morning TC, yes 3 months is a long time and you have only just started. If I remember you are about a week in from getting your gel? Completely understand the irrationality and OCD tendancies are beyond controlling when they get into full flight. I didn't have health anxiety except I was convinced I had alzheimers! but I had ridiculous fears about just everything else like if my husband or my son left the house they wouldn't come back something was going to happen to them, knocked down, mugged, stabbed! We were going to get burgled - I had just about every irrational fear you could imagine although being convinced you have alzheimers is pretty irrational
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I couldn't leave the house in August and I was afraid if the phone rang that it would be telling me that someone was dead! Now put that in context, I have my own business I work from home and my customers call me all the time under normal circumstances - no a good position to be in if you can't answer the phone!
![Huh? ???](https://www.menopausematters.co.uk/forum/Smileys/extended/huh.gif)
It is changing the regime that has done this and you have only 2 choices - give it up altogether and keep the other list of horrible symptoms or ride it out honey! You cant go back to the previous patch because they are discontinued.
I'm trying to tell myself it might be initial symptoms on a new regime that will settle down but I don't really know if that's true.
You have learned much from the forum Tc - trust your gut - you do know that changing a regime can do this - so it is true! and you have an underlying fear that if you give up then that's not going to work either... so my friend...the only way when you consider it... is onwards..using CKLD's trick of tackling half a day at a time! I used to use the counting trick all the time but mine was in 10 or 20 minute slots sometimes. I programmed my head to say - "if I can get through the next hour - everything will be fine" and then tried to find something to destract my mind for the next hour! and then just did it again over an over. I have never had OCD which I believe is a sort of "control anxiety thing" (sorry if I am way off I dont mean to be) but I know I do like to do stuff that makes me feel more in control when things get hairy! Hour by hour made me feel a little more in control.
Others will be along soon with their thoughts Tc but keep posting here and we will try to talk you through it. We have talked a lot about patience over the last few days...stick with it Tc...dont give up just yet it's too early...you will end up never knowing if it would work