No Effects From Topical DHEA

opethfeldt

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Hi guys. I'm having a strange experience. I used to respond really well to topical DHEA. The studies show it's the superior method if you want androgens, which was my goal. However, I don't notice any effects from topical DHEA amymore, even after taking extended breaks. However, out of curiosity, I tried oral supplementation (5mg, in oil) and it's like rocket fuel. Harder muscles, deeper voice, high confidence. If you had told me i had just taken DHT, id have believed you. I've never gotten this kind of response from topical, even when it "worked". My question is: what would make oral DHEA work so much better?

Edit: I always use DHEA with pregnenolone.
 

cyclops

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Oh, I'm not sure why topical DHEA used to work for you. Did you change the way you used to dissolve to powder on your skin? How are you applying them topicallY?
 
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opethfeldt

opethfeldt

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Oh, I'm not sure why topical DHEA used to work for you. Did you change the way you used to dissolve to powder on your skin? How are you applying them topicallY?
Nope. No change. I just measure out 5mg of each and use a dropper to put some DMSO on them and then rub them into the skin. Nothing fancy. I apply to the back of my hands or my wrists.
 

theLaw

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In theory, I think that the oral route would be going to your liver first, so that might be the difference.

How the liver would handle this is currently above my pay-grade.
 

Frankdee20

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Sublingual DHEA used to do that for me, like how you described oral DHEA. Oral at 5mg gave me severe inner agitation and inner aggression, anxiety.
 
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opethfeldt

opethfeldt

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Sounds like either your body changed or the DMSO went bad lol.
Nah, the DMSO is fairly new and as far as I know, DMSO doesn't go bad.
In theory, I think that the oral route would be going to your liver first, so that might be the difference.

How the liver would handle this is currently above my pay-grade.
I believe it is supposed to sulfate the DHEA to DHEA-S, but that wouldn't have a noticable effect to me I don't think. This felt pretty androgenic.
Sublingual DHEA used to do that for me, like how you described oral DHEA. Oral at 5mg gave me severe inner agitation and inner aggression, anxiety.
I take aspirin and vitamin K2 at the same time I take DHEA in any form. It seems to control the estrogen conversion very well. How do you typically take DHEA now? (If you still do)
 

theLaw

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I believe it is supposed to sulfate the DHEA to DHEA-S, but that wouldn't have a noticable effect to me I don't think. This felt pretty androgenic.

I take aspirin and vitamin K2 at the same time I take DHEA in any form. It seems to control the estrogen conversion very well. How do you typically take DHEA now? (If you still do)

I just use Pansterone (non-dmso sfa esters) topically, but have had success with oral administration (including dmso version) in the past as well.

Haidut would probably have the answer to this.
 
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opethfeldt

opethfeldt

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I just use Pansterone (non-dmso sfa esters) topically, but have had success with oral administration (including dmso version) in the past as well.

Haidut would probably have the answer to this.
Yeah, i hope he can chime in. He mentioned oral Pansterone working well for him as well.
 

Wolf

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Same issue.
I now cycle between scrotal, facial, and chest application. Sometimes that doesn't work so I take a bunch of niacinamide with glycine and that resets things for me
 

Frankdee20

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Nah, the DMSO is fairly new and as far as I know, DMSO doesn't go bad.

I believe it is supposed to sulfate the DHEA to DHEA-S, but that wouldn't have a noticable effect to me I don't think. This felt pretty androgenic.

I take aspirin and vitamin K2 at the same time I take DHEA in any form. It seems to control the estrogen conversion very well. How do you typically take DHEA now? (If you still do)

I do not take it anymore. DHEA- the sublingual and oral, I believe convert to sulphated versions via liver metabolism. These are very powerful and active in the brain. That could be the effects you felt as well.
 
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opethfeldt

opethfeldt

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I do not take it anymore. DHEA- the sublingual and oral, I believe convert to sulphated versions via liver metabolism. These are very powerful and active in the brain. That could be the effects you felt as well.
Interesting. I guess it's possible I needed the DHEA-S more than I needed T or DHT.
 

haidut

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The effects really depend on the person. Both the skin and liver express high levels of 5-AR. Depending on things like subcutaneous fat and estrogen levels in it, topically applied on areas with high aromatase levels (e.g. on areas with a lot of fat) it could favor the estrogen route. The studies with topical DHEA usually do not care where it is applied but I think it matters a lot. Either way, if the oral route seems like it is working well then stay with it. However, I suspect that with continued use the effects of oral route may wane as well, in which case switching back to topical or lowering the dose a bit seems to resolve it. There are people on the forum who had the opposite situation - no effect from oral and switching to topical worked. Maybe each tissue that gets targeted by a specific route gets saturated over time and breaks or change of target are needed.
 
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opethfeldt

opethfeldt

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The effects really depend on the person. Both the skin and liver express high levels of 5-AR. Depending on things like subcutaneous fat and estrogen levels in it, topically applied on areas with high aromatase levels (e.g. on areas with a lot of fat) it could favor the estrogen route. The studies with topical DHEA usually do not care where it is applied but I think it matters a lot. Either way, if the oral route seems like it is working well then stay with it. However, I suspect that with continued use the effects of oral route may wane as well, in which case switching back to topical or lowering the dose a bit seems to resolve it. There are people on the forum who had the opposite situation - no effect from oral and switching to topical worked. Maybe each tissue that gets targeted by a specific route gets saturated over time and breaks or change of target are needed.
Yeah, I have to agree about the area of application mattering. This is why I usually used my wrists and the back of my hands. Less fat there.
 
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opethfeldt

opethfeldt

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So I wanted to update this thread. It appears an increase in estrogen was the cause of the supposed androgenic effects. My estrogen is typically rock bottom so I intepreted the greater strength, muscle fullness and dopamine increase (temporary) from the estrogen as androgenic. I'm back to topical. I think that I don't notice effects now simply because the dose I've taken has elevated DHT as much as it's going to.
 

managing

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I believe the main difference is that if you supplement topically, you are going to get DHEA in circulation, regardless. Which may then become any one of the downstream metabolites (but not DHEA-S the storage form) if your body determines it does not need the DHEA at that moment. Whereas with oral, the liver converts it to the storage form. However, the body can call up the storage form whenever needed. And it is not then likely to contribute much to downstream metabolite balance because there is never a sharp influx. My experience has been much better balance from oral. Topical created a too much/not enough yo-yo for me.
 
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opethfeldt

opethfeldt

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I believe the main difference is that if you supplement topically, you are going to get DHEA in circulation, regardless. Which may then become any one of the downstream metabolites (but not DHEA-S the