I'm a bit late to this, but thought I'd add my two cents worth, just in case it's useful.
The menopause seems to affect women differently - from practically no symptoms to horrendous ones. In my case, my periods had been very regular, but I had a 35-day cycle and I'm not sure whether that was relevant at all. The first real sign that I was menopausal was the year I had only three periods, and then they stopped. I did have some hot flushes, mostly night sweats, and no noticeable mood swings.
At the time it became obvious to me that I was approaching the menopause, I had visited my GP for something unrelated but asked if he had any advice - I was thinking maybe I should watch my diet or take supplements. He referred me to the practice nurse who could only offer pamphlets produced by HRT companies. I probably would have been better off going to Holland & Barrett!
Whatever you do, don't listen to scare stories about the menopause. Just about the only inconvience I experienced was that the odour of my underarm perspiration changed, and was a bit problematic for quite a while.
One Americanism I do like is "hot flashes" instead of "hot flushes", because although some women do experience reddening of the face and even facial sweating, not everyone does. There was one occasion when I was putting on makeup, so looking at myself in the mirror, when experiencing a hot flush/flash and I didn't notice any difference.
On the other hand, some women do experience very problematic symptoms because their hormone levels could go up-and-down like the proverbial see-saw. In those circumstances, any sensible GP should offer HRT, at least as a temporary measure, in order to stabilise those hormonal swings.
Anyway, that's my story, to add to other women's experiences.