I started 100 mg pregnenolone 6 months ago. I took an oral supplement and also tried the
Empower pharmacy prescription capsules (100 mg each). My pregnenolone blood level went from nil to 95 ng/dL with either one of them. I am not sure I felt any different. Sleep seemed a lot deeper, but not every night. Mood was good but I cannot honestly say if it was due to the pregnenolone. My language fluidity also seemed much improved.
I increased my dose to 300 mg per night since most studies used 400 mg/day. It took me weeks to realize that the higher blood pressure issues that I was experiencing were due to this dose. I had to start taking a combo of a diuretic plus a calcium channel blocker.
I realized that the 300 mg pregnenolone may be the cause for my higher blood pressure.
I stopped the higher dose pregnenolone a week ago and my blood pressure is back to normal now.
I searched for increased blood pressure in different studies and found the opposite (500 mg/day):
"According to these earlier reports, pregnenolone was very well tolerated with minimal side effects, and did not affect weight, heart rate, blood pressure (even in patients with hypertension), menstrual cycle, or glucose levels (either in diabetics or non-diabetics)."
The neurosteroid pregnenolone and its sulfated derivative enhance learning and memory in rodents. Pregnenolone sulfate also positively modulates NMDA receptors and could thus ameliorate hypothesized NMDA receptor hypofunction in schizophrenia. ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
I bet if I had taken it with progesterone, this higher blood pressure may not have happened. I may try that combo in the future but I am still debating what is the best progesterone dose and route of administration.
Research from Weill Medical College of Cornell University and other institutions provides new evidence that the sex steroid hormone progesterone is also a vasoactive hormone that directly affects blood vessels. This finding sheds light on both the drop in blood pressure that usually accompanies...
www.nyp.org