Stabbing pains during perimenopause and menopause
Lately, I’ve had a few questions about sharp or stabbing pains in various parts of the body, so I thought I’d share a little throwback from one of my '"strange symptoms" blog posts. It covers some key things you should know about stabbing pain during perimenopause and menopause.
Causes of stabbing pains
This isn’t the same as tingling—it's more like a sudden, sharp stabbing or shooting pain. These pains can come and go without warning and may occur anywhere in the body, and you never know when they are going to appear.
The main areas are the breasts, the chest area, the legs, and the stomach. So, I will look at these on an individual basis because they can be really quite different.
We know, generally, that falling oestrogen levels can affect nerve function. We know too that nutritional needs go sky-high. You need plenty of B vitamins and magnesium to support your nerves and cells. So, if your nutrition is a bit low, it could be just a really simple case of you needing a bit more magnesium and a vitamin B complex.
What can also happen is that having lower oestrogen increases our pain perception, so you can feel pain more than you did before. You may have had a few aches and pains generally before your hormones shifted, but suddenly you're getting a lot of joint aches and pains. So, that's just because your pain perception has changed, not that anything has gotten particularly worse.
Another thing that can happen is that your connective tissue can degenerate, or it's not being efficiently repaired. Now, connective tissue is like a kind of glue that holds your skeleton together. This connective tissue is flexible, and it helps you move all your different joints. If that connective tissue decreases, that will affect your joint movement and joint range, and that in itself can end up causing stabbing pains in the joints. And this is where basically areas like the knees and the hips can show up; so just be aware of that one.
For chest pain, there's something called costochondritis. This affects the tissue that connects the ribs together. If that gets inflamed, then anything you do that involves reaching up, turning round, moving back or forward, that's going to cause a stabbing pain. If the stabbing pain is connected to any type of movement, especially in the chest area, it’s really important to get this checked out by your doctor, just to make sure that it's not anything to do with your heart, rather than the ribs.
The other area where you can get these stabbing pains is the breasts. Again, it can just be due to low oestrogen levels affecting the oestrogen receptor sites in the breasts. It can be more cyclical. So, if you're in perimenopause, you may find that you just get the stabbing pains before a period is due. Some people find that a kelp supplement can help. We're not quite sure why. It's just one of these things - sometimes it can reduce discomfort.
It can be due to dehydration. Something as simple as that can cause breast discomfort and pain, so remember to keep your water intake up. But any breast changes, any breast pain, this needs to be checked by your doctor as well. Don't put up with this one for months and months, just get it checked out.
If you're getting stabbing pains in the stomach area – your abdomen or around your pelvis - it can be a number of things. It can be a prolapse. It can be due to the fact that the womb is changing. For some women, the womb tissue can shrink during perimenopause and menopause. For other women, it can actually get thicker. So, if the stabbing pains are coming with your cycle, whenever that comes, just get this checked out by your doctor.
If you're getting stabbing pains, especially when you sit down or you bend down, it could indicate a prolapse. Again, get this checked out by your doctor. This one's really important because there are all sorts of other issues. It can be due to polycystic ovaries or fibroids. If you're getting heavy bleeding at lots of different times, and stabbing pain, please get this checked by your doctor.
You may also find these topics helpful:
6 strange sensations during menopause
5 aches and pains of perimenopause and menopause
Stiffness, aches & sharp twinges: is it menopause or something else?
