Need some thoughts - Pregnenolone reaction

[swim15]

Its been a while since I've posted on here but wanted to come back to the old stomping ground for opinions. I'll save the background and just say that I have a very long health history - was totally healthy, competing irregularly, etc until 5 years ago I received what we will call a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis (I'll still argue the diagnosis but not worth the debate) and then had my nervous system fall apart about a year later.

TLDR: worked very hard even while in poor health to get better. I am now doing relatively well and am in medical school which has been a dream come true. I haven't lifted in 3 years and just got back into cardio 30min 3x per week about 3-4 months ago. Going to start adding in light weights within the next month.


Am currently on scrotal cream HRT 100mg/day but deal with a lot of brain fog, memory/recall problems, lack of concentration, moderately unrefreshing sleep, etc. This has come and gone over the past year.

Recently added pregnenolone back in as it has been about 2 years since I have used it and the past few days, as I have worked the dose up to ~30-40mg, I am absolutely overwhelmed with exhaustion and the desire to sleep. Went home between class and lab this afternoon and slept like I haven't slept in a very long time. Tried drinking a small amount of coffee to offset and it made me even more overwhelmingly sleepy.


I'm taking it this may be somewhat of a good thing? I'm going to start taking it at night or a few hours before bedtime and see if it improves sleep quality which I could definitely use. Anyone else have experiences like this? Its definitely not uncommon reading around online but tends to produce a stimulant effect for most people (it used to for me when I would take it in the past) but curious as to others experiences?

Has anyone that's had a reaction like this leveled off at some point?


Edit/Labs - got some drawn last Friday and should have them back this week

 

[cage99]

Personally I’d lose the cream and make the switch to IM injections. However, that’s just my take. What were your testosterone serum levels on your last bloodwork up? Also, did you also test your estrogen levels?

Sounds like you let yourself go somewhat physically during your health/mental health issues. Did you put on a lot of bad weight? My direction for this is looking towards OSA. Course bloodwork would show this as well with increased hematocrit. Any bloodwork on this??

What are you start to take pregnenolone in the first place? We’re you going off prior bloodwork?

Cage

 

[MouthBreather1982]

Its been a while since I've posted on here but wanted to come back to the old stomping ground for opinions. I'll save the background and just say that I have a very long health history - was totally healthy, competing irregularly, etc until 5 years ago I received what we will call a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis (I'll still argue the diagnosis but not worth the debate) and then had my nervous system fall apart about a year later.

TLDR: worked very hard even while in poor health to get better. I am now doing relatively well and am in medical school which has been a dream come true. I haven't lifted in 3 years and just got back into cardio 30min 3x per week about 3-4 months ago. Going to start adding in light weights within the next month.


Am currently on scrotal cream HRT 100mg/day but deal with a lot of brain fog, memory/recall problems, lack of concentration, moderately unrefreshing sleep, etc. This has come and gone over the past year.

Recently added pregnenolone back in as it has been about 2 years since I have used it and the past few days, as I have worked the dose up to ~30-40mg, I am absolutely overwhelmed with exhaustion and the desire to sleep. Went home between class and lab this afternoon and slept like I haven't slept in a very long time. Tried drinking a small amount of coffee to offset and it made me even more overwhelmingly sleepy.


I'm taking it this may be somewhat of a good thing? I'm going to start taking it at night or a few hours before bedtime and see if it improves sleep quality which I could definitely use. Anyone else have experiences like this? Its definitely not uncommon reading around online but tends to produce a stimulant effect for most people (it used to for me when I would take it in the past) but curious as to others experiences?

Has anyone that's had a reaction like this leveled off at some point?


Edit/Labs - got some drawn last Friday and should have them back this week

Chrysler used to say orally it has a benzo type reaction. I know it makes me tired. I don’t fully understand it. I think I’ve read adding dhea helps, I know you guys are way ab is this level of convo

 

[micro2000]

Its been a while since I've posted on here but wanted to come back to the old stomping ground for opinions. I'll save the background and just say that I have a very long health history - was totally healthy, competing irregularly, etc until 5 years ago I received what we will call a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis (I'll still argue the diagnosis but not worth the debate) and then had my nervous system fall apart about a year later.

TLDR: worked very hard even while in poor health to get better. I am now doing relatively well and am in medical school which has been a dream come true. I haven't lifted in 3 years and just got back into cardio 30min 3x per week about 3-4 months ago. Going to start adding in light weights within the next month.


Am currently on scrotal cream HRT 100mg/day but deal with a lot of brain fog, memory/recall problems, lack of concentration, moderately unrefreshing sleep, etc. This has come and gone over the past year.

Recently added pregnenolone back in as it has been about 2 years since I have used it and the past few days, as I have worked the dose up to ~30-40mg, I am absolutely overwhelmed with exhaustion and the desire to sleep. Went home between class and lab this afternoon and slept like I haven't slept in a very long time. Tried drinking a small amount of coffee to offset and it made me even more overwhelmingly sleepy.


I'm taking it this may be somewhat of a good thing? I'm going to start taking it at night or a few hours before bedtime and see if it improves sleep quality which I could definitely use. Anyone else have experiences like this? Its definitely not uncommon reading around online but tends to produce a stimulant effect for most people (it used to for me when I would take it in the past) but curious as to others experiences?

Has anyone that's had a reaction like this leveled off at some point?


Edit/Labs - got some drawn last Friday and should have them back this week

Pregnenolone is converted to allopregnenolone which is a strong GABAergic and causes fatigue.

