I have intermittent sore toes on my left foot for at least 6 months and it's ramping up to every day. Oddly, it feels worst in the morning after I wake up, and usually feels better after I walk around. Sometimes I feel it in my other foot, and less frequently in my fingers. The left foot is by far the most bothersome though. Sometimes I feel aches in other places in that foot, the heel, ball of foot, or the top surface (whatever that's called). I'm wondering if this is the beginning of arthritis. I don't have any swelling or other visual abnormalities, just soreness and aches. I'm thinking it's not rheumatoid but osteo.

Sandra,

I have no idea if you have arthritis or not, I just wanted to pipe in and say I have been having ankle issues! My right ankle hurts often. And if I have been immobile for 10 minutes or more, it really hurts when I get up and start moving around. Going down stairs is particularly painful. And like you, it seems if I stay mobile it doesn't hurt much at all....I even forget about it.

So I am curious too....is this how arthritis manifests at the beginning?

A couple of years back Sandra, I had a terrible sore foot. It bugged me for about a year, and then "poof" it just went away. It hasn't come back either. Although, as mentioned above I now have ankle pain...but this is years later and seemingly unrelated.

Is it just aging?

OK, I'm on a roll, i have to join in here......bec. my left knee has lost it's mind! I really do think that's what's happened here! I have to joke about it, or I'll crack up! You may have read my post called LEG PAIN....but, all I can say is .......this is depressing! My intro into peri in the first place was bad leg pain! My legs would BURN, STING, PINS AND NEEDLES, ACHE, AND OUTRIGHT PAIN......for weeks! That was really horrible. But, that was 2 yrs. ago. It went away eventually. Now, it seems to be back, but in another form. It started with my thigh muscle feeling sore,.....then, it traveled down the leg farther, to the knee itself, and that bone on the outside of the knee. It hurts that bone, when I try to sit or get back up! My knee cap feels "off", it's weird. I didn't do anything to it, that I know of. Now, of course, I'm ALSO thinking osteo ..... is this how this starts? I just can't accept this, I feel as if I'm falling apart, piece by piece.

Floater and Sandra......did your pain just start one day, out of nowhere? That's what this did...about a month ago.
I have to literally hold on to something in order to sit down, or get back up, so I don't put any pressure on that knee bone....not so much the knee CAP, but more that bone that runs up alongside your knee, on the outside.

Sandra, you said, it seems to be getting worse....is it in the JOINTS, or just the whole toe in general? Do you both experience GOOD days, and BAD days with this? I do.

I just keep rubbing BEN GAY on it, and taking Advil or tylenol. I know that drinking lemon juice, in water is a good joint "fixer", so I'm going to be getting some of that tomorrow....also, black strap molasses.

I just don't want this to be osteo!!!!! I have this lousy feeling that, with age, our bodies may very well, begin to experience new aches and pains, .... SUDDENLY.

If any of us find something that relieves this pain, let's post it!!!!

ONE MORE THING..........Floater, you mentioned the fact that if you were stationary for more than 10 minutes, it gets stiff, and aches,...yes, my knee is the same way.

I have osteo in both sides of my jaw and in my knees. I am now having ankle pain/creaking and cracking while going up and down stairs. My big toes hurt along with my wrists and middle fingers. I live on the east coast and had lots of cold and rain and it got really bad, we then had a break in the weather for two days and I felt good. I hate to say this ladies, but I think it is arthur-itis starting. Not fun at all. The knees can be pretty bad, I did physical therapy for a while this summer and it helped alot. Check online for the exercises to do, they really work.

Me too! I've been having pain in my left foot, on and off for months! It started on the outside of my little toe and hurt whenever I wore shoes. Tried different shoes--didn't matter. That went away after a month or so. Then, next was the outside of the ankle. It really hurt, like bone pain! I thought maybe I had a hairline fracture. I increased my calcium and my magnesium. It went away. A couple weeks later, it was across the top of my foot--same kind of bone pain. That has gone on now for about a month. It causes me to limp, which causes my back to hurt because it is being strained from the limping! I can't win! I've tried several pain relievers and rub-in creams and nothing helps!
Arthritis? Don't know--but I don't like it--at all!

oh ladies........this is horrible! I know, I sound like i'm whining, and I don't mean to .. but when you are living in pain, which I knw you are all very familiar with yourselves, you begin to almost , "break down", you know? Now today, I woke up with, (remember, something new and diff. everyday!!!), the outside of the thigh muscle hurting again...PLUS that bone/joint thingy on the outside of the knee. how do you function? Yes, I AM "functioning", SORT OF, but not really!
I walk with a little limp now, trying to not put pressure on that knee bone, and I'm using the other leg more, so NOW, THE OTHER LEG is beginning to ache as well ! I'm trying not to get panicky here, but I'm beginning to wonder when this will end, or if this is ONLY THE BEGINNING!!!! Are we supposed to live on pain killers for the rest of our lives now?
Is that it?!!!! My mother, and grandmother had arthritis, but NOT BAD, and it was in their hands mostly, not their legs.

I was thinking maybe, tendonitis?????? Because there are so many muscles and tendons around the knee as well.
and from what I've read here, and other menopausal sites, tendonitis seems fairly common at this stage of the game in peri.

ok, I know, I'm beginning to panic......and I'm trying not to!

I did some reading and I'm wondering if I do have some kind of tendonitis. I read about plantar fasciitis and other things. If it's arthritis, it's not the rheumatoid type as I have no swelling. It's much better the past several days even though I've done little or nothing to make it better. I am now flexing and stretching my feet in the morning before I get out of bed, and doing it also when I'm sitting at work. I'm also walking around more during the day. I think it's a sign of worse things to come and I'd better start getting used to it !

When I became perimenopausal it seemed like my signs of aging started to appear steadily and consistently, and ever since I had my worst-ever hot flashes and have been period-less (except for my 3 day mini period a few days ago), the signs are increasing rapidly ... wrinkles and aches and pains, worst of all. I'm supplementing E to manage my hot flashes, only using a sub-dose. Maybe I should jack it up to a full dose and see if it doesn't help with my achiness.

Getting all kinds of pains and tingling especially in my feet, toes and sometimes fingers. The feet have just come on suddenly, it feels like they are swollen up but I can get in and out of shoes just the same. And I can get the rings off my fingers quite easily so there is no actual swelling that I can see - it just feels like it.

My husband suggested I try his gout remedy - believe it or not it is a concoction made by a little old lady in Ballybofey with who knows what mystical ingredients but all who use it swear it works. I just know it tastes VILE... and have christened it "Gak" after the noise I make when I take a mouthful! But we'll see how that goes.

If it is arthritis how is it treated?

Sandra,
See if upping the E helps. But another thing to consider is that E increases SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin) which can bind thyroid hormone and make it unavailable. If you are borderline hypothyroid, the E could be the tipping point. Aches can be low E, but can also be hypoT, and plantar fasciitis also is common with hypoT. I have to be careful with E right now since I'm on low dose of thyroid meds and only increasing them slowly every six weeks. I've noticed that the E in certain doses makes me feel hypo again.

Forgot to add that plantar fasciitis was one of my first symptoms of thyroid problems, although I did not know about the connection at the time, nor that I even had a thyroid problem.

As long as I was walking around in my job (which was constantly as an ER nurse) I was fine, but when it was break time for dinner, just sitting at the table and eating for 30 minutes was long enough for it to get stiff and painful again and then I would be limping back to the ER. And awful pain getting out of bed in the morning.

It helped to get high quality arch support inserts for my shoes. That and never going without some supportive footwear even at home, never going barefoot.

I found this website very helpful http://heelspurs.com/index.html