Pregnenolone pathways and outcomes

[cpc1]

I want to start by saying I'm really enjoying the discussions I'm seeing here along with the anecdotes. I believe I've reviewed all of the prior discussions on here regarding pregnenolone but I still have some questions. Does anyone habe any idea why an individual with undetectable pregnenolone levels and progesterone of .1ng/ml would not tolerate pregnenolone supplementation? Topical improves virtually every aspect of my life but seems to be forcing cortisol production. Oral is far too sedating and shuts off libido while causing depressive symptoms. Anyone have any thoughts or experiences?

 

[Seagal]

I want to start by saying I'm really enjoying the discussions I'm seeing here along with the anecdotes. I believe I've reviewed all of the prior discussions on here regarding pregnenolone but I still have some questions. Does anyone habe any idea why an individual with undetectable pregnenolone levels and progesterone of .1ng/ml would not tolerate pregnenolone supplementation? Topical improves virtually every aspect of my life but seems to be forcing cortisol production. Oral is far too sedating and shuts off libido while causing depressive symptoms. Anyone have any thoughts or experiences?

IIRC oral converts through digestive pathway (much more) to preg sulfate which transports preg to the brain and servers as storage molecule.
The dose matters, too much oral preg makes me tired.

Which aspects of your life are improved by topical pregnenolone?

What doses did you try (oral, topical).
How did you test your pregnenolone and progesterone level?

 

[cpc1]

IIRC oral converts through digestive pathway (much more) to preg sulfate which transports preg to the brain and servers as storage molecule.
The dose matters, too much oral preg makes me tired.

Which aspects of your life are improved by topical pregnenolone?

What doses did you try (oral, topical).
How did you test your pregnenolone and progesterone level?

Thank you for the reply, with topical and oral I've tried multiple different dosing protocols amd the effects stay the same but just vary in intensity (dosing has ranged from 2.5mg to 50mg). With topical it drastically improves my mood, motivation, libido, erections, basically life feels so much more lively. Testing was done by labcorp, pregnenolone MS and the progesterone didn't list their methodology. Since making my original post I found a brief discussion on here mentioning using topical in the morning and oral in the evening in order to balance the metabolites, I tried this yesterday with some success but it does seem slightly touchy with a delicate balance.

 

[Phil Goodman]

Thank you for the reply, with topical and oral I've tried multiple different dosing protocols amd the effects stay the same but just vary in intensity (dosing has ranged from 2.5mg to 50mg). With topical it drastically improves my mood, motivation, libido, erections, basically life feels so much more lively. Testing was done by labcorp, pregnenolone MS and the progesterone didn't list their methodology. Since making my original post I found a brief discussion on here mentioning using topical in the morning and oral in the evening in order to balance the metabolites, I tried this yesterday with some success but it does seem slightly touchy with a delicate balance.

Thank you for the reply, with topical and oral I've tried multiple different dosing protocols amd the effects stay the same but just vary in intensity (dosing has ranged from 2.5mg to 50mg). With topical it drastically improves my mood, motivation, libido, erections, basically life feels so much more lively. Testing was done by labcorp, pregnenolone MS and the progesterone didn't list their methodology. Since making my original post I found a brief discussion on here mentioning using topical in the morning and oral in the evening in order to balance the metabolites, I tried this yesterday with some success but it does seem slightly touchy with a delicate balance.

Interesting.

Where did you get the topical pregnenolone? I’d be interested to try this if even for just a month or so. Also, what kind of negative effects do you get from oral preg? For me, without fail my well-being seems to take a nosedive around the fifth consecutive day of taking it. Also, I’m pretty sure my trt is affecting/disrupting pathways because prior to trt I could take 25 mg DHEA and 100 mg pregnenolone daily without issues and only perceived benefits. Now, on trt, I only take 12.5 mg DHEA because 25 per day makes me too amped up. And I can’t take preg at all anymore due to the aforementioned drop in well-being. We’ve all heard of the importance of it and some of the benefits people can get from it, but for me it just isn’t worth it. If I could occasionally use topical on and off for a month at a time to get some benefits it might be something I’d consider.

Did you confirm the cortisol issues from topical pregnenolone via bloodwork, or just attribute it to that because of the effects that arose? And any other details you can share would be appreciated; topical dose, timing, timeline of benefits throughout the day, issues, etc.

 

[cpc1]

Interesting.

Where did you get the topical pregnenolone? I’d be interested to try this if even for just a month or so. Also, what kind of negative effects do you get from oral preg? For me, without fail my well-being seems to take a nosedive around the fifth consecutive day of taking it. Also, I’m pretty sure my trt is affecting/disrupting pathways because prior to trt I could take 25 mg DHEA and 100 mg pregnenolone daily without issues and only perceived benefits. Now, on trt, I only take 12.5 mg DHEA because 25 per day makes me too amped up. And I can’t take preg at all anymore due to the aforementioned drop in well-being. We’ve all heard of the importance of it and some of the benefits people can get from it, but for me it just isn’t worth it. If I could occasionally use topical on and off for a month at a time to get some benefits it might be something I’d consider.

Did you confirm the cortisol issues from topical pregnenolone via bloodwork, or just attribute it to that because of the effects that arose? And any other details you can share would be appreciated; topical dose, timing, timeline of benefits throughout the day, issues, etc.

I get the topic pregnenolone from Amazon, brand i use is called biolabs pro i think. As far as negatives go with the oral I think it was due to excess conversion to progesterone so basically everything associated with that (depressed mood, libido and erectile dysfunction, low motivation, constant fatigue, just generally the opposite of testosterone). Kind of sounds like that's what you have going on.

As far as the suspected cortisol issues go i started to develop the standard high cortisol moon face (I'll get the same effect if I let my caffeine abuse get out of hand), when I'd try to sleep at night and I'd just lay there wide away pouring sweat. Eating high carb insulin triggering meals made it temporarily better ( I suspected due to insulins antagonistic effect on cortisol). The benefits it saw may actually be due to the suspected rise in cortisol, i failed to mention but my cortisol does ride at the lower end of the range on morning testing.

Regarding your experiences with dhea and pregnenolone I've heard trt can slightly raise dhea production, mine always tests at top of the range so I suppose its possible. I suspect my pregnenolone deficiency is due to 19-nor abuse and ptsd though.