Hi Jasper - I've just recently switched from gel to patches as for over a year I've had recurrence of sweats/hot moments/brain fog/terrible joint and muscle pain etc etc on the gel. I've been to doc, Meno clinic and recently had a phone consult with specialist in London who rhymes with 'mud'! None of them suggested that I might not be absorbing the gel properly and in the latter case I was told to increase the gel. I KNEW the gel wasn't working properly but for a while I doubted myself and even wondered if I was too high in E. Rubbish! I switched to an equivalent patch 3 days ago and can't believe the difference.
Trust your instincts - if you genuinely feel your current regime isn't working - it probably isn't, particularly if you have an earlier reference point when things were working.
I'm not out of the woods yet but certainly feel I'm on the right track.
Maybe try a different brand/delivery method if you feel you've given this one a fair amount of time. Almost all of my symptoms are slowly but surely fading so I obviously wasn't getting a consistent dose of E from gel. Don't give up hon, there's loads of options out there.
Dxx