Snap, Crackle…OW!
Lived Experience.
7/31/20261 min read
One of the more prevalent and painful “symptoms” of menopause that I deal with every waking minute is joint pain. Name a joint – it hurts. All day. Every day. To varying degrees. But always at some level.
Ok, maybe not “every” joint. My elbows are pretty good. But my fingers, hands, wrists, shoulders, hips, feet…and now my knees want in on the action! So, I’m pretty sure my elbows will get tired of being left out soon!
It started small. My right hip; my right foot. Then my fingers started. Next, the shoulders (yup – both of them, FROZEN). And slowly but surely, they all jumped on that bandwagon. So, what have I tried?
First up – exercise. While it gave me a lot of benefits like weight loss, muscle gain, and kept me mobile, it did not help the pain. And as the years keep going up, the recovery period needed after exercise keeps going up as well.
Try #2 – over-the-counter NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). Very little relief for the trade-offs of stomach upset, bruising easily, and heartburn. But, like a trouper, I tried them all.
So, the next step was prescription NSAIDS – Meloxicam (didn’t work); Celebrex (remember my Bactrim allergy? Yeah, this is a sulpha drug, so a big no-no for me).
I have been tested for rheumatoid arthritis, which always comes back negative.
I will say that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has taken the edge off the pain…but has not significantly reduced it.
Therefore, the next logical step is to see an orthopedic doctor. Stay tuned for the results.
Update - diagnosed with osteoarthritis…which means no treatment other than the above except physical therapy possibly.
In the meantime, this is one “symptom” I have: just to put on the big girl panties and suck it up, buttercup!