DHEA Supplementation: Have You Felt Any Effects?

[Vince]

25 mg before bed, no noticeable difference

I normally take my 25 mg dhea in the morning after my first meal of the day. I'm thinking of trying 10 mg of dhea before bed and stop taking it early in the day.

 

[lowe2sucks]

are you guys taking oral or sulbingual version?

 

[LTChris]

are you guys taking oral or sulbingual version?

only oral, compounded from empower

 

[Vince]

are you guys taking oral or sulbingual version?

I've only used oral.

 

[DragonBits]

im not on trt my e2 cannot be high if thats what you want to say
last time on trt my e2 was lower than 20
i started to feel like crap after I added dhea and pregnenolone to my protocol.. not right away but few weeks in taking them. had a lot of bad side effects and still deal with them now I don't understand what happened
anybody has any suggestions why I might have bad reaction to these supplements? I thought you need to take them if on trt I've read this in Dr JOhn Crisler book and also heard him and few other doctors talking about this on podcasts.. if you take testosterone you induce hypogonadism and your pregnenolone and dhea falls down and they are important even neuroprotective. they didn't raise e2 for me because my e2 was never high on every bloodwork that I did after taking them
I also stopped responding to trt after them lost all muscle, strenght, brain fog came back
pregnenolone and dhea that I took was life flo brand (creams), I contacted them if there is any other ingredients not listed on label they said no.

At times I have taken pregnenolone and DHEA and had no effect, but I wasn't on TRT and my testosterone / estradiol were low.

When on TRT, pregnenolone seemed to make me sleep better and I was more calm, even slept too much as I felt drowsy during the day.it also caused diarrhea and a few muscle cramps.

I started with 50mg pregnenolone for 2 days, titrated down to 12.5 mg for 4 days, then stopped.

DHEA 25 mgs seemed to also make me sleep better, maybe it caused some diarrhea, but I took it soon after stopping pregnenolone, so hard to tell.

However, all this was during the initial phase of TRT before my testosterone / estradiol had risen to a higher stable level. Maybe that had an effect, or maybe my natural levels of pregnenolone and downstream hormones were still normal and not yet shutdown form TRT. I only measured my DHEA before starting TRT (not pregnenolone/ progesterone), DHEA was 958 ng/dl (309-2950) BEFORE TRT.

I believe your levels of Vitamin D, magnesium, zinc, boron, testosterone, estradiol, etc, and the length of time you are on TRT can all interplay with pregnenolone / dhea, change the conversion pathways, also affect how the receptors in your body respond to these hormones. There are various enzymes involved in the conversions, any one of them can be affected by other nutriments in your body.
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Pregnenolone can be converted into progesterone. The critical enzyme step is two-fold using a 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and a Δ5-4 isomerase. The latter transfers the double bond from C5 to C4 on the A ring. Progesterone is the entry into the Δ4 pathway, resulting in production of 17α-hydroxyprogesterone and androstenedione, precursor to testosterone and estrone. Aldosterone and corticosteroids are also derived from progesterone or its derivatives.
Pregnenolone can be converted to 17α-hydroxypregnenolone by the enzyme 17α-hydroxylase (CYP17A1). Using this pathway, termed Δ5 pathway, the next step is conversion to dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) via 17,20-lyase (CYP17A1). DHEA is the precursor of androstenedione.
Pregnenolone can be converted to androstadienol by 16-ene synthase (CYP17A1).
Pregnenolone can be converted to pregnenolone sulfate by steroid sulfotransferase, and this conversion can be reversed by steroid sulfatase.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregnenolone

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Since it's obvious pregnenolone and DHEA had physical effects for me, what I will do is try pregnenolone again in a smaller dose after being on TRT for 3-6 months. And cut DHEA to 12.5 mg for a week to see what happens.

Without pregnenolone / DHEA, it was hard to stay asleep, and I was mildly constipated. Of course, low levels of thyroid hormones can also cause the constipation.

Male reaction to exogenous testosterone seems fairly predicable, though even with that it's going to hard to predict F testosterone and estradiol levels.

However, from reading the various forum posts, looking at the science and seeing my own various reactions, it's way more difficult to predict how any individual might react to pregnenolone, progesterone or DHEA supplementation and what might happen

No doubt injecting HCG could also change how one reacts to these hormonal supplements.

It all seems so complicated to me that experimenting slowly seems the best course of action with pregnenolone / dhea / progesterone supplements. And if negative to try it again after 6 or more months to see if you still react the same way.

 

[Mich66]

I started taking 25 mg DHEA about a year ago. I had taken a blood test, and was looking to get trimix. After reviewing my results they told me to take the 25 mg of DHEA with 5000 units of D3. Within a week or so, I was having the best morning erections in maybe 20 years. After about three months, and another blood test, the DHEA was increased to 30 mg, and continue with the 5000 D3. I get my DHEA from Empower, I would not trust anything over the counter. I never felt any side effects. I take it in the mornings.
I did go ahead and get the trimix as well. I don't use it that often, but wow, I do love it when I do use it.

I'd like to try either Bi Mix it tri mix...is sn RX needed? What size needle..I'm hoping smaller than 31?