DHEA; The Most Underrated Supplement For Women?

Buy Lab Tests Online

Will Brink

Member
DHEA; The Most Underrated Supplement For Women?


Have you ever noticed if a supplement, drug, etc is tried in men, and fails to work, it’s written off as being ineffective? Although improving, it’s well known that men have been the standard subjects in research, with the results often being applied to women as an afterthought. In recent years, that situation has improved and women are viewed as the physiologically distinct people they are from men, and studies looking at specific effects in women – using women as the test subjects – has grown dramatically. That’s the good news at least. The bad news is, there’s still plenty of research out there done on men, being applied to women, sometimes to the detriment of women. Obviously, men and women are not so different that a great deal of research fails to be perfectly applicable to both sexes, but the fact remains a great deal of prior research was done looking at men, and the results, good or bad, applied to women more as an after thought.


Such is the case with DHEA in my view…



From a strictly health perspective…



From a strictly health perspective – for those deficient due to aging or other causes – DHEA appears beneficial when used as a supplement for general health and well being in both sexes. It’s well established that DHEA levels fall off as we age, and the research on health uses of DHEA justifies using small amounts to counter this age related drop off or deficiencies from other causes. DHEA levels rise slowly till they peak at around 30 years of age, and decline steadily after age 35, with levels reduced by 70-80% by age 75. This effect is one of the most consistent and predictable changes in aging known with lower endogenous levels of DHEA/DHEA-sulfate found in advancing age strongly correlated with a myriad of health conditions best avoided.(1) For example, levels of DHEA and or DHEA-s in older men is strongly predictive of death by cardio vascular disease .(2)


Only blood tests will tell a person what their DHEA/DHEA-s levels are and where they are compared to others in their age group. As this is not an article focused on the potential health benefits of DHEA in deficient populations, that’s all I’m going to say on the matter here.


What about DHEA as a “muscle builder” in healthy young men?



DHEA often gets marketed as a “muscle builder” to men. As a muscle building supplement in young healthy men, DHEA is essentially worthless, and high intakes may in fact be counter–productive to gaining muscle as high doses also cause an increase in estrogen and the effects on testosterone are minimal. Studies have been conflicting in this area at best, and most “real world” users report no improvements in strength, muscle mass, etc from using DHEA. So, for healthy young men with normal DHEA levels, it’s a bust as a “muscle builder” due to the fact it converts to testosterone poorly and raises estrogen levels when used at high doses.


“What About Us Women Will?!”



OK, this finally brings us to women and DHEA after the long winded intro above, but finally, here we are! Although the research in men using DHEA has been unimpressive and contradictory, such is not the case with women. In women, research using DHEA is much more consistent and compelling and there appears to be some gender specific responses to DHEA use.(3)


Cont HERE
 
Defy Medical TRT clinic doctor

Vince

Super Moderator
When the only change I make is taking any amount of DHEA, my estrogen will increase. The more dhea the more E2.
 

Will Brink

Member
When the only change I make is taking any amount of DHEA, my estrogen will increase. The more dhea the more E2.

Which is the case in men. In women, it's a different effect hence the focus of the article. In women, it acts as a mild T booster. The only thing DHEA does for men is replace DHEA when/if needed via blood work.
 

Gene Devine

Super Moderator
Many TRT Docs prescribe it as they feel it "back fills the pathway" when a man in utilizing exogenous testosterone.

The theory is that the androgen production line is "bottled neck" at the end of the pathway and as such upstream production slows down.

Compromised Pregnenolone and DHEA are then effected which then effects all three metabolic pathways.

Not sure this have ever been clinically proven but the dosage levels usually prescribed are low and makes for a good insurance policy.

I've used both Pregnenolone and DHEA for years as part of my TRT protocol and feel it's worth the minor expense for the support it provides...as noted, both of these prohormone slow in production as we age so the insurance policy is worth it IMO.
 

Vince

Super Moderator
Which is the case in men. In women, it's a different effect hence the focus of the article. In women, it acts as a mild T booster. The only thing DHEA does for men is replace DHEA when/if needed via blood work.

