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Menopause pain
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
Pain during menopause can occur at any time in life, and it is not necessarily associated with physical overexertion. Pain can be accompanied by periods of fever and chills, increased sweating, joint pain, headaches, high blood pressure, drowsiness, increased fatigue... There are enough symptoms, as you can see. Why does pain occur during menopause and how to reduce its intensity?
The first period is pre-menopausal (before menopause)
It occurs at about 40 years of age. At this time, the production of the sex hormone, estrogen, gradually decreases. And then menstruation may become irregular, and over the next 10 years stop altogether. At first, the discharge may be scanty, and then stop altogether. The period of menstruation may be accompanied by nagging pain in the lower abdomen, as well as headaches and joint pain.
The menopause itself
The estrogen level during this period can drop to almost zero. And therefore, there is practically no monthly discharge. As a rule, the period of menopause itself can begin starting at the age of 52. Heredity plays a big role in this matter. If the mother and grandmother had menopause early, then the daughter will also have it early with a high probability. And vice versa: a late menopause in the mother and grandmother will most likely be just as late in the daughter and granddaughter.
This period may also be accompanied by pain in the joints, back of the head, temples and abdomen.
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Postmenopause
This period can last for several years, or even a couple of decades. It begins a year after the end of menstruation and lasts until the end of life. In long-lived women (over 80), the postmenopausal period can take up about a third of their entire life. This period is also accompanied by hormonal changes and pain, mainly in the joints due to a lack of female sex hormones and, as a result, bone fragility.
Pain during menopause: causes and symptoms
Women often complain of joint pain during menopause or before it – in the pre-menopausal period. The causes of pain are hormonal changes in the body, increased stress, physical activity, calcium deficiency (and increased fragility of joints for this reason), diseases of the spine, neuralgia, in particular, of the cervical spine.
Hormonal changes in the body can also be the cause of severe pain during menopause. Joints, legs, head, and lower abdomen can hurt. If a woman develops osteoporosis (due to increased bone fragility due to a lack of hormones), she can also be bothered by pain during menopause. Arthritis, which is called climacteric arthritis, can also be the cause of pain. In this case, you can help a woman with complex methods - taking hormones (hormone replacement therapy) and physical exercises, which can be calculated and developed with a specialist in therapeutic exercise.
What is menopause?
Menopause is a condition in which a woman begins to produce much less of the hormone estrogen, and as a result, the body is completely rebuilt. Menstruation stops, a woman may experience mood swings, sudden changes in her well-being, and she may become depressed.
Menopause is divided into three periods, which can last up to ten years. When these periods end, a woman can no longer have children – her reproductive function is exhausted.
Besides the pain...
In a woman's body, hot flashes and low tides may occur (most often) during menopause. Doctors write that hot flashes are most often explained by a decrease in the production of female sex hormones, estrogens. As a result of a sharp decrease in the amount of this hormone in the blood, biochemical processes in the brain change, and the temperature regime undergoes failures. Therefore, a woman may feel hot.
The temperature in our body is regulated by a small thermoregulator - a gland located in the brain, its very center. Now this gland cannot determine whether a woman is cold or hot, and direct the body's forces to compensate for the temperature. Therefore, a signal from this gland to increase or decrease the body temperature can come at the most unexpected moments, when a woman does not need it at all. Therefore, a woman during menopause can feel as if, without her will, her body temperature sharply increases and decreases.
When the body temperature rises, the vessels narrow, and when it falls, they expand. This is what gives the effect of a woman losing consciousness or feeling weak, and abruptly.
The ebb and flow of the tides depend on the individual characteristics of the woman's body and can be either weak, barely noticeable, or strong. It is worth knowing that when menopause ends, hormonal processes in the body may not stop.
To reduce pain during menopause, comprehensive examinations are needed. First of all, a hormone test. This test will show which hormones a woman's body lacks and in what doses they need to be taken. Restoring hormonal balance will help restore the functioning of all body systems, including coping with pain.
At first, pain during menopause can be reduced with the help of painkillers. But then you still need to consult a competent gynecologist and endocrinologist.