Sex Drive Tanks: Was It Pregnenolone?

[ander454]

Hi,

First time posting on the forum. I've been reading for several months and appreciate all the good info and positive community. You guys are great!

Short History:
2012 -2013 - over worked burn-out corporate job long hours sitting at computer, stupid Paleo diet, over-exercised olympic lifts... = severe muscle problems (myfascial pain syndrome) up/down the spine and into the base of my skull that persist to this day. SEVERE irritability brain fog for quite some time. Very low testosterone per lab test.
2013-2014 - re-feeding based on guidance from Matt Stone (lots of calories and fair amount of junk food). Some thyroid help T3/T4 from Endocrinologist (minor effect). Some mineral supplements from Naturopath advice but had to stop because kept getting heart palpitation (main culprit was Potassium). Weird oxygen/Co2 issues where holding my breath to the 10sec mark would likely result in feinting.
2015-2016 - things are getting better. Still have stiffness in back/upper neck that bothers me in terms of mobility and popping/clicking noises but no more pain or tweaks. breathing issues resolved in 2016. palpitations gone in 2016. irritability almost gone (Tai Chi helps). Still experimenting with things, including ideas from Peat. Hell of a lot better now than several years ago!

Short Physiology/Lifestyle Background:
I'm a 36 year old ectomorph. I was 140lbs in 2012 Paleo days.... I'm now 160lbs and still pretty skinny looking! My background as a kid was distance running and soccer. I certainly overtrained back then, but I don't run more than 20 miles a week anymore, typically much less. I run because I love getting outside, not because I'm addicted to stress hormones.... I enjoy Tai Chi too. I sit at a computer a lot... My pulse (waking 45, sitting at work 60-70) and body temp (98.1) are always the same no matter what I do and do not seem to track with my overall feeling of good/bad. Warm hands/feet are a good indicator however. I sleep average 8 hours per night. Digestion is fine, no gut issues. 1 cup of coffee in morning is good, 2 can be trouble, 3 will definitely make the feet cold way before lunch (no matter how much sugar). I don't like coffee in the afternoon. I've had toenail fungus since a teenager and sometimes get horrible atheletes foot breakouts. I have about 1/4 to 1/2 can of smokeless tobacco on the weekends. I built myself a sauna and love it.

My Experiment:
I'd like to boost testosterone to see if it helps my muscular issues heal faster and boost sex drive a bit (although sex drive isn't horrible). I know testosterone was low from lab tests in 2013 (and I could just feel it). Ever since I hit my 30s it seems sex drive is, at best, 2x lower. So, on to the experiment.... couple months back I started trying a daily 30mg of Pregnenolone to see what kind of effect it might have (maybe convert to DHEA and then to testosterone?). The first week I felt good - I felt very relaxed and happy. But at the same time sex drive started falling rapidly. At 2 weeks I might have well been castrated! And I developed a weird twitch in my left eye that I've never had before. Cold/clammy feet was almost unbearable at times. Still generally happy and feeling good, but WTF? After 2-3 weeks of stopping, my sex drive was back up to what it was and my eye twitch went away. Unfortunately I also tried some Niacinimide 1 week after I started the Preg. I started at around 150mg and got up to about 500mg in the second week (and also stopped taking). So, now I am not completely sure which one really gave me issues, but I'm pretty sure the the Preg started the symptoms. Any thoughts? I was also on lots of protein whey the whole time which had yucky sucrolose, which was completely foreign to my body thus far in life and I've switched off of now as well. Thoughts? Anything else I should try?

 

[Orion]

Some quick thoughts, caffeine, niacinamide and preg, can boost metabolism (via different paths), making you use up liver sugar stores quicker. Cold sweaty feet is a symptom of running on adrenaline to keep blood sugar stable. So sounds like you have glycogen storage issues, along with low pulse and temps points to hypothyroidism. Preg used in a stressful state will convert more to cortisol and estrogen i believe.

How was your sleep during the two weeks? waking? light/deep?

