Part 2 of 3, counting down to World Menopause Day on Sunday 18 October 2026. Part 1: why HRT is harder to keep track of. The basics of the day, including whether joint pain can be a menopause symptom, are in my World Menopause Day guide.
Every year the International Menopause Society chooses a theme for World Menopause Day. For 2026 it's "Chronic Pain At Midlife". I'm glad they picked it. Aches and pains are one of the symptoms we're most likely to keep quiet about, because they're so easy to put down to getting older, a bad mattress or doing too much at the weekend.
In this part I want to go a bit further than the guide does. What the society behind the day is actually saying, what the NHS says about when pain needs looking at, and what to write down this week so that your next appointment gets somewhere.
What the International Menopause Society is saying
On its World Menopause Day 2026 page, the International Menopause Society says chronic pain "affects a significant proportion of women during and after the menopause transition", and that it "remains underestimated in both research and care."
Its president, Professor Rossella Nappi, puts it more bluntly: "Women's pain has too often been dismissed through gendered stereotypes." She says chronic pain at midlife "should be recognized as a key component of menopause care."
If pain is part of menopause care, it's a fair thing to bring up at your HRT review, and you don't need to wait until it's unbearable.
The theme page gives no figures and makes no claim that HRT treats pain, so I've kept to what it says. The society has published a factsheet for women and a white paper for doctors, both linked from that page, if you want to read further.
What the NHS says about joint pain
The NHS has a page on joint pain that I'd recommend reading in full. It does say that "perimenopause and menopause can also cause aching and painful joints due to lowered levels of oestrogen." But it also lists plenty of other causes, from sprains and strains to osteoarthritis, which it describes as "usually over the age of 45", and rheumatoid arthritis. So the menopause is one possibility among several, and only your GP can tell them apart.
The NHS is specific about when to see a GP. It says to see one if:
- "joint pain is stopping you doing normal activities or affecting your sleep"
- "the pain or swelling is getting worse or keeps coming back"
- "the pain has not improved after treating it at home for 2 weeks"
- "your joints are stiff for more than 30 minutes after waking up"
It also says to get an urgent GP appointment or call NHS 111 if the skin around a painful joint is swollen and feels hot, or if you have joint pain and feel generally unwell, have a high temperature or feel hot, cold or shivery. And it says to go to A&E or call 999 after a fall or injury that leaves you with very bad joint pain, or if you can't put weight on the joint.
What to write down this week
Look at that GP list again. Almost every line is about a pattern over time: is it getting worse, does it keep coming back, has it been more than two weeks, how long are you stiff in the morning. Those are hard questions to answer on the spot in a short appointment. They're easy to answer if you've jotted a line down each day.
So for the next week or two, here's what I'd note:
- Where it hurt, and whether it was the same place as the day before.
- How long you were stiff after getting up. The NHS uses 30 minutes as a marker, so it's worth knowing your own number.
- What it got in the way of, if anything. The stairs, a walk, a night's sleep, opening a jar.
- What you tried and whether it helped. That answers the NHS's two-week question for you.
- Where you were in your HRT routine. Patch change day, which phase of a sequential routine, any doses you missed.
Most of us wouldn't think to note the HRT routine alongside the pain. I can't tell you whether your aches follow your HRT, and nobody can until there are notes to look at. If there is a link for you, having the two written down side by side is how you or your GP will spot it.
Why a line a day beats a good memory
On the day of your appointment you'll remember this week's pain clearly and last month's barely at all. A note like "stiff for about an hour most mornings for three weeks, mostly my hands, and it stopped me sleeping twice" gives your GP far more to work with than "it's been bad lately".
It also helps you. Pain that's been quietly there for months has a way of feeling normal. Seeing it written down, day after day, is often what tells you it's worth booking the appointment at all.
How a body map helps
Aches have a habit of moving around. One week it's your hands, the next it's a hip or your shoulders, and by the time you're sitting with your GP it's hard to say where it was, or when. The first thing on my list above, where it hurt, is the one that's easiest to lose.
That's what the body map in HRTMe is for. When you log Joint / Muscle Pain in your daily Wellbeing check-in, a picture of the body opens, front and back, and you tap the places that ache. Tap a place again to clear it. It takes a few seconds, which is a lot quicker than writing it down.
Over a few weeks your own pattern starts to show: the same joints coming up again and again, more at the front or the back. In Insights, "Where it aches" shows which areas come up most often over the last 90 days, and the areas go into your GP report, so you can show your GP the pattern instead of trying to remember it.
Because it sits in the same app as your doses, you and your GP can look at it alongside your HRT. Working out what's behind the pain is your GP's job, and a few weeks of taps gives you both something real to go on.
Where HRTMe fits
HRTMe keeps your symptom notes and your doses in one place, so the side-by-side record above builds up as you go; there's more on how in the World Menopause Day guide.
Next, part 3: is your HRT actually working, and how do you know?
General information only, not medical advice. If you're in pain, please speak to your GP, or call NHS 111 if it's urgent.
— Jane