Can Oral DHEA Cause Menstrual Bleeding?

[Robert Persson]

My girlfriend labworks revealed low DHEA (slightly below reference range), so I got some DHEA tablets for her. She started slowly with about 6mg (1/4 25 mg tablet). The effects were mostly posetive, however she started to menstruate after a few days (after not having a period in 7-8 months, she is about to enter menopause). Now, after two weeks shes is having here period once again. Also her breasts are a little tender, and have been all the time since she started DHEA. Now, 6mg is not very much i think, can this really cause thoose problems? What can we do about it? Is it something to worry about?

 

[whodathunkit]

6mg is enough to cause a lot of problems in someone who has a poor balance of hormones to begin with. Only 5mg/day for a short while greatly accelerated my hairloss about 20 years ago. Even smaller amounts can cause problems. Without other things like pregnenolone to properly balance DHEA it can change to estrogen or generally push things further out of balance.

I'm not the brightest light on the tree about this stuff, so read some of @haidut 's posts, especially the threads about his products "Pansterone" and "Stressnon". Also use the forum search function for DHEA. There's a lot of good info.

Worth noting is that even a drop of Pansterone (which is DHEA balanced with pregnenolone) every day seems to be too much for me (I'm in your girlfriend's demographic). There's another user (@milk_lover, I believe) who has said the same thing about it.

BUT...while I've had some problems with using exogenous hormones like the Pansterone blend and progesterone, I'm also seeing some benefits after stopping and allowing the problems to resolve, and then starting again with minute amounts. So am coming around to the idea that very, very low and very, very slow is the way to tinker with these things. Especially in our demographic. By very low I mean like milligrams in the single digits, or even less than 1mg in the case of some things like DHEA. And it may not be necessary to take even these small amounts every day.

My advice is to take her off DHEA immediately and do some more reading. Situation is usually more complex than just taking a small amount of whatever to balance. Plus, depending upon the lab test, sometimes the values aren't that accurate. For example, serum levels of hormones in blood are typically not very accurate because they don't show what the body is actually able to do with the hormones. They just show levels of circulating hormones in the blood...levels which the body may or may not be able to make proper use of, in the places the hormones need to go.

I usually go on how something makes me feel. That may not always be the smartest thing to do but it works for me and since I can't get a bunch of lab tests right now that's where I'm at. If at first I feel good then I feel bad later, I tweak accordingly. I don't stick with the same dosage or protocol no matter what.

Good luck!

 

[Robert Persson]

Thanks for a very good answer. I have done quite some reading about DHEA, the problem is there is so much bull**** and conflicting information out there. Reccomended dosages on DHEA vary from 1 to 50 mg. Some say DHEA will kill you, some says your life depends on it (I guess its somewhere between, if you really need it.) It think your advice sounds good, I will tell her to back of the DHEA tablets until breast tenderness disappears, then try a single drop of pansterone a day, and work from there. Thank you!

 

[Pointless]

Resumption of menstrual cycles is usually a good thing. This is a known effect of progesterone, for example. Dr. Peat has said that the "running out of eggs" thing is mostly a myth, and menstrual cycles can continue long after "menopause". The breast tenderness is probably estrogen, though. Try adding in some progesterone and lowering the dose of DHEA.

 

[Amber]

DHEA can increase Estrogen so yes. I wouldn't take it without taking something that prevents it from turning into estrogen.

 

[oldhaghacks]

DHEA can increase Estrogen so yes. I wouldn't take it without taking something that prevents it from turning into estrogen.

New here...
I wonder if you take DIM with DHEA if that would prevent it from turning to estrogen?

I may or may not be in menopause right now but my serum estrogen and progesterone was at menopausal levels when tested a couple of weeks ago and DHEA was low normal. I'm doing an n=1 experiment with DHEA myself as soon as the supplement arrives. I think I'm going to try cycling with it however but haven't quite figured it out yet. I'm having all the signs of estrogen deficiency.