Thank you all for the replies, especially those who have felt something similar in their menopause journeys. It helps to hear that others have felt something similar. The pain isn't bad enough to require painkillers, more of a low-level ache. Noticeable and annoying and frequent, but not awful. I did have my Vitamin D checked, and it was fine.
I read a lot about people having joint pains during this time, but I haven't really experienced that -- except for the first few months after stopping birth control pills and feeling like my body just immediately fell apart. I felt like the Tin Man from Wizard of Oz. I was soooooo stiff and couldn't come close to doing yoga poses I could do easily a couple of months before, plus overall achiness. That got better after I started HRT, but the shin thing started weirdly. I was lying in bed in mid-January 2020 and all of a sudden out of the blue it felt like someone was stabbing me in the right shin. It was excruciating! That lasted a few hours, and ever since I've had the shin pain, though never as sharp and stabby as it was that time.
My cholesterol was pretty high at 266. My mother also has high cholesterol, so there's probably a genetic component. I've been unable to eat my usual high-fiber, whole-gain, super-healthy, pescatarian diet for the past year and a half, as my ulcerative colitis has been flaring most of the time. When that happens, I have to eat a very bland, low fiber, no-whole-grains diet to be gentle on my colon. So not how one wants to eat to lower cholesterol! Generally my good cholesterol has been super-high, but it's gone down a bit over this time period (though still pretty good). So my ratio is good, but the total isn't good. My "bad" cholesterol is classified as "borderline."