Is It Possible To Restore DHEAs Levels?

reality

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So I have a history of chronic overtraining and undereating/dieting.

I had bloods taken a few years ago and my DHEAs was super high, with my other hormones “normal” but I had no health issues

my next blood test my DHEAs plummeted and was on the borderline low end almost out of range. Along with low test and other hormones (but still in reference range).

now at this point I realised I’m doing damage with all the dieting and training (6 days a week to failure, never take time off) and I’m starting to piece together why I’m chronically stressed, depressed and anxious with little motivation other than to train (yes obsessive).
I started a proper bulk and gained around 25lbs, felt better but definitely not optimal. My bloods again showed low DHEA, slightly higher test but a lot higher estrogen (probably because I was higher BF%). Though I had a sex drive at this point, but still lacked motivation.

I did another cut, lost the 25lbs and got the most shredded I’ve ever been (easy6/7% bf), was doing loads of cardio, had an active job and a pretty big calorie deficit. I felT like garbage but looked great in the gym with a pump.

now, fast forward I thought this is enough I want to bulk and start to improve my health. I’m still very lean (I always have been), have gained maybe 4-5lbs, and have been eating 3500-4000 a day, 500g carbs and high protein. (Some days like 250 because I love protein foods lol). i have been feeling higher energy (but still no sex drive or motivation), and my current bloods are floored.

All my hormones are low and out of range, thyroid, test, estrogen, LH, DHEAs... but my cortisol is on the higher end. I have realised my HPA is shot and have cut back on the workout volume hoping to recover, but my question is will my DHEA ever fully recover now it’s completely drained?

I am focusing on DHEA because I know it’s important for antagonising cortisol and being stress resilient. That’s my main concern, I can’t handle any stress anymore without side effects. I feel like my test/thyroid will increase as my chronic stress decreases, but can DHEA ever recover to youthful levels?

do I just need to keep eating, stop training as much? I am considering taking low dose DHEA but I’m concerned it’ll just be converted to estrogen
 

milkboi

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This is not answering your question, but man, you should drop that bulking-cutting-mentality, doesn‘t seem to do you good.
 

Hans

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So I have a history of chronic overtraining and undereating/dieting.

I had bloods taken a few years ago and my DHEAs was super high, with my other hormones “normal” but I had no health issues

my next blood test my DHEAs plummeted and was on the borderline low end almost out of range. Along with low test and other hormones (but still in reference range).

now at this point I realised I’m doing damage with all the dieting and training (6 days a week to failure, never take time off) and I’m starting to piece together why I’m chronically stressed, depressed and anxious with little motivation other than to train (yes obsessive).
I started a proper bulk and gained around 25lbs, felt better but definitely not optimal. My bloods again showed low DHEA, slightly higher test but a lot higher estrogen (probably because I was higher BF%). Though I had a sex drive at this point, but still lacked motivation.

I did another cut, lost the 25lbs and got the most shredded I’ve ever been (easy6/7% bf), was doing loads of cardio, had an active job and a pretty big calorie deficit. I felT like garbage but looked great in the gym with a pump.

now, fast forward I thought this is enough I want to bulk and start to improve my health. I’m still very lean (I always have been), have gained maybe 4-5lbs, and have been eating 3500-4000 a day, 500g carbs and high protein. (Some days like 250 because I love protein foods lol). i have been feeling higher energy (but still no sex drive or motivation), and my current bloods are floored.

All my hormones are low and out of range, thyroid, test, estrogen, LH, DHEAs... but my cortisol is on the higher end. I have realised my HPA is shot and have cut back on the workout volume hoping to recover, but my question is will my DHEA ever fully recover now it’s completely drained?

