I haven't had a period in 4 years and I have taken nothing for menopausal symptoms. I had horrible PMS all of my life, from age 11 on. When I turned 37 my periods started getting weird, perimenopause was starting. So i had about ten years of that. During the end of that time I was getting bored with my gym routine and started slacking off and gained some weight. I started cycling and it came right off. Right before my periods stopped I had a couple of really bad ones, clots and the whole thing. I also had at least 4 periods of time when I didn't have a period for 6-8 months, but then it would come back. I had a few hot flashes, too. When the periods stopped, I went for close to a year with no bad symptoms, but then I started having hot flashes regularly. I mostly have one when I wake up and then it depends on the temperature of the place I'm at. I just deal with it, take a drink of water and go on. They have decreased a lot, but for some reason I've been having more lately.
I took black cohash for about a year and it did nothing. I also have osteopeinia and was put on Evista, but I stopped taking it because of weird side effects. I also restarted my weight training program and try to run/walk/hike in addition to cycling. I am not sure if I really have anything; I've read a lot of stuff lately about athletic women who have low body fat often have false positive bone scans. All I know is that I've had a couple of bike crashes in the past 2 years and nothing broke! So, I am happy to deal with the flashes a couple of tmes a day and keep cycling. It is harder to keep weight down, but I still weigh the same as i did in high school.