menopausal joint pain

[Guest guest]

A rather belated happy new year to everyone!

I have a patient who I wrote to the list about a couple of months ago who has

suffered from severe cluster headaches for most of her adult life. When she is

in a cluster, the only relief she gets is from Sumatriptan tablets or injection

when the pain is very severe. This patient came to me originally for help with

her hot flushes and low mood, both these symptoms are now much improved, but I'm

having little success with helping her with the joint stiffness and pain which

started with her menopausal sx and gradually worsened in the last year. I've

used Dioscurea, Apium, Filipendula, Curcuma (the latter combined with Boswellia

and alongside Bromelain tablets) over the course of her tx all with little

success. The only real relief she gets is when she has a course of steroids

which are given during a severe cluster headache episode. She really doesn't

want to resort to the steroids again (she's currently experiencing a cluster and

is trying to manage just with the Sumatriptan). I still feel the Sx are very

like those of Polymyalgia rheumatica, her GP agreed with this but all tests have

been negative and the consultant she was referred to said that " only old ladies

suffer from that, you're too young " ! Xrays of hands and feet have only shown

mild degenerative changes of thumb joints. She teaches dance and pilates (owns

her own dance school) and has very good range of movement in all joints. She has

a lot of family stress in her life but can cope with this most of the time -

when she experiences a cluster she finds it unsurprisingly harder to cope and

her mood dips.

I would really appreciate any suggestions for helping with her joint stiffness

and pain. If anyone has any suggestions for helping with cluster headaches that

would also be great.

Her current prescription is

Trifolium 25

Asparagus racemosa 20

Cimicifuga 15

Rehmania 20

Hypericum 15 (when she's using the Sumatriptan, I use

instead of the Hypericum)

Tanacetum parth 7

I concentrated on her menopausal Sx and lifting her mood.

Regards

Sue Salmon

Huddersfield