How to get oestrogen? Creams? And vitamin D?

Hi guys, I hope everyone is managing well with their medications etc at the moment.
I am currently on 35mg Amitriptaline which seems to have helped a lot over the past year - I am currently trying out 50mg of it to see if that eradicates any more pain.
I just have a few questions as I feel that my approach to treating the pain is not multi faceted enough.
Firstly, I have been wondering for a while if my oestrogen levels are low. I just have a feeling that my problem is related to nerve/skin conditions - does anyone know of any good supplements etc that can provide more oestrogen to the body? So far all I know is to eat flax seeds, but I'm wondering if there's anything you can buy similar to cranberry pills etc that I can just pop one every day.
Secondly, does anyone know any good supplements of vitamin D as I also want to try and see if this helps the skin out at all.
Finally, I seem to have had fairly good outcomes with tricyclics, ie the Ami that I use, but I'm wondering if a combo of another tri would also be helpful. I've heard people frequently use lyrica and ami together (I am in the UK and not sure if lyrica is sold here? whats the equivalent if so???) has anyone tried this? I've also been researching using a sort of tricyclic 'cream' - I think elavil cream or something similar? Has anyone else tried this out and are they available in the UK?
Ps I also use instillagel lidocaine gel, I use it as a sort of last resort if I'm really burning and HAVE to be somewhere that day as I feel it can affect my skin a bit badly. Has anyone tried the cream equivalent and is it any better? I am about to run out of the last of mine so am waiting to decide what to do before getting anymore.
Thanks for any thoughts, and I'm thinking of you all today!
Penny

Cant you go to a vitamin store for vitamin d? Lay out too get it naturally- maybe try foods that have it: Cod Liver Oil, Fish, fortified cereals, oysters, caviar, fortified soy products, salami/ham/sausage, dairy, eggs, and mushrooms all have vitamin D in them. You can buy cod liver oil as a supplement and just take it every day. It also provides vitamin A.

Hi, I tried the lidocaine 5% cream and it numbed me a bit for 3 days but after that just burnt me worse than before so I stopped using it. I got it on prescription from the local chemist. I haven't tried the gel though.

Hi Penny - nice to see you back here (but sorry that it means you're still suffering )

Have you had your oestrogen levels tested? Ask your GP to get your hormones AND vitamins tested through simple blood tests. It would definitely help to identify any potential issues in those areas. Probably not a good idea to increase your oestrogen if your levels are normal.

Having said that i'm definitely a fan of boosting your system with vitamins/supplements. And it's a different case with vitamins compared to hormones as any excess vitamins are normally peed out! I take the Magnesium OK women's multi vit (from Boots). When i had my blood tests done i was right at the low end with B12 and this make has a good dose in it (and always best to take B vits in a complex rather than individually). It also says its specifically designed to support women 'throughout the monthly cycle' which also sold it to me. I think its definitely helped e.g. my time between periods has stabilised since taking it, so my thinking is that it must be having some kind of positive effect on my hormones somehow (no idea how, thats way beyond my lay persons knowledge!).

I was also at the low end of vit D so i take that in a liquid form a few drops a day - Sunvite Vitamin D3 (from Holland and Barrett). Can't say if/how that helps other than i know i'm topping up something thats low! But i have read here and elsewhere that vit D has helped some women with vvd. I'll stop taking this during the summer (get vit D from sunlight) IF we ever get to have a summer here in the UK!

And i also take a daily cranberry tablet (for bladder health) and Bio-Kult probiotics (i think i posted about these before) to prevent thrush.

Not everyone is a fan of taking vitamins (some of my friends would probably laugh at me if they knew what i was taking) and a healthy diet should provide all your needs but i know my diet isn't perfect lol and taking vits/supplements is part of how i try to keep my body in balance (or taking a multi-faceted approach as you say), which i think helps it to heal and be healthy.

Hope you find those 'extras' that work for you and support your progress!

Firstly Lyrica is also called Pregabalin and yes it is available in the UK, I'm on it along with Ami and while the Ami didn't help my pain the Lyrica has done. Depends on your doctor though as it's expensive so they usually try to give Gabapentin instead. I take Vitamin D3, the tablet version from Holland & Barrett and it doesn't help my V but has worked wonders for my immune system! I rarely catch colds now whereas before I got them all the time, I have a sun allergy so have to take it all year round. The compounded creams aren't available in the UK as we don't have compounding pharmacies, if it doesn't exist on a label we can't get it! Oestrogen is something it's difficult to test for unless it's drastically low (or high) as the level changes all through our cycles and that's the answer you'd likely get from a GP unless you're having other signs such as skipped periods or you're at menopause kind of age, soy is supposed to be a natural way to increase levels but as you said yourself you don't want to unless you need to. You might be able to persuade a doctor to let you try oestrogen cream for a while but they're a bit reluctant to let most women because of the risk of breast cancer associated with oestrogen use but you could ask if you wanted to give it a go. I take cranberry and probiotics each day, the cranberry has decreased the amount of UTIs I get and the probiotics I've been on for the last 2 decades to minimise thrush attacks and they definitely work for that. I tried alot of supplements I found on a site claiming to have the answers to V, I didn't buy them from the site I just bought them myself, they didn't make any difference and the Calendula cream they recommended made me worse so for me supplements haven't helped with the actual V. Think that's covered everything you asked!

Thanks for the detailed replies! I will definitely ask my GP about it, I've got a new doctor as I moved recently so going to get them on the VV rollercoaster ride, I didn't like my old doctor so it can only get better. The last half a year hasn't been too bad, so I have just been being as productive as possible to make the most of things. These ideas will really help out - I currently take general vitamins and cranberry tablets every day which I think definitely help fend off any UTIs.
Thanks again!