I'm 50 and I experienced menopause in my late 40s. What I found interesting about your post was what you wrote about Effexor. Since I went on Abilify about 1 1/2 months ago, the number and intensity of my hot flashes has been greatly reduced. Also, my hot flashes would usually start with high anxiety(feeling like the beginning of an anxiety attack) right before feeling the hot flash, but it seems that Abilify pretty much took that part away(which to me was the worst part!). I wonder if doctors prescribe Abilify off-label for women who suffer terribly from hot flashes. (Unfortunately I'll probably be going off Abilify next week because of issues with mania, but I have even bigger problems to address.)