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DHEA

Hey All

I have taken a step back and now all my training has been under that 75% cap. Slow as she goes, but really very enjoyable and not cooked after workouts.

This last bout with adrenal knockout (my new term of endearment for those situational "burnouts" caused me to go back and take a look at my saliva tests. I did not realize I did those TWO YEARS AGO this month! Wow. Oddly enough, instead of my Cortisol being through the roof, it was abnormally low. The only reading that was "normal was my morning reading. The rest of the day was under the 'average' graph. This tells me that my adrenals were too exhausted to even bother making cortisol.

The other thing that struck me was that my DHEA-S was WAY low for my age. I had never given it a thought, but wonder if it's still stuck down there and that may be hindering my adrenal recovery process.

Does anyone have a suggestion for enhancing the DHEA levels naturally (rather than taking a supplement)? Or, if I need to take a supplement -- how much and which form?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ken

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Michelle Brezinski on March 12, 2011 at 3:33pm

Hi Ken.

I see you are in the USA so DHEA is available on the shelf but here is Canada you have to obtain it through prescritption and it's called "Prasterone". Unless the FDA laws have changed in the last few years.

DHEA precursors can also be found in Mexican Wild Yam but the bodies ability to convert this plant sterol to DHEA that the body can utilize, is unlikely.

Because DHEA is a mother hormone it can convert into either testosterone or estradiol, so it's conversion is uncertain and behaviour in the body poorly understood.

This may lead to hormonal imbalances, which is why the HPB here in Canada, remove it from the shelf.

But one study has shown that the effects of 50mg daily, boosted DHEA levels in 40-70 year olds to that associated with young adults in their twenties.

Side effects associated with taking DHEA are acne flare-ups, unwanted hair growth,irritability and rapid heart beat when taking doses of more than 100mg/day. DHEA is on the USOC and NFL banned list because of it is thought to have anabolic potential.