Significant for many women, menopause refers to the final menstrual period. It’s a time of change in hormone levels that affect mood, weight, food cravings, sex drive and wellbeing. Perimenopause is the 4–8-year transition stage of irregular menstrual cycles prior, and the 12-months following the final period.
As we age, we begin to feel the effects of a life working, playing sports and wear on our joints. Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis where the cartilage on each end of the bones in a joint has been worn away, leaving bone rubbing on bone.
Pain is the body's signal that something is not right but our response to pain, and our ability to put up with it, is as variable as human nature itself. It depends on how bad the pain is, why the pain is occurring, how long we think we will have to put up with it, what medicines we know are available and what our past experiences are with pain relief treatments.
We currently have paracetamol, ibuprofen, combinations of these with codeine and other anti-inflammatories available in pharmacy for acute pain. Due to changes worldwide in the classification of codeine and the increase in people dependent on it, the Medicine Classification Committee has called for codeine combination products to only be available on prescription from January 2020.
Localised pain in a joint or muscle can be caused by many different injuries or wear and tear, from an acute strain or sprain to osteoarthritis and other chronic pain conditions. Creams and rubs can be used without as many side effects as oral medicines, so let’s have a look at some of these treatment options ...