 

[swim15]

Pregnenolone is converted to allopregnenolone which is a strong GABAergic and causes fatigue.

Yeah I was curious if this pathway was somehow heightened in me and/or a pathway that just needed to be backfilled more than the rest.

Was curious to hear if anyone that had the same experience had it level out with time if they continued

 

[swim15]

Personally I’d lose the cream and make the switch to IM injections. However, that’s just my take. What were your testosterone serum levels on your last bloodwork up? Also, did you also test your estrogen levels?

Sounds like you let yourself go somewhat physically during your health/mental health issues. Did you put on a lot of bad weight? My direction for this is looking towards OSA. Course bloodwork would show this as well with increased hematocrit. Any bloodwork on this??

What are you start to take pregnenolone in the first place? We’re you going off prior bloodwork?

Cage

Ive been back and forth with IM and scrotal cream, scrotal cream is just easier and has good DHT/E2 ratio conversion. My test levels are around 1000 with 100mg a day. Ive kept my E2 low on purpose because it just feels better for me so I’m taking some exemestane every other day.

Haven’t added any bad weight - diet is always on point. I’ve actually stayed right at 200lbs through all of this (6’1) and you can plainly see all my abs so I’d say I’m probably around 12% bf. Anyone that doesn’t know me takes one look and thinks I lift regularly. My close friends have all been amazed at the muscle mass Ive kept but I guess that’s what a decade of heavy training and heavy gear gets you.

All my labs are currently optimal for me (thyroid, test, E2) CBC/CMPs, hematocrit are normal. HCT fluxes around 47. No OSA - Ive actually stopped snoring since losing weight (not that I ever snored much) and the girlfriend has never witnessed any apnea events.

I do wear an oura ring as well if that’s worth anything and my O2 sat is always 99%.

I started the preg just out of suspicion that I may need to backfill some steroid hormones as it’s one that is frequently low on HRT + causes these kinds of symptoms. That and the fact that testing has yet to reveal anything else suspicious. Figured some empirical treatment could potentially steer me in the right direction depending on response.

Will have preg and DHEA back this week so I can update those

 

[swim15]

For reference, if it helps, this was the last shoot I did before I had to quit training. Look essentially the same now just a lot less size

 

[fisther69]

Its been a while since I've posted on here but wanted to come back to the old stomping ground for opinions. I'll save the background and just say that I have a very long health history - was totally healthy, competing irregularly, etc until 5 years ago I received what we will call a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis (I'll still argue the diagnosis but not worth the debate) and then had my nervous system fall apart about a year later.

TLDR: worked very hard even while in poor health to get better. I am now doing relatively well and am in medical school which has been a dream come true. I haven't lifted in 3 years and just got back into cardio 30min 3x per week about 3-4 months ago. Going to start adding in light weights within the next month.


Am currently on scrotal cream HRT 100mg/day but deal with a lot of brain fog, memory/recall problems, lack of concentration, moderately unrefreshing sleep, etc. This has come and gone over the past year.

Recently added pregnenolone back in as it has been about 2 years since I have used it and the past few days, as I have worked the dose up to ~30-40mg, I am absolutely overwhelmed with exhaustion and the desire to sleep. Went home between class and lab this afternoon and slept like I haven't slept in a very long time. Tried drinking a small amount of coffee to offset and it made me even more overwhelmingly sleepy.


I'm taking it this may be somewhat of a good thing? I'm going to start taking it at night or a few hours before bedtime and see if it improves sleep quality which I could definitely use. Anyone else have experiences like this? Its definitely not uncommon reading around online but tends to produce a stimulant effect for most people (it used to for me when I would take it in the past) but curious as to others experiences?

Has anyone that's had a reaction like this leveled off at some point?


Edit/Labs - got some drawn last Friday and should have them back this week

I started taking DHEA with added pregnenolon after I read a post on this forum..I got super sleepy as well.

But, I lost a crazy amount of fat on it..I only had the energy to lift and my cardio was almost non existent but I lost a lot of fat

 

[nothuman]

I have blood levels of pregnenolone that are <10 so I take 100mg split morning and evening. The blood levels still don’t go up too much despite that when I test in the AM fasted. I certainly get no negative effects. I imagine it’s helping in some way but a little nervous to increase beyond that in case it’s not all about labs.

Also on 50mg DHEA to optimize blood levels

 

[swim15]

Thanks guys.

Fisther - so the fatigue never went away on it? What dose were you taking and do you find that PM/HS dosing helped at all?

 

[fisther69]

Thanks guys.

Fisther - so the fatigue never went away on it? What dose were you taking and do you find that PM/HS dosing helped at all?

Never!

It was 50mg dhea and 30 pregnenolon

 

[swim15]

Labs came back DHEA at about 100 and pregnenolone <10 so rock bottom.

Ive had a weird kind of biphasic response with different doses and the sleepiness has seemed to subsided. Generally feel a lot better than I did before adding it but feels like there’s some “refilling” still going on.

Will update after a month or so if there’s any big changes. Think this is really something I needed hormonally

 

[MouthBreather1982]

Supposedly like someone said above it converts to a GABA like compound. I have seen dr crisler is in person and this is why he used to give the topical one which avoids the path way or something. He had his own forum if you want to look into it. I remember having a few rheins tests to track my downstream hormones. Anyway try to find a strong topical. Also don’t know enough about it but dhea being added helped. I don’t take them currently.

 

[GhostriderTX]

@swim15 What is the update on all this ? i am very curious. My Preg is also at rock bottom and my symptoms are gnarly. I was thinking of asking my doc for a compounded injectable preg.