Believe me. .. a lot of us ladies who went through natural menopause felt the symptoms very intensely but your body does adjust overtime to lack of estrogen. It would be the same for ladies who have a full hysterectomy with ovary removal also.
During that process of peri-menopause and then menopause it took me around 2 years to start to feel normal again then breast cancer struck. (Menopause finally at 49, bc 51) I was worried the AI would result in return of symptoms but it hasn't made it any different than it was...which is for life....some hot flushes...but mostly less intense than they were in the beginning (which was flush after flush particularly at night) things to be aware of...coffee, alcohol and spices can bring on a hot flush fairly rapidly. I decided I'll put up with that to enjoy those things.
So it will get better. The hand and ankle pain in the small boneswhich mimics arthritic pain is a medication side effect which for me improved over 6 months and with regular exercise. I initially was on panadol and fish oil but mostly don't require it now. The cold weather has increased it somewhat but it's liveable.