12 Unusual Symptoms of Menopause

Signs of the shift that you may not know to expect

Kristen Fischer,

AARP

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Published November 14, 2025

collage illustrating common menopause symptoms, featuring a hip X-ray, hormone therapy medications, lotions, and estrogen patches arranged on a yellow background

Andrea D'Aquino

Hot flashes and night sweats are perhaps the most common symptoms of menopause, but they’re definitely not the only ones. In fact, many menopause symptoms are not as widely known or shared.

Research from AARP found that women can experience as many as 28 menopause-related symptoms. Yet few of the women surveyed knew the transition was to blame for the symptoms. Muscle and joint pain, memory problems and changes in mood are just a few of the lesser-known symptoms that typically begin in the late 40s and early 50s, says Dr. Ekta Kapoor, an endocrinologist and menopause specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. And she says these can be “quite prevalent and have a high degree of bother to the patients.”

That said, it’s important to see a doctor rather than assume any new or worsening symptoms are due to menopause, as they could signal another condition, says Dr. Stephanie S. Faubion, a professor at the Mayo Clinic and the director of its Center for Women’s Health in Jacksonville, Florida.

Effects of menopause

AARP research finds that 49 percent of female workers age 35 and older say menopause has negatively impacted their lives. The most bothersome symptoms for 24 percent of the women in the study are mood changes; 22 percent say hot flashes or sweats are the most bothersome.

These 12 symptoms of menopause are often overlooked.

1. Aches and pains

This is the most important and unknown side effect, says Dr. Mary Jane Minkin, a gynecologist and menopause specialist at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut. In many parts of Asia, achiness is the top menopausal complaint, she notes, while the most common complaint in America is hot flashes.

Kapoor says that some women report breast pain during menopause, which can also be from hormone therapy (HT). The Cleveland Clinic reports women are more likely to experience breast pain during perimenopause. Breast density can also decline as a result of the menopausal shift, which is quite common.

Some patients report joint pain, too, says Dr. Arina Chesnokova, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Estrogen has anti-inflammatory effects, so when it decreases, it could lead to pain in joints all over the body, the Arthritis Foundation says.

2. Bladder-related disruptions

Vaginal dryness is a common symptom, but Minkin says urinary symptoms can occur hand in hand around the time of menopause.

“They get infections, urinary leakage and frequency, which are quite often related to the loss of estrogen to the vagina and the bladder,” Minkin says. These are known as genitourinary symptoms. Inserting vaginal estrogens can help alleviate these symptoms, and Minkin says they are safe for almost all women.

Other menopausal urinary issues can include urgency and a rise in urinary tract infections, Chesnokova says.

3. Cognitive difficulties

Brain fog is a known symptom of menopause, but particular cognitive issues like verbal memory, learning and executive function (the ability to manage, organize and execute) are thought to be more sensitive to estrogen loss, according to a 2021 report in the World Journal of Psychiatry.

4. Extra hair growth

While hair loss on the scalp is common around the time of the menopausal transition, too much hair can pop up in other spots.

Excessive hair growth on the face, also called facial hirsutism, occurs in approximately 50 percent of women around the time of menopause, according to a 2022 study in Clinical and Experimental Dermatology. Many women notice the extra growth on their cheeks, upper lip or chin, the Mayo Clinic reports.

5. Eye issues

Dry eyes are common around the time of menopause. In fact, a report presented at the 2025 Annual Meeting of The Menopause Society shows that dry eye disease was more prevalent in women after menopause than before it.

However, some women also experience blurred vision, swelling, redness, tired eyes, trouble with contact lenses and changes in vision during this time, according to the Mayo Clinic.

6. Dry mouth

Menopause awareness by the numbers

An AARP survey asked women if they knew the following conditions were related to perimenopause. These are the percentages who said yes.

Hot flashes: 63%
Weight gain: 62%
Vaginal dryness: 59%
Night sweats: 59%
Reduced libido: 56%
Acne: 31%
Heart palpitations: 29%
Itchy skin: 25%
Tingling extremities: 21%
Burning tongue: 13%

If your mouth feels especially dry around menopause, it could be because the dip in estrogen affects the mucous membranes lining your mouth and the glands that make your saliva. Less saliva means there’s less liquid to aid in digestion and rinse away food particles, which could leave your mouth feeling cottony and may even lead to cavities.

Similarly, burning tongue syndrome also can occur in the time leading up to or following menopause. Symptoms can include feeling like your tongue is burning, dry mouth, tingling and loss of taste.

7. New anxiety or depression

Mood swings are a well-known symptom of menopause, but anxiety and depression can emerge around the same time. Women who have experienced anxiety or depression in the past may see it resurface when they go through menopause, Chesnokova says.

Hormones that affect the menstrual cycle can also impact the levels of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is a chemical that contributes to our overall sense of well-being. If those levels drop, it can affect your mood and play a role in anxiety and depression, Johns Hopkins Medicine reports.

8. Changes in hearing

Some women report shifts in their hearing around the time of menopause, but research on this is sparse, Chesnokova notes. Some evidence suggests a connection between menopausal changes and tinnitus, characterized by ringing (or other noises) in the ear. In fact, a 2018 Oncotarget study shows that a lower percentage of women on hormone therapy developed tinnitus compared to women not on HT.

Chesnokova says changes in hearing may also come with aging and might not be tied specifically to menopause.

9. Cholesterol shifts

Unlike other symptoms, this one may be hard to spot unless you get regular blood work. Menopause can trigger changes in your lipid levels, specifically low-density lipoprotein (LDL), also known as “bad” cholesterol.

A 2023 study in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology found a link between decreasing estrogen and increasing LDL. Researchers also found that lower levels of the anti-Müllerian hormone, TKTK, were linked to increases in high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or “good” cholesterol, but those increases aren’t always good for women going through the shift.

10. Tingling

A slew of neurological symptoms can affect you around the time of menopause. Some women report experiencing numbness, prickling or tingling in their bodies, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. There is limited published research confirming that it results from decreased estrogen, although it has been reported.

11. Heart palpitations

Though clinicians don’t fully understand why roughly half of pre- and postmenopausal women (about 42 percent of perimenopausal women and 54 percent of postmenopausal women) report having heart palpitations, it can be par for the course around the big transition. Researchers do know that your heart rate can increase by 8 to 16 beats per minute during a hot flash, and that stress can also raise it.

12. Skin changes

Acne and itchy skin are menopause symptoms some women experience. The drop in estrogen, which affects the production of skin oils and collagen and impacts how you retain moisture, can be to blame for itchiness, according to the Endocrine Society. Hormone changes are also the main culprit for acne around the time of menopause.

Menopause treatments

Many of the symptoms listed above cannot be conclusively linked to menopause and may stem from other factors. “An evaluation may be needed before the symptom can be attributed to hormones,” Chesnokova says.

Regardless of the symptom you experience, Chesnokova advises being cautious about what you use for relief. Not every product that’s marketed for menopause is vetted or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, she says.

Chesnokova was excited about the recent FDA approval of elinzanetant (Lynkuet) for the treatment of hot flashes. Estetrol, a type of estrogen that’s already used in birth control, is being tested in clinical trials for vasomotor symptom relief, she notes.

AARP research found that about 23 percent of women surveyed treated menopausal symptoms with medication, hormone replacements, vitamins or supplements, creams, moisturizers and patches. About 21 percent treated symptoms with lifestyle changes, such as exercising more or adjusting their diets.

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Kristen Fischer is a contributing writer at AARP based at the Jersey Shore. She has also written for Health, WebMD, and McKnights and is the author of Zoo Zen: A Yoga Story for Kids.