I am focusing on DHEA because I know it’s important for antagonising cortisol and being stress resilient. That’s my main concern, I can’t handle any stress anymore without side effects. I feel like my test/thyroid will increase as my chronic stress decreases, but can DHEA ever recover to youthful levels?

do I just need to keep eating, stop training as much? I am considering taking low dose DHEA but I’m concerned it’ll just be converted to estrogen
Yes DHEA can recover. You just have to give your adrenals a break. Try to be as low stress as possible. Sleep enough, eat at a slight surplus and scale training back to three days a week.
Practice stress-reducing things, like breathing, calming your thoughts, walking in nature, avoiding EMF, earthing, etc.
Do this for at least a year and you should recover. When you start to feel better don't ramp things up, but keep up with this routine for a full year. Serious healing requires a long term intervention.
I don't know how old you are, but I believe that modern society and social media has made men "crazy" with "having" to be sliced all the time. You can be lean, but then you need to have a good metabolism and that requires a good foundation. Build up that foundation with a surplus and destressing and then you can lean down slowly and with as little stress as possible.
 
OP
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reality

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Yes DHEA can recover. You just have to give your adrenals a break. Try to be as low stress as possible. Sleep enough, eat at a slight surplus and scale training back to three days a week.
Practice stress-reducing things, like breathing, calming your thoughts, walking in nature, avoiding EMF, earthing, etc.
Do this for at least a year and you should recover. When you start to feel better don't ramp things up, but keep up with this routine for a full year. Serious healing requires a long term intervention.
I don't know how old you are, but I believe that modern society and social media has made men "crazy" with "having" to be sliced all the time. You can be lean, but then you need to have a good metabolism and that requires a good foundation. Build up that foundation with a surplus and destressing and then you can lean down slowly and with as little stress as possible.

thanks for the reply.

I am considering using low dose DHEA or even pregnenolone. Is this a bad idea in my situation? Should I try to recover my adrenals and hormones naturally?
 

Hans

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thanks for the reply.

I am considering using low dose DHEA or even pregnenolone. Is this a bad idea in my situation? Should I try to recover my adrenals and hormones naturally?
Low dose preg with DHEA can work great to restore DHEA levels, improve your stress resilience and speed up your recovery.
 

Ras

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thanks for the reply.

I am considering using low dose DHEA or even pregnenolone. Is this a bad idea in my situation? Should I try to recover my adrenals and hormones naturally?
Supplementing the hormones you lack will not cure your problem. The problem is not low hormones; the problem is causing your hormones to be low. But why? One must discover why his body is producing less of these hormones. People often see a lack and feel the need to supply that lack through exogenous means, overriding the internal regulations of the body, but few consider that perhaps their body is wise enough to know that it needs to produce less of those hormones. Sometimes a hormone is low because something in the body is broken, and thus, the body is unable to regulate those levels and needs to be healed. But there are times when a hormone is low because the body has lowered its output intentionally, because one or more systems are dysfunctional.
 

GenericName86

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Glad I found this thread.

Low dose preg with DHEA can work great to restore DHEA levels, improve your stress resilience and speed up your recovery.

I'm in Aus so I have access to preg but not DHEA as it's a banned substance to import, but it is possible to restore levels without supplementing it? I saw your post further up saying you could but have you got any other tips on how to or other supplements that might help? I thought preg could convert to DHEA itself.
 

baccheion

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Sufficient magnesium (oil spray) in one study was shown to increase DHEA. Some say intermittent fasting. Some even point to ketosis as something that increases melatonin and DHEA, though I suppose many on this forum aren't fans.
 

GenericName86

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Thanks for the replies, I'll take these tips on-board. Sucks trying to find advice on it in general on the internet as most answers are just to supplement it and that's not really an easy option for me
 

Hans

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Glad I found this thread.



I'm in Aus so I have access to preg but not DHEA as it's a banned substance to import, but it is possible to restore levels without supplementing it? I saw your post further up saying you could but have you got any other tips on how to or other supplements that might help? I thought preg could convert to DHEA itself.
Preg does convert a bit to DHEA, but not by much. Preg could further increase DHEA by lowering stress, that it might definitely help.
I wrote a article on it some time ago: 29 Ways to boost DHEA production » MenElite
 

GenericName86

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Thanks for the link, i really liked reading your guide on helping with pfs so I'll give that a read too.

