Just wanted to post this for anyone who have the same problem I had. Which is my face was turning bright red, anxiety attacks, one BP spike, increased heart rate, trouble sleeping and feeling on edge most of the time. I started 30 mg a day pregnenolone and upped my dhea to 50 mg a day. I feel so much better! Like night and day. BP came down no more anxiety and feel alot more relaxed over all mood improved. Thanks to these forums. Maybe this post will help someone. I was just about to give up.
Great info – could you post your protocol including meds and dosages that caused the high BP and anxiety in the first place – so we can get some context? This would be very useful info. Thanks bro!
I always had anxiety since I was 17 years old. My blood pressure was around 138 over 78 for last year. When I started trt that didn’t change until I doubled the dhea and started the pregnenolone. Now it’s 124 over 78. Have not been working out and no change in diet. My protocol is 16 mg test C EOD 125 iu hcg EOD opposite the test day. I lowered my hcg from 250 when I started the pregnenolone. I also take 1400 mg fish oil, 200 mg coq10, 333mg calcium, 133 mg magnesium, 2000 iu D3, 1000 mcg
B12, and 5 mg melatonin before bed. I feel great.
Melatonin works best in a time release product. Fast acting starts to clear out in 4-5 hours and that can wake you up as falling levels are the mechanism of waking up.
Get DHEA-S tested. Some guys can get high E2 from DHEA–>E2 in the adrenals.
DHEA and pregnenolone are not very bio-available as they are not water soluble. Taking these with fish oil or other oily/fatty foods will improve absorption.
16mg x 3.5 is a very small weekly dose.
I do not see the reason to reduce hCG other than a perceived need to reduce hCG’s ability to promote preg production in the testes.
Did you do pregnenolone labs before this?
Pregnenolone is made by mitochondria from cholesterol. Mitochondrial activity is regulated by fT3 as part of the body’s temperature control loop. CoQ10 enables mitochondria to work properly. There is a lot of interconnection.
Have a look at the steroid hormone cascade here: Steroid hormone - Wikipedia
Pregnenolone has many important roles in the brain.
Nice story!
I’m going to get the time release melatonin. Thanks for that. I’m taking 56 mg a week. 16mg EOD. That puts my bioavailable test at about 290 of 317. I did not test for pregnenolone prior to this. I plan on getting DHEA and pregnenolone along with estradiol in the next couple weeks. My dhea was out of range low before starting trt. I think it was a 102. Should I keep the hcg at 250 EOD?
You have made a lot of changes at once. You could go back tp 250iu after things have settled and then see if you can notice any changes from that.
Do labs for DHEA-S, not DHEA.
That’s what I meant dhea-s. That’s what was low.
Im a little over a year into my trt journey. I was prescribed 40mg of DHEA daily. After about 9 months I dropped it as I thought it was not doing anything or converted to E2. I didn’t notice anything at first but wow after about 3 week my anxiety and panic disorder kicked into over drive. I tried almost everything to knock it out. Ive been panic attack free for over 15 years! Nothing worked. After reading this, I added DHEA back to my program and wow…everything is back to normal. I was feeling my heart pounding out of my chest everynight knowing I would have to drop my trt. Now no worries. Thanks for this forum. No clue why this works but it did.
I’ve been reading this thread and am experiencing similiar issues of increased resting HR, facial flushing and insomnia. I assumed that this was just part of the TRT experience and was dealing with it but 2 months back I started having anxiety attacks as well. At that time my E2 levels were high and I started on anastrozole. The intensity of my anxiety attacks have decreased, though still present. The other symptoms remain. Do you guys think I should start either DHEA/pregnenolone or both to help these symptoms? Thanks in advance for any info.
We do not know what is causing your symptoms, but if you go supplement a bunch of other stuff without lab testing to see what is responsible, this is a ticket to hormonal hell.
Labs testing comes first, then action. Your best bet is to create a thread dedicated to your case, post relevant labs and get advice.
It wouldn’t hurt to describe your TRT protocol, most of the time the protocol is to blame for the high estrogen then requiring the use of AI’s which further degrade TRT benefits.
Roger that. I’ll get the info together and start a new thread next week. thanks.