Baby, going by my own experience and with the benefit of hindsight, I have an unsubstantiated theory that menopause problems are mostly caused by generic hormone instability and massive surges. Therefore, I'm not at all surprised that the women you mentioned found that their problems started at the onset of the menopause.
My silent migraines started when my hormone levels started falling and it was in fact the fall in progesterone levels than kicked the whole thing off. I now know that progesterone protected me from the oestrogen spikes which caused my migraines - that is why I did not have migraines pre menopause. I believe this same process is responsible for the increase in acute anxiety that so many women experience in peri menopause. Obviously oestrogen plays a huge part as well but it has to be balanced.
I hope your new regime works out.
