Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) There is evidence that HRT can help the musculoskeletal pains caused by the menopause by restoring hormone levels. It can be beneficial for arthritis too. We have treated women whose joint pains were their only menopause symptom, and these were completely resolved.
Estrogen Replacement Therapy May Have Anti-Inflammatory Effects. Also, estrogen has naturally anti-inflammatory effects. This can help reduce pain and swelling in your joints if you have arthritis.
Some women find that taking Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) helps to alleviate some common symptoms, including menopausal joint pain.
It may take a few weeks to feel the effects of treatment and there may be some side effects at first. A GP will usually recommend trying treatment for 3 months to see if it helps. If it does not, they may suggest changing your dose, or changing the type of HRT you're taking.
Some women may find HRT helpful in reducing the aches and pains associated with menopause. HRT can also improve symptoms that may contribute to chronic pain including mood changes and poor sleep. However, HRT is not suitable for everyone and there is limited evidence that it helps for general aches and pains alone.
The primary female hormone, estrogen, protects joints and reduces inflammation, but when estrogen levels drop during menopause, inflammation can increase, the risk of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis can go up and the result can be painful joints.
One of the common treatment options for menopausal symptoms is hormone replacement therapy (HRT), supplementing your hormone levels to rebalance your system. However, you may prefer to move through menopause without using hormone treatments. And, women with previous hormone-dependent cancer shouldn't use HRT.
In very real ways, using HRT to address symptoms of hormonal change can help you feel younger. It can give you more energy, elevate mood, and increase sex drive. It can make sex more comfortable and improve sleep in both men and women.
HT has both anti-inflammtory and pro-inflammatory effects and it activates coagulation and improves fibrinolysis [1,8]. These effects depend on the route of administration, doses of estrogen, age of women, and the presence of coronary artery disease or the coexistence of other risk factors for hypercoagulability.
Aches, stiffness, and swelling around the joint are common symptoms of menopausal joint pain. As a woman approaches menopause, her body goes through drastic hormonal changes that can affect her in many ways.
Hormone replacement therapy can help in many ways with your weight loss goals if you're suffering from symptoms of menopause. Several studies have found that menopausal HRT can have a big impact not only on weight loss, but also how much fat your body stores and where.
Many women believe that taking HRT will make them put on weight, but there's no evidence to support this claim. You may gain some weight during the menopause, but this often happens regardless of whether you take HRT. Exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet should help you to lose any unwanted weight.
Does menopause joint pain go away? Most women do find that symptoms such as joint pain begin to ease off through the menopause as hormone levels even out and stabilise. However, this can also depend on your general health, stress levels, diet, exercise etc.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
Systemic HRT can improve sleep quality, making it easier to get off to sleep, with less night-time waking; it has also been shown to improve chronic pain, mood and genitourinary symptoms. A 2017 study also demonstrated an improvement in hot flushes and night sweats.
There is no specific age cut-off for starting HRT.
While many people notice improvements in sleep or mood within weeks of starting HRT, changes like improved muscle mass or fat loss can take at least three to six months.
Combined HRT can be associated with a small increase in the risk of breast cancer. The increased risk is related to how long you take HRT, and it falls after you stop taking it. Because of the risk of breast cancer, it's especially important to attend all your breast cancer screening appointments if you're taking HRT.
When to stop taking HRT. Most women are able to stop taking HRT after their menopausal symptoms finish, which is usually two to five years after they start (but in some cases this can be longer). Gradually decreasing your HRT dose is usually recommended, rather than stopping suddenly.
A Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center study involving postmenopausal, overweight, and obese women who took 2,000 IUs of vitamin D daily for a year found that those whose vitamin D blood levels increased the most had the greatest reductions in blood estrogens, which are a known risk factor for breast cancer.
Oestrogen is likely to play an important role in the onset of musculoskeletal aches and pains in the menopause. Oestrogen affects your cartilage, which is the connective tissue in joints, as well as bone turnover (the natural replacement of bone in your body), so it can play a part in inflammation and pain.
Many women experience joint and muscle pain and stiffness around the time of menopause - that they hadn't experienced before. Because there are estrogen receptors all over the body, including the joints, declining hormone levels can add to pain caused by inflammation, general wear and tear, and just plain aging.