You may want to consider pregnenolone, which I take every day (50 mg -- Source Naturals). I sent an email to a friend last year about what I'd learned about pregnenolone. I'll paste it below, as I think the answer to your question is in it...
I just noticed you've already tried pregnenolone. Have you considered trying a different brand. You wouldn't think it, but sometimes that can make all the difference in the world.
........................................................................................
"""I've read several references to how pregnenolone "appears" to balance out the major steroidal hormones in our body. That said, there's not been enough research to discern exactly how it can affect us at different dosages over varying periods of time.
It seems to be especially effective at countering the effects of too much cortisol in the body, which can have damaging effects. So, my understanding is that it's believed that certain hormones "may" be raised, while others "may" be lowered, depending on what the body needs. Apparently, give the body the "precursor" to all these hormones, and the body will decide for itself what to do with it.
I just read a new article on it this morning.
LINK HERE. It's fairly lengthy, but thought I cut and paste three sections on history, dosage, safety, and contraindications. I asked Alea this morning if she was still taking it, and she said she ran out of what I had given her. She said she got a subtle sense of feeling more grounded, but didn't test that she should necessarily continue to take it.
I think it's wise to proceed slowly when dealing with anything having to do with regulating hormone levels. For me, my whole endocrine system has taken a "broad side" from my Lyme situation, and I've had to experiment with cortisol, thryoid, melatonin, DHEA and other things that affect all those levels. It's a continuing challenge to figure it all out. Pregnenolone strikes me as one of the safest of all the things I've tried, and I have a pretty high comfort level with the 50 mg/day I'm taking at this time.
But most other people are likely not dealing with such an extreme situation as mine. Plus, I've read references to some people getting good results at relatively low doses--even as low as only 2 mg/day. So starting out really slowly might be a good way to alleviate any concerns about safety.
One last point: It appears that at our age, our bodies are only making about half as much pregnenolone as when we were in our thirties. It makes sense to me that that are certain risks associated with that. So an exercise might be to compare the risks of taking pregnenolone, to the risks of not taking it. Given my own experience, the answer for me is pretty clear.
Hope that helps.
..........................................................................
Safety
Fortunately, pregnenolone is amazingly safer than other steroids. Pregnenolone researchers working with both human and animal subjects since the 1940s have consistently commented on pregnenolones virtual absence of toxicity. For example, the classic review article on pregnenolone by Henderson and colleagues in 1950 states: 'It [pregnenolone] has an extremely low order of toxicity; [it] has not shown any adverse effects on endocrine [hormone] physiology ....'
Pregnenolone has been given orally to humans at doses as high as 500 mg/day for as long as 30 weeks without evidence of adverse effects. Mice given 5 grams (1/6 ounce) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of body weight suffered no ill effects. This would be equivalent to a 154 pound (70 kilogram) human ingesting 350 grams (approximately 3/4 pound) per day! In a long-term study, mice that were given one gram pregnenolone per kilogram of body weight three times weekly for 50 doses suffered no toxic reactions -- including no changes in the size and condition of offspring produced after the 50 doses.
In one human study, eight people received 50 to 150 milligrams per day by intramuscular injection for 75 days, with no reported side effects. Dr. Eugene Roberts gave 20 Alzheimers patients 525 mg/day for three months with no toxicity. During rheumatoid arthritis experiments with pregnenolone, Dr. H. Freeman and colleagues gave 500 mg pregnenolone/day for up to 30 weeks, with no toxicity. And Drs. Pincus and Hoagland, two of the pioneer researchers on pregnenolone use by humans in the 1940s, found no toxic reactions with pregnenolone used by hundreds of men and women at dosages of 100 mg/day for four months.
Dosage
The classic studies on pregnenolone and stress in the 1940s by Pincus and Hoagland generally used only 50 mg/day to achieve excellent results, while arthritis studies typically used 200-500 mg daily. Thus, although pregnenolone appears amazingly safe and beneficial, there are still many unanswered questions regarding proper dosage, metabolism, and clinical effects. Keeping these uncertainties in mind, here are some recommendations for dosage.
For those wishing to err on the side of caution, 50 to 100 mg pregnenolone per day would probably be suitable for use without physician monitoring. Perhaps an additional safety margin (for this already amazingly-safe substance) could be achieved through discontinuing use for one week every month. Those wishing to use the higher, anti-arthritis doses (200 - 500 mg/day) should probably do so only under the supervision of their physician, even though many human clinical studies with arthritis at these dosages yielded no problems or toxicities. Morning is the perfect time to take pregnenolone, and a single daily dose is probably best, since pregnenolone is fat-soluble, and probably follows the circadian highs and lows of DHEA and cortisol (highest in the morning, with a drop to baseline by late afternoon). On an anecdotal note, there have been patients taking 100 - 1,000 mg pregnenolone/day intermittently since 1987, with no discernible negative side effects.
Contraindications
While there has been no definite information published as to who should not take pregnenolone, on theoretical grounds, a few cautions can be suggested. Since pregnenolone (especially at high doses) may (in some people) increase estrogen or testosterone levels, I believe that men with prostate cancer (which may be worsened by testosterone) and women with breast or ovarian cancer (which may be worsened by estrogen) should probably take pregnenolone only with their doctors consent and supervision. Men with high PSA (prostate specific antigen) blood levels (possible indicator for undiagnosed or future prostate cancer) should also proceed with caution with pregnenolone use.
Lastly, because of pregnenolones anti-GABA, pro-NMDA action, persons known to suffer from epileptic seizures or who are taking an anti-seizure medication such as Dilantin, Depakote or Tegretol should probably only use pregnenolone with their doctors supervision. Finally, as we age, the body produces ever-less of the enzyme which converts pregnenolone to DHEA. Thus, while supplementary pregnenolone taken during middle age and beyond will produce at least some normalization back toward more youthful (and healthful) levels of other steroid hormones, pregnenolone will not completely substitute for other steroid hormone supplements in those with medically demonstrated needs for various specific steroids i.e., DHEA, cortisol, estrogen, etc.
.................................................................
I think I'll leave you with another link to another pregnenolone article. The author describes some of his own somewhat "esoteric" experiences from taking it.
:
Review of Pregnenolone: Nature's Feel-Good Hormone by Ray ...
www.life-enhancement.com
Review of Pregnenolone - Nature's Feel-Good Hormone by Ray Sahelian, MD. Enchanting Pregnenolone: Intimations of Immortality. By Will Block . n addition to memory ...
