Hi donnacrichton
I agree it does sound like your own hormones - ie your cycle kicking in. The pms and return of symptoms is likely to be due to your own oestrogen falling in the second half of whatever cycle you are having, and the pms prior to the bleed - the fall in progesterone which triggers the bleed. Sounds like your cycle is still quite strong?
As Dancinggirl says this is typical of peri and most likely a surge of hormones.
Personally I prefer patches (although I've never tried gel) because the dose is more constant - there is no room for user variation! Why not give it a week or so and see if your symptoms disappear, but if not why not try increasing the dose to 3 pumps (can't remember how old you are). Although the response isn't instant like painkillers - you may well find that the symptoms stay away whether or not your own cycle is happening.
I am not a fan of ADs for hormonal symptoms - so I would persevere with trying to tweak your current HRT regime and recognise that you may still have a few bad days - and try to cope with these as you did during your normal cycle - in your younger days.
Do hope you manage to get it sorted soon!
Hurdity x
