poppy
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Females, that is. What has been the effect?
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TNT
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I'm not female, but would be interested in some discussion about this, too.
In his book, Healing Lyme, Buhner recommends 50-500mg daily!, but says the best average dosage is 100-200mg daily. I have only ever taken 30mg daily (at bedtime), so am curious what others have experienced with higher dosages.
I quote some of what Buhner says in the book:
"Numerous studies in the 1950's commonly found that people who take pregnenolone can experience significant alleviation of arthritic symptoms, generally less pain, more mobility, and less stiffness.
In the five studies I have reviewed, about one-third of the people experienced a near complete remission of symptoms, one-third had marked improvement, and one third showed no benefit.
Improvement was generally seen within sixty days. The longer pregnenolone was taken in the studies, the longer benefits lasted after supplementation ceased.
Pregnenolone exerts direct effects on the body's capillaries, skin, collagen formation, and mucous membranes. In treatment of scleroderma (a hardening of the skin), pregnenolone was found to soften the skin, increasing elasticity and texture.
Pregnenolone also tends to produce an increased sense of well-being, more energy, better appetite, and enhanced memory. In Lyme disease, it is specifically helpful for supporting collagen in skin, joints, and reducing arthritic and skin symptoms.
At higher doses pregnenolone can cause agitation and overstimulation. The best average dosing for arthritic conditions seems to be 100-200 mg daily."
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poppy
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Well, finally someone chimed in. Where are all those people with adrenal fatigue and what are they doing about it?
My question was to find out if this worked better than DHEA, which produces the wrong hormone balance for women.
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Abxnomore
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I took it for years many years ago when I had lyme. I'm sorry, I don't have much to say about it now since it was such a long time ago but I used it to support my adrenal glands. I think as long as you are having your blood levels checked by a doctor there is no harm in taking it. I took it along with DHEA. I still take DHEA and have my blood levels checked every three months.
I no longer take pregnenolone and have not for quite a while.
Sorry participation is so poor on this site. I'm not surprised, however.
Posts: 5191 | From Lyme Zone | Registered: Jan 2009
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Marnie
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posted
To help restore the HPA (hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenal) axis which IS off...(esp. the "H" signaling...
Look hard at phosphatidylserine as well as possibly adding 5HT.
You don't have to understand this, but know that there is an interaction between the hippocampus area and the hypothalamus:
"Interaction between the ***hippocampus*** and posterior ***hypothalamus*** during the orienting reflex"
Hippocampal synapses impacted = Theta waves.
Could simply listening to Theta waves (CDs available) help? Would be interesting to try...
Google: theta waves
They relate to REM sleep. In longstanding lyme, persons have NO REM sleep. I personally know a lyme patient who went thru a sleep study and that was determined i.e., she had no REM sleep (random eye movement). During the night, we go from NREM to REM several times - stages of sleep.
From Wiki:
"During REM sleep, high levels of
***acetylcholine in the hippocampus***
suppress feedback from
***hippocampus to the neocortex,***
and lower levels of acetylcholine and norepinephrine in the neocortex
encourage the spread of associational activity within neocortical areas without control from the hippocampus"
One of Bb's cell membrane phospholipids is phosphatidylcholine (so is ours).
Acetylcholine is used during REM sleep according to Wiki.
Common knowledge: "The outer membrane of Borrelia contains phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylglycerol, as well as numerous lipoproteins"
That is one of the major problems...Bb is too much like us...one identical lipid in its cell membrane too. See how easy it would be to attack self = "autoimmune"?
Gaia herbs has a product called "Adrenal Health".
It contains some very interesting herbs!!!
Posts: 9424 | From Sunshine State | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
A naturopath I saw years ago suggested pregnanalone, but after some investigation I realized that there was much more of a chance of the cascade following the androgen pathway (as often happens with DHEA) than occurs with the use of progesterone.
Progesterone is produced from pregnanalone, but doesn't as frequently cascade to androgens or estrogen. Having issues with estrogen dominance, I didn't feel I needed more.
For this reason I have always used bioidentical progesterone for adrenal issues, and found that it immediately helped with anxiety attacks and palpitations.
-------------------- 13 yo DX PANS/Tourette's/Asperger's/ADHD treated for Igenex positive bartonella/IND lyme with 2 years of abx treatment. Weaned off abx April 2013 at 80% improvement. Continuing with Buhner bartonella/babesia protocols. Aug 2014 99% improvement. Posts: 265 | From Canada, Ontario | Registered: Jul 2013
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posted
I started pregnanalone, cordyceps, DHEA, DHA (I'm a vegetarian) a few months ago and my energy improved dramatically. After going off pregnanalone for a few weeks, there was little difference. Thrilling to have more energy!
Posts: 72 | From washington dc | Registered: Mar 2010
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nefferdun
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I took it when I was going through menopause. It is supposed to be the mother hormone, the precursor to making other hormones. I had extremely irregular periods all of my life and pregnenolone made them regular. It is a very beneficial supplement. One of the few I would recommend bothering to try.
-------------------- old joke: idiopathic means the patient is pathological and the the doctor is an idiot Posts: 4676 | From western Montana | Registered: Apr 2009
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poppy
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Thanks for the replies. I was worried just exactly about the effect rowing mom described. That it would have the same downstream effect as DHEA and probably adrenal fatigue have had. And that aint a good situation. Am already on HRT, so not sure how I would add progesterone to this mix. Don't think my doc is well versed in the area, and my impression is that all of this kind of thing, including thyroid hormones requires more expertise than most doctors have, including endocrinologists.
Hormone balance in the face of adrenal issues from chronic infection seems every bit as complicated to me as monkeying with the immune system to create some particular effect.
[ 03-22-2015, 06:14 PM: Message edited by: poppy ]
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Abxnomore
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The kind of physician who is knowledgable about these kinds of issues are integrative doctors whether they are an M.D. or D.O. Your mainstream physical is usually quite clueless. They are also use bio-identical compounded hormones not the stuff the big pharma produces.
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lightfoot
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DHEA & pregnenalone are often taken together. Our first Lyme doc (LLMD) recommended pregnenalone. I don't remember much about it, probably because I was so sick with Lyme at the time.
I recently added it again and it's too early to tell. My dose is only 25 mg so I think based on Buhner's recommendations....I'll up it. I also have been using bioidentical prgesterone and biest for years.
-------------------- Healing Smiles.....lightfoot Posts: 7228 | From CO | Registered: May 2002
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TNT
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What time of day is it recommended to be taken? I have been taking it at bedtime, but may start taking it first thing in the morning.
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