My DHEA level... comments/help please

[T Man]

My Doctor wants me to take 25 mg of DHEA every day now. My DHEA lab test level was 160. The Male range was 180-1200. I am concerned about DHEA raising my estrogen. My E2 estrogen level was 39 the last 2 times it was checked. Will DHEA affect my E2 levels or total estrogen?

I took a 7.5 mg DHEA dose yesterday and initially it gave me a sense of well being.... a few hours later I got this wired up sort of feeling and felt shaky. I don't want to mess up my hormones any worse than they are now!! I don't know if I should take this or not. I have an upcoming appointment with Dr. John and perhaps I should wait to see what he has to say. I really know little about DHEA and the effects of supplementing it. I searched and read a lot of confusing threads and papers on it. Anyones experience or knowledge/advise would be appreciated. Is DHEA replacement a good thing or not? Thanks!

T

 

[SPE]

I don't see 25mg DHEA raising e2 to any considerable extent. Before I started androgel/hcg/dhea my e2 was at 31. After four weeks taking ALL THREE of those, my e2 was only at 39 and I really doubt the dhea played a big role in that. The only way to find out is to try and test. You do need to get those levels up, though.

 

[gymrat1977]

Dr. John has me taken 50mg's per day. My levels were lower than your. It will be interesting to see the levels on my next test.

 

[mfiver]

Low DHEA can contribute to low testosterone too. Your body can make either testosterone or estrogen from it.

Your 7.5mg dose is small enough to be unlikely to be the cause of feeling shakey.

Follow your doc's advise and get another blood test in a few weeks and see how your body is processing it.

 

[stat1951]

Interesting study on DHEA

A study reported in the J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1999 Jun;84(6):2170-6 that shows a strong caution to taking large doses of DHEA:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...7&dopt=Abstract

QUOTE:
The most abundant human steroids, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its sulfate ester DHEAS, may have a multitude of beneficial effects, but decline with age. DHEA possibly prevents immunosenescence, and as a neuroactive steroid it may influence processes of cognition and memory. Epidemiological studies revealed an inverse correlation between DHEAS levels and the incidence of cardiovascular disease in men, but not in women... The intake of 50 mg DHEA led to an increase in serum DHEAS to mean levels of young adult men, whereas 100 mg DHEA induced supraphysiological concentrations... Serum testosterone and dihydrotestosterone remained unchanged after DHEA administration. In contrast, 17beta-estradiol and estrone significantly increased in a dose-dependent manner...
END QUOTE

Note specifically that "serum testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) remained unchanged after DHEA administration... "

These were high doses and in elderly males (with presumably lower levels of serum T) and yet "serum T remained unchanged"....