3 Weird Menopause Signs No One's Talking About ...Saudi Arabia

Itchy ears, painful feet, frozen shoulder…of course, you recognize all of those as obvious symptoms of menopause, right?

Okay, maybe not. Weight gain, hot flashes, and night sweats get all the press, but believe it or not, these other symptoms can all accompany perimenopause and menopause, too. And they may be more common than you realize. Here’s what you might want to know.

The itching, oh, the itching. If you just thought your skin was dry and itchy because of the winter air, you could be right. Your dry itchy skin and the constant urge to scratch could also be another sign of impending menopause.

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“We have estrogen receptors in our skin, and when estrogen depletes in menopause, we get all sorts of skin changes, including dry, thinning skin and sometimes itchiness,” says Dr. Kathleen Jordan, MD, chief medical officer at Midi Health.

Dr. Erica Montes, MD, notes that estrogen is involved in the production of natural oils that keep skin moisturized. “The lack of collagen and natural oils can cause your skin to become thin and itchy,” says Dr. Montes, an OB/GYN in Scottsdale, Arizona an advisor for pH-D Feminine Health.

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Systemic hormone therapy can help with the flagging hormone levels that are the root cause, according to Dr. Jordan. However, you could also try applying thick moisturizers or ointments or medicated creams to your skin. In some cases, a steroid ointment like hydrocortisone or a topical estrogen cream could provide some relief, too.

It’s not just your skin that can get itchy, either. Your ears can get itchy, too. “Declining estrogen levels during menopause leads to dryness in the mucous membranes of the ear canal, leading to itching and irritation,” explains Dr. Amberly Davidson, MD, an OB/GYN with HerMD.

Ear itchiness is not a super common symptom, but it does happen. “I’ve seen it, and I’ve seen it respond beautifully to hormone therapy,” says Dr. Jordan.

About a dozen years ago, another doctor referred a patient to Dr. Michael Tahery, MD, an OB/GYN and urogynecologist in Los Angeles. “They couldn’t figure out why this lady has burning on the bottom of her feet,” he recalls.

Diabetes? No. Circulation issues? Also no. But the beginning of the pain matched up with the onset of menopause, and Dr. Tahery had an idea. “We put her on estrogen, saying, ‘we don’t know exactly why this happens, but if it’s hormonal, it will get better,” says Dr. Tahery. “And sure enough, we put her on hormones, and she got better.”

During menopause, you may experience a decrease in the flexibility of the connective tissues in your feet, which can lead to inflammation and possibly even painful conditions like plantar fasciitis. Additionally, the weight gain associated with menopause can increase the pressure on your feet, which could also be responsible for some foot pain.

3. Joint pain

Dr. Tahery also hears several patients complaining about joint pain. Sometimes it’s specific pain, but often, it’s generalized joint pain, often accompanied by fatigue.

“They say, my whole body hurts. It’s not like I jogged too far, or I got kicked in the hip when I was playing soccer,’” he reports.

According to Dr. Davidson, joint pain is increasingly being recognized as a component of menopause. In fact, it’s now being called “musculoskeletal syndrome of menopause.”

“Frozen shoulder can be an initial presenting symptom for some women,” she says. Also known as adhesive capsulitis, frozen shoulder is the name for the dull, aching pain and stiffness that can make it very hard (and unpleasant) to move your shoulder. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), frozen shoulder is more common in women than in men, and it tends to develop between the ages of 40 and 60.

Research recently conducted by a team from Duke University suggests a possible link between a drop in estrogen and frozen shoulder. Their research found that menopausal women who received hormone therapy were less likely to develop adhesive capsulitis, which suggests that hormone therapy could be protective against adhesive capsulitis in menopausal women.

Frozen shoulder can be treated in several ways, including non-surgical and surgical treatments, but it’s important to get the right diagnosis. That’s also true for other types of joint pain that you might develop during perimenopause and menopause.

Related: The Test You Still Need to Get After Menopause, According to OB/GYNs

Other Symptoms You Might Not Associate With Menopause

Itchy skin, joint pain, and foot pain may be some of the more unusual or unexpected symptoms that some women experience during perimenopause or menopause.

But of course, other changes can occur that you may or may not associate with the hormonal decreases that occur during perimenopause and menopause.

“Some of the more serious issues, though, do not show up with symptoms,” says Dr. Barbara Levy, MD, an OB/GYN and medical officer at Visana Health. “For example, the loss of bone (and) muscle mass and increases in risk for heart disease are all silent.”

You might not make the connection between psychiatric changes and hormonal changes, either. Hormones like estrogen and progesterone affect neurotransmitters in the brain, and fluctuations in these hormones can affect your memory and your executive function.

“People think they’re getting dementia because they can’t find a word” they’re trying to remember, says Dr. Tami Rowen, MD, OB/GYN with UCSF Obstetrics and Gynecology and medical expert for Roon.

The drop in hormones can also cause changes in your mood. As a result, you’re at a much greater risk of developing anxiety or depression.

Dr. Rowen sometimes encounters women who have been prescribed antidepressants or antipsychotic medication because a doctor diagnosed them with depression. If their medication is helping them, she doesn’t suggest any changes. But for the patients who still struggle with symptoms, she does have a recommendation: try hormone therapy.

Doctors urge women to pay attention to new or changing symptoms and talk to their healthcare providers about them.

“There are treatments that can really help with the symptoms that can be quite bothersome,” says Dr. Rowen. “So, I always encourage people to seek treatment for symptoms if they need it.”

Hormone therapy may be an option to consider. “I think the thing that people don’t realize is that estrogen is so important for every organ system in our bodies, so when it declines, our overall health can decline along with it,” says Dr. Montes.

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