I would drop the preg and B3 for now, focus on small amounts of caffeine throughout the day, along with lots of sugar and milk to keep blood sugar stable and help replete liver glycogen. Once you get better glycogen stores, you could attempt to add back preg and B3, but in small doses (monitor your sleep to gauge effect).

 

[ander454]

... monitor your sleep to gauge effect.

So, sleep should be deep I take it? Not waking up much? Thanks for the input

 

[Agent207]

I don't think is a good idea to take pregnenolone without solid T. Maybe it raises progesterone and it rivals with dht too much. In stressful state you better have plenty of preg than lack of it, thats for sure.

You have to check t, shbg, dht, dhea, pregnenolone, progesterone levels, to aproximate an idea of whats going on.

I would avoid caffeine if you suspect excess of stress/inflammation is happening.

 

[ecstatichamster]

by the way pregnenolone in any significant dosages makes my sex drive tank and makes my penis numb. I believe it turns into progesterone which also has this identical effect.

I can use some DHEA and pregnenolone from Idealabs, small amounts, 5mg of each, and it seems okay though.

 

[ander454]

by the way pregnenolone in any significant dosages makes my sex drive tank and makes my penis numb. I believe it turns into progesterone which also has this identical effect.

I can use some DHEA and pregnenolone from Idealabs, small amounts, 5mg of each, and it seems okay though.

Interesting, so same as me. Have you tried to boost T at all? Or, anything else you tried to boost sex drive/sensitivity?

 

[KMais]

I have high progesterone. Can anybody help me?

DHT - more that 2500 pg / mL (112-955) - HIGH
Progesterone - 4.23ng / ml (0:10 to 0:20) - HIGH
Other tests are OK

Use: 500mg/ Test + 0.5mg/EOD Anastrozole

 

[tara]

ander454

Want to give an idea of what and how much you are eating now? Gives more to go on if you are wanting our amateur suggestions/analyses.
You might get much of the benefit without risking so much trouble with smaller doses of niacinamide - eg 50mg doses with meals if you decide to try it again - some of us have had trouble with higher doses (I aim for about 100mg x2/day now).

A few people have reported dropping energy from pregnenolone (though there are also many who report good effects). If you decide to keep experimenting it, you could try dropping it for a week or two, and then trying smaller dose of this too - eg 30mg once or twice a week instead daily?

 

[ander454]

ander454

Want to give an idea of what and how much you are eating now?....

Sure thing!

I've tried many, many different ways to eat and it always changes, but this is what I've done for the past month...
Breakfast: Bowl of CoaCoa Puffs with 2% milk. Banana. Glass of OJ (concentrate....i'm on budget). small carrot. 1 aspirin 325mg. 1 LifeExtension K. Snack before lunch is 1-2 string cheese(s). Sometimes whey protein / collagen mixed in with milk.
Lunch: 20-30g protein of meat - beef, pork or chicken. Blob of starch - either potato or rice. Cooked spinach or similar dark green with coconut oil and salt. Maybe another small carrot. Orange or Nectarine. Milk or Coke to drink.
Dinner: Similar to Lunch. 1 aspirin 325mg. 1 LifeExtension K. ~ 24oz of milk, sometimes with collagen. Sometimes desert - chocolate or ice cream, depending on if I worked-out or not.

I was going to make a separate post about Vitamin D and Protein. It seems if I don't get adequate sun exposure (i'm in seattle), the above diet is way too low on calories/protein. Before getting adequate sun exposure I had to get a minimum 100g of protein a day just to feel normal. Now I need much less which is cool but not sure how that works. I know the cereal in the morning is weird, but I like it and for whatever reason it lasts reasonably well (fortified with B vitamins?). I try to stay away from eggs / gluten in general. But once in a while I'll down a whole Red Baron pizza in one sitting... But like I said, once sun exposure is moderate, I can get lots more use from my food (and libido improves noticeably). Of course in Seattle "moderate sun exposure" is a joke, so I have this UVB lamp that I use most mornings to keep me topped off. I'm hoping it will keep me alive through the fall/winter...