Yes, I have read about dhea and women increasing their T with it. I was just relaying my personal experiences and I personally don't know any ladies that use dhea. Hopefully others will chime about their ladies.
I did stop using dhea for a time, I feel much better when I'm supplementing with dhea. I'm presently using 35mg daily.
 

Will Brink

Member
Yes, I have read about dhea and women increasing their T with it. I was just relaying my personal experiences and I personally don't know any ladies that use dhea. Hopefully others will chime about their ladies.
I did stop using dhea for a time, I feel much better when I'm supplementing with dhea. I'm presently using 35mg daily.

We need more female members!
 

Vettester Chris

Super Moderator
My wife takes 25mg of micronized DHEA in the PM, same as me, and we both have seen noticeable improvement with sleep. The PM dosage really helps with the counter effect to cortisol and keeping the circadian rhythm balanced, which tends to be in play with imbalances & deficiencies, e.g., upstream pregnenolone demand and deficiency as noted by Gene.

She's already on HRT, with 8mg to 10mg/wk of cypionate, so there is no unusual increase (or decrease) in her total serum results; 70ng/dl to 90ng/dl +/- seems to be the zone with her labs, just depending sometimes on when labs were drawn in relation to injection (SubQ, 31g x 5/16 if anyone was ever curious).
81ng/dl total test serum last fall
274mcg/dl DHEA-S last fall (kaiser range 44 - 331)
Baseline from 2010 ... Test serum = 13ng/dl (6 -82ng/dl), DHEA-s = 70.6 (60.9 to 337.0) ... Labcorp.

Estradiol went up from the low 90's PG/ML to 154pg/ml on her last labs (luteal phase), but that can deviate, we don't know if it was fully or partially attributed to the micro DHEA. Just to note, at one point several years ago she was on Keto7 DHEA, and E1, E2 & E3 labs are relatively the same. A few years back on E2, one (1) luteal phase assay was drawn at 226pg/m (range 43.8 -211.0), and one (1) ovulation phase was drawn at 283pg/dl (range 85.8- 498.0) and that was on Keto7, which is a metabolite of DHEA that doesn't have the same downstream conversion properties.

Note, there were also some testosterone serum increase variations during that time with the increased E2, as changes were being made on her protocol dosage. Plus, there was a point she was on a rhythmic protocol with some form of progesterone & estrogen cream administered daily, which was aimed to improve some infrequent cycle issues. It actually complicated things more during that time. Might be more viable at post-meno? She hasn't crossed that bridge yet.
 
Last edited:

captain

Active Member
When I seen Dr Crisler I told him my wife used DHEA taking 25mg. He said 25mg is too much for a woman and recommended 7mg twice a day if I remember correctly. There seemed to be positive changes at the 25mg and didn't take long to see it but at lower dose not so much. Higher dose seemed to increase hair loss, weight loss and Sexual desire improvement. We need to do labs to see where the levels are with supplementing. We had labs before and there was room for improvement but never followed up after adding DHEA.

This little place in Pittsburgh PA. sells DHEA vaginal suppositories 3.25MG otc. They want labs or script for higher dose. I don't know if they work the wife didn't use them long enough to know. http://sexualhealthboutique.com/dhea-studies.html
 
I passed Will's article to my GF to see what she thinks about a trial run with 10mg/D, she's been talking to her GP about hormones and she's had a rough time with sleep issues.
 

ReillyJ

Member
I'm going through menopause and am on HRT, i supplement with 5 mg (i'm bipolar and highly sensitive) and it absolutely increases libido for me but i have to be very careful or i'll feel anxious. I suppose i would be able to take more if i cut the caffeine but that is hard to do ...
 
Buy Lab Tests Online

Sponsors

bodybuilder test discounted labs
Defy Medical TRT clinic
nelson vergel coaching for men
Discounted Labs
TRT in UK Balance my hormones
Testosterone books nelson vergel
Register on ExcelMale.com
Trimix HCG Offer Excelmale
Thumos USA men's mentoring and coaching
Testosterone TRT HRT Doctor Near Me
how to save your marriage

Online statistics

Members online
7
Guests online
9
Total visitors
16

Latest posts

Top