed out the next day because you still feel like crap!

CBT,(cognitive behavioural training,) yoga, stretching or journaling can also really help reduce your stress.

You can exercise for joint pain BUT don’t do high impact exercises like running because it will only put more pressure on the already painful joints.

Instead, try walking, yoga, stretching or if possible swimming!! Swimming would be ideal in my opinion, as it works pretty much every muscle in your body and it’s low resistance. 

6. Natural Supplements

What supplements are good for menopause joint pain?

Here I’ll try to give you some ideas that are different, instead of the same old stuff you find! 😁

Camelina Oil

Turmeric: I will be honest. I wanted the Turmeric to work for my shoulder and neck pain. While I was still working, I experienced a pinched cervical nerve in my neck and it was the most painful condition I’ve ever experienced!

The Turmeric was in a gummy form and I couldn’t continue taking them because from the start, they caused me to “hot FLUSH.” When you combine the “flushes” with “flashes,” you have one miserable day. Everyone is different so maybe you won’t have that happen to you.

Collagen supplements: Type II collagen is the collagen used for joints, whereas Types I or III is more for the skin.  They are not 100% on the results but I believe that it’s something that is not going to hurt you and it might work. 

If you are not getting enough of these proteins, vitamins and minerals in your diet, then you should definitely talk with your doctor and try some of these supplements. 👇🏻👇🏻

Glucosamine and chondroitin: These popular supplements are natural compounds that are found in our cartilage. I believe that these are definitely worth a try. Read more here.

7. Pain Management Techniques

Physical therapy: This can be very beneficial and I can say this from personal experience. I had physical therapy for shoulder pain many years ago and it was a combination of electro-stimulation, deep tissue massage and followed with a nice cool down with a stretch. 

If your insurance will cover this for you, even better and I would definitely try this first!

Gentle yoga: Try these yoga exercises! These look similar to ways I could sleep!  Here!!

Acupuncture: There are studies that show that acupuncture does help alleviate some of the more distressing symptoms of surgical menopause, including joint pain.

Massage therapy: I’m a firm believer in massage for pretty much all aches and pains. I’ve had a stress fracture in my foot that ended up breaking completely, a cervical pinched nerve, (OMG!!! PAINFUL!!,) and countless migraines over the last ten years. 

Each one of these times, especially the first two, my husband would massage the area.  Every.  Single.  Day. For at least ten minutes.  And it helped every single time to heal faster. The main benefit of massage is that it improves blood flow and that’s where the healing takes place.

Heat and cold treatments: These are also one of those things that pretty much always works well, so long as it is applied and done properly.

Cold is good for swollen, hot joints.

Heat is good for stiffness in the joint.

8. When to Seek Medical Advice

Consult your healthcare provider:

If your pain worsens, is accompanied by redness, swelling, or if your movement is restricted. This could indicate arthritis or osteoporosis, especially if it doesn’t respond to anything you’ve tried at home. 

If pain is starting to bug you to the point where daily tasks become harder to accomplish and you find yourself doing less or nothing at all, then it’s time to see your doctor.

Please be sure to tell your doctor about what stage of menopause you’re in, even if it’s post surgical. 

A doctor cannot help you unless you give them ALL of the information that they need! They can’t treat something if they don’t know that it exists.

Conclusion

Surgical menopause joint pain is real and can be challenging. However, with the right approach, understanding, and medical support, you can effectively manage these symptoms and maintain an active, fulfilling life.

Disclaimer: Always consult with your healthcare professional before starting any new treatment  for your surgical menopausal symptoms.