 

[tara]

I've tried many, many different ways to eat and it always changes, but this is what I've done for the past month...

Not sure, but I'm suspecting that might be a low-calorie diet - depending on how big those blobs of potatoes etc, and how much milk and coke and dessert. If so, that could be keeping you in a semi-constant state of stress and catabolism, which probably isn't ideal for muscle health, brain fog, mood etc. Inadequate food intake correlates very strongly with both irritability and brain fade for me (though brain fog seems to have more specific triggers).
Coffee can speed up metabolism in the short term, which means burning through the fuel supply quicker. Which could cause stress and cold feet in itself if breakfast is light)

If you haven't already started reading (listening to) Peat's articles (Ray Peat) and interviews (Ray Peat Resources & Quotes | Ray Peat Forum), I'd recommend them. You may well find angles that make sense of what's going on. If pain and brain fog are the key thing driving you to seek improvements, then his discussions of tissue swelling may interest you, amongst other things.

Peat usually recommends 80-100 g protein for people with low metabolism, and more may be better for euthyroid folk.

Red light is needed for restoration of an enzyme (cytochrome C oxidase) that is crucial for efficient cellular energy production, as well as the UV for vit-D sysnthesis. Quite a few here use supplemental red light in the absence of adequate sunlight -there are threads about red light.

 

[ander454]

Red light is needed for restoration of an enzyme (cytochrome C oxidase) that is crucial for efficient cellular energy production, as well as the UV for vit-D sysnthesis. Quite a few here use supplemental red light in the absence of adequate sunlight -there are threads about red light.

Tbanks for the response. Forgot to mention that I use a red heat lamp in conjunction with my UVB lamp. Want to get one of redlightman devices when my budget allows..

 

[Agent207]

Is it a narrowband UVB lamp that you are using?

 

[ander454]

Is it a narrowband UVB lamp that you are using?

Yeah, I believe it is relatively narrow. I am using the BR2 model bought from this website:
UV sun lamp UVB therapy Vitiligo Shingles Acne treatment vitamin D

 

[Agent207]

Im not sure of that... from the website,
"Q and A:
Is your lamp narrow band or wide band?
Narrow band is a market created for doctors [20 min. exposure].
That said broad band works just a well, according to my customers."

UVB is 290-315nm, this is the optimal range for vitaminD. Above 320 its UVA with no benefit but is pro-aging.

 

[ander454]

Im not sure of that... from the website,

Well, I'm a bit ignorant on this I guess. What is your opinion on which is better and why? I can't afford anything expensive and I'm not sure taking Vitamin D pills is a great option. I definitely don't feel the same on Vitamin D pills. And it seems safer to me than even using sunlight which has UVA, or am I wrong?

 

[KMais]

Anyone know how to lower progesterone?

 

[Agent207]

Well, I'm a bit ignorant on this I guess. What is your opinion on which is better and why?

As I said, the narrower to the 300-315nm range the better, thats the optimal for vitaminD. Above 315 its mainly UVA. With broadband UV you sitll get some vitamin D but with UVA which is proaging and you have to spent more time to get the same vitaminD than with a UVB narrowband.

Philips have some lamps..
UV-B Narrowband TL Medical therapy UVB Narrow band - Philips Lighting

 

[BobbyDukes]

Preg lowers my sex drive too, and also makes me feel foggy/detached and disconnected. Certainly no sexy times on the preg for moi. Penis goes numb. But I become a machine with tasks around the house (motivation and planning). It seems like the perfect weapon for a wife who wants their hubby to stop slobbering all over them, and to get up + do something useful.

 

[sladerunner69]

Sex Drive Tanks: Was It Pregnenolone?

Yes, yes it was.

 

[ander454]

Preg lowers my sex drive too, and also makes me feel foggy/detached and disconnected. Certainly no sexy times on the preg for moi. Penis goes numb. But I become a machine with tasks around the house (motivation and planning). It seems like the perfect weapon for a wife who wants their hubby to stop slobbering all over them, and to get up + do something useful.

hahaha!