TRT and Pregnenolone

[Eagles21]

Hello,

What is the general opinion here on the forum about supplementing Pregnenolone while on trt. Especially if one is not using HCG. I cannot currently afford HCG, it is very expensive in my area.

I will add that I feel pretty good on my current protocol of just Test cyp. But wondering if Pregnenolone would help back fill pathways that are blocked by the trt and make me feel even better.

 

[FunkOdyssey]

IMO pregnenolone is a dirty / poor man's route to progesterone and allopregnanolone, which is what you are most likely really after when you supplement pregnenolone. You'll get some random amount of progesterone and allopregnanolone with a pregnenolone supplement, and random amounts of other hormones as well, which may or may not make you feel good.

Pregnenolone has one of the highest quit rates of any TRT accessory hormone. By that I mean, if 100 people on TRT try pregnenolone, maybe 5 to 10 of them will continue using it. You may be in that 5-10% who likes it, so give it a try if you are interested. Just don't expect that a positive outcome is likely.

The TRT practitioner who has made the biggest name for himself in researching pregnenolone, and released many videos and an e-book largely dedicated to it (Dave Lee), has a low opinion of it himself. He says it is poorly tolerated by most people and rarely helpful, except sometimes (but not always or even often) in the context of documented deficiency.

Personally, I'd rather use an injectable progesterone if I was inclined to add additional hormones to TRT. Better precision and better tolerated.

 

[Eagles21]

IMO pregnenolone is a dirty / poor man's route to progesterone and allopregnanolone, which is what you are most likely really after when you supplement pregnenolone. You'll get some random amount of progesterone and allopregnanolone with a pregnenolone supplement, and random amounts of other hormones as well, which may or may make you feel good.

Pregnenolone has one of the highest quit rates of any TRT accessory hormone. By that I mean, if 100 people on TRT try pregnenolone, maybe 5 to 10 of them will continue using it. You may be in that 5-10% who likes it, so give it a try if you are interested. Just don't expect that a positive outcome is likely.

The TRT practitioner who has made the biggest name for himself in researching pregnenolone, and released many videos and an e-book largely dedicated to it (Dave Lee), has a low opinion of it himself. He says it is poorly tolerated by most people and rarely helpful, except sometimes (but not always or even often) in the context of documented deficiency.

Personally, I'd rather use an injectable progesterone if I was inclined to add additional hormones to TRT. Better precision and better tolerated.

Thank you for the info. I’ll read up on some of Dave Lee’s stuff.

Since I feel good right now. I’m not inclined to make any changes. But at the same time I’d like to optimize everything I can. But sounds like Pregnenolone might not be what I’m looking for. If I did try it out, what would be a good starting dose?

What about DHEA supplements? Or better yet, what would you add to a trt protocol other than hcg? Or if I’m feeling good right now should I just not even bother trying to back fill any pathways?

 

[Mastodont]

Pregnenolone is weird, the most inconsistent supplement ever, you may be celebrating it but soon find it messing you up. The dosages are controversial, some talk in hundreds of milligrams per day, and others say 5-10mg, if i recall correctly Dave Lee recommends these low end doses. For me personally i have experienced significant boost from 50-100mg taken in the morning but always ended up ruining my sleep, on the other hand if i have taken 5-10mg in the morning i've been almost forced to take a nap in the afternoon.

 

[Eagles21]

Pregnenolone is weird, the most inconsistent supplement ever, you may be celebrating it but soon find it messing you up. The dosages are controversial, some talk in hundreds of milligrams per day, and others say 5-10mg, if i recall correctly Dave Lee recommends these low end doses. For me personally i have experienced significant boost from 50-100mg taken in the morning but always ended up ruining my sleep, on the other hand if i have taken 5-10mg in the morning i've been almost forced to take a nap in the afternoon.

Yeah that is pretty weird.
I have used a pre workout supplement from a company called core nutritionals called Fury V2. It actually has 10mg Pregnenolone per serving. Which was kind of weird seeing it in a pre workout. I didn’t have any adverse effects from the 10mg dosage. But i didn’t use that pre workout regularly only when I felt like I needed a boost. If I try it out consistently I’d probably stick with that 10mg dose.

