I agree with you 100% that it is bloody awful getting off it. I feel like I did really well, tapering from a relatively small dose of 50 mgs down to a quarter tablet, (so approx 12.5 mgs) over 2 months. I then started to take 12.5 mgs on alternate days and the dizziness, lethargy and GI disturbance started after a week, so I thought, sod it. I can't do this for another couple of months and just stopped - thinking that 3 weeks of hell might be preferable to feeling like a burst spacehopper for months. That was two weeks ago and it feels like the dizziness is probably peaking right now, as it's the worst it's been. I didn't want to risk driving today, it was that unpredictable in its onset. I've done a bit of googling and consensus is that withdrawal syndrome means an average of 2-3 weeks of hell. I have one more week of that left, potentially.
The dizziness and some mild GI issues are my only symptoms today. This time last week, I would have cheerfully re-started it, just to get some respite from the itching, tinnitus and sweating, (altho some of that might have been the heatwave). Interestingly, it's mainly been physical side effects, as emotionally I've only been a bit impatient and easily irritated.
With regards to timing for you, I started sertraline when I was perimenopausal, with just about every hormonal symptom you can have, and that sort of continued throughout. It may have helped me deal with the emotional elements, but I was still mostly a wee ball of rage a lot of the time, so maybe not! 😬. Were you to choose to avoid the evil withdrawal on top of dealing with menopause, you could potentially be committing yourself to another year or two on it, (at least). I'm interested to see what I'm like without it. I'm interested to see if I'll successfully lose weight and I'm interested to see how "unleaded" me sleeps.