I've been looking into cordyceps to help with 5-ar sensitivity and a lot of people claim it helps but i also saw it helps with dhea too? but i read another study showing it may increase cortisol so I'm not sure now.
 

Hans

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Thanks for the link, i really liked reading your guide on helping with pfs so I'll give that a read too.

I've been looking into cordyceps to help with 5-ar sensitivity and a lot of people claim it helps but i also saw it helps with dhea too? but i read another study showing it may increase cortisol so I'm not sure now.
I haven't read that cordyceps can help with 5-ar sensitivity. Can you direct me to such research? Cordyceps promotes energy production and acts as an adaptogen (and therefore can increase DHEA), so I don't think it will increase cortisol.
 

GenericName86

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I haven't read that cordyceps can help with 5-ar sensitivity. Can you direct me to such research? Cordyceps promotes energy production and acts as an adaptogen (and therefore can increase DHEA), so I don't think it will increase cortisol.

I've only read about it on various forums like the nootropics subreddit, mushroom subreddit etc it's all just user experience with people claiming they noticed a rise in dht effects and 5-ar sensitivity with people saying they've noticed increased hair loss from it indicating dht, I haven't seen any actual studies myself and i can't find any direct studies to such a claim
 

Hans

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I've only read about it on various forums like the nootropics subreddit, mushroom subreddit etc it's all just user experience with people claiming they noticed a rise in dht effects and 5-ar sensitivity with people saying they've noticed increased hair loss from it indicating dht, I haven't seen any actual studies myself and i can't find any direct studies to such a claim
Interesting, so it was proven with blood tests?
 

GenericName86

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Interesting, so it was proven with blood tests?

If there were tests posted I didn't see them, it was just observational things like an increase in body hair, such as forearm hair and upper arm just passed the elbow and on the hands. (no idea if that's related to dht or estrogen, I've heard body hair in some places is estrogen related) but an improvement in beard quality. An increase in hair loss/shedding and i saw some reports of better skin which now i think about could be dhea? improved sexual response and penile sensitivity (that user was previously on finasteride funny enough) Like i said it was all observational.
 
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I haven't read that cordyceps can help with 5-ar sensitivity. Can you direct me to such research? Cordyceps promotes energy production and acts as an adaptogen (and therefore can increase DHEA), so I don't think it will increase cortisol.

Cordyceps increases oxytocin and vasopressin
 

Kunstruct

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I've only read about it on various forums like the nootropics subreddit, mushroom subreddit etc it's all just user experience with people claiming they noticed a rise in dht effects and 5-ar sensitivity with people saying they've noticed increased hair loss from it indicating dht, I haven't seen any actual studies myself and i can't find any direct studies to such a claim

I think this rationale is not good, because there is hairloss means their DHT has been increased, could so many other issues why hair is shedding than DHT.
Have these people also got more vascular, felt stronger, had more energy to claim DHT has increased?
If you read this forum you will see a ton of means by which the hair can fall rather than going by DHT.
 

GenericName86

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I think this rationale is not good, because there is hairloss means their DHT has been increased, could so many other issues why hair is shedding than DHT.
Have these people also got more vascular, felt stronger, had more energy to claim DHT has increased?
If you read this forum you will see a ton of means by which the hair can fall rather than going by DHT.

Good thing I don't think or said that rationale is good. I think it could be something else but I don't know all the things cordyceps does that could increase potential hair loss or if it was the cordyceps to begin with.
 
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Hans

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Cordyceps increases oxytocin and vasopressin
Yes oxytocin can increase DHT, but I've not seen that vasopressin can do it too. But we also don't know if the boost in oxytocin is enough to increase DHT.
 

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