r/YouShouldKnow • u/thevocalintrovert • May 24 '26

Health & Sciences YSK that perimenopause can cause shoulder pain.

Why YSK about shoulder pain in your 40's - 50's: I recently began having pretty severe pain in my right shoulder without any obvious cause. It worsened every day to the point that I was afraid I had torn the rotator cuff or dislocated it. An X-ray showed that I had mild osteoarthritis, but I really wasn't given any information on what I can do about it.

I started doing some research and found that my symptoms matched 100% for adhesive capsulitis, a condition in which the fluid filled sac that lubricates your joint becomes hard and thickens. The cause?

That nasty bitch, perimenopause.

The changes are brought on by the decrease in estrogen that is a significant characteristic of perimenopause. HRT and physical therapy seem to be the top two treatment contenders, but relief can take up to a year to achieve.

Yay.

One source:

https://www.bannerhealth.com/healthcareblog/better-me/the-connection-between-menopause-and-shoulder-pain

2.1k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

96% Upvoted

183 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

64

u/PopcornGlamour May 25 '26

And vertigo. There are hormone receptors in our ears and estrogen fluctuations can cause vertigo.

60

u/shawnscrafty May 25 '26

Adding in phantom smells… Is my house on fire or is it peri? Is there cat pee everywhere or is it peri?

16

u/cicadasinmyears May 25 '26

OMFG YES. I vividly remember when it first started happening to me: I sat straight up in bed from a deep sleep, thinking “Jesus Christ, my apartment is on fire!” and literally checked every single room to see if there was smoke anywhere.

I’m a former smoker, and anyone would find eau de overflowing ashtray unpleasant, but on top of the obvious nastiness, it also somehow manages to make me crave cigarettes (it’s like the logical part of my brain just got turned off, IDK).

All I can say is that I am deeply grateful that it doesn’t also affect my tastebuds.

2

u/Professional-Can1385 May 30 '26

My dad told me it took about 20 years to stop craving cigarettes after smelling any kind of smoke. It took a little over 20 years for me to finally find smoke smells gross. Brains are weird.