 

[alsi33]

Hello,

What is the general opinion here on the forum about supplementing Pregnenolone while on trt. Especially if one is not using HCG. I cannot currently afford HCG, it is very expensive in my area.

I will add that I feel pretty good on my current protocol of just Test cyp. But wondering if Pregnenolone would help back fill pathways that are blocked by the trt and make me feel even better.

Can you elaborate what you mean by pathways being blocked by trt? I just recently started trt but have been on pregnenolone for some time due to low cortisol issues.

 

[Eagles21]

Can you elaborate what you mean by pathways being blocked by trt? I just recently started trt but have been on pregnenolone for some time due to low cortisol issues.

So whenever your body starts getting testosterone from an outside source it shuts down its own production. LH and FSH are at 0. A lot of other hormone levels usually decline such as Pregnenolone, progesterone, dhea. Pregnenolone is pretty much the precursor for most all hormones if I’m not mistaken.

Based on what I’ve seen. And I’m no expert by any means. But some guys will do just fine on testosterone therapy without anything else added to the protocol. Like me ive used nothing other than testosterone cypionate and I feel pretty good. So it seems to me despite LH and FSH being shut down the body has other pathways to produce some of these other hormones. I know cholesterol is used to make hormones in the body also. Some guys report feeling better with HCG. Some like using Pregnenolone, progesterone and dhea. They use things like this to help back fill the pathways that are being shut down by the testosterone therapy. To me back filling pathways that are blocked/ reduced seems like a good idea.

Have you noticed any issues with the Pregnenolone? What’s the dosage you’re using?

 

[FunkOdyssey]

Some guys report feeling better with HCG. Some like using Pregnenolone, progesterone and dhea. They use things like this to help back fill the pathways that are being shut down by the testosterone therapy. To me back filling pathways that are blocked/ reduced seems like a good idea.

Check out this video which explores (or you might say debunks) the need to backfill hormones on TRT:

 

[Eagles21]

Check out this video which explores (or you might say debunks) the need to backfill hormones on TRT:

Thanks for sharing. I’ll definitely give it a watch.

 

[alsi33]

So whenever your body starts getting testosterone from an outside source it shuts down its own production. LH and FSH are at 0. A lot of other hormone levels usually decline such as Pregnenolone, progesterone, dhea. Pregnenolone is pretty much the precursor for most all hormones if I’m not mistaken.

Based on what I’ve seen. And I’m no expert by any means. But some guys will do just fine on testosterone therapy without anything else added to the protocol. Like me ive used nothing other than testosterone cypionate and I feel pretty good. So it seems to me despite LH and FSH being shut down the body has other pathways to produce some of these other hormones. I know cholesterol is used to make hormones in the body also. Some guys report feeling better with HCG. Some like using Pregnenolone, progesterone and dhea. They use things like this to help back fill the pathways that are being shut down by the testosterone therapy. To me back filling pathways that are blocked/ reduced seems like a good idea.

Have you noticed any issues with the Pregnenolone? What’s the dosage you’re using?

I am on a high dosage of 250-300 mg /day. The reason is that it helps with hypoglycemia and low cortisol symptoms. Now that i am on TRT, i find Testost addresses some of the symptoms i experience and i plan to try to decrease preg. I have no tolerance issues with pregnonolone but have gained weight as i am also on Hydrocortisone for low cortisol. I use Nutricology brand of pregnenolone as it is one of the few produced in micronized form for superior absorption. Besides myself, i personally know a few people who use nutricology brand of pregnenolone and have no issues with tolerance or absorption.

 

[Mastodont]

Check out this video which explores (or you might say debunks) the need to backfill hormones on TRT:

That is certainly the case when levels of pregnenolone are in check, he does not really go into what if you basically have no pregnenolone. It would be interesting to find a case where preg is tanked in natural state, but recovers to some extent on trt.

 

[Eagles21]

That is certainly the case when levels of pregnenolone are in check, he does not really go into what if you basically have no pregnenolone. It would be interesting to find a case where preg is tanked in natural state, but recovers to some extent on trt.

If preg was low before trt, then starting trt would make it even worse I believe.

But yeah preg being tanked definitely doesn’t seem like a good thing. Preg is a precursor to nuerosteriods that effect mood, sense of well being ect.

That’s why I was looking into supplementing preg