Hi all. Long one, sorry. I've been thinking about this for a while and I want to write it down properly. I'm 54 and still in perimenopause, which I know surprises people but here we are. My cycles have been erratic for about four years now. The hot flushes and night sweats I've more or less made peace with, or at least I've accepted that they're part of my life for the moment. What I'm really struggling with at the minute is joint pain, and I feel like I keep going round in circles with it. It started in my hips, which I put down to exercise at first because I do Pilates twice a week and I thought maybe I'd overdone something. Then it moved to my hands, particularly the knuckles, worst in the morning. Then my knees started joining in. I've had mornings where I've got out of bed and had to actually stand still for a minute before I could walk properly, which is not something I was prepared for at 54. I've been to my GP twice about it. First time, blood tests to rule out rheumatoid arthritis and thyroid issues. All came back normal. Second time, I specifically mentioned I'd read about the link between falling oestrogen and joint inflammation and I wanted to talk about it in the context of my perimenopause. She was not dismissive exactly, but she wasn't particularly engaged either. She said it was "possible" and that HRT "might help" but she seemed more comfortable talking about anti-inflammatories and referring me to physio. The physio was actually helpful for the hips specifically. But I still feel like the underlying question, whether this is hormonal, whether treating the hormonal side might help the joint side, hasn't really been answered. I've been doing a lot of reading and I know there's research on oestrogen receptors in joint tissue. I'm not trying to self-diagnose. I just want to have a more informed conversation. So I suppose I'm asking a few things: Has anyone had a GP who actually engaged with this connection properly? Not just ruled out the scary stuff and moved on, but actually talked about it as a menopause symptom? For those of you on HRT, did you notice any change in joint symptoms? I'm genuinely curious about people's experiences, not looking for anyone to tell me what to do, just interested in what's happened for other people. And did anyone find it useful to bring anything specific to their appointment, a symptom diary, printed information, anything like that? I want my next appointment to feel less like I'm being gently managed and more like an actual conversation. I care a lot about staying active. Pilates matters to me. Sleep matters to me. Feeling like I can move through the day without planning around pain matters to me. I don't think that's too much to ask for but at the moment I'm not sure the system knows quite what to do with me. Any experiences or thoughts really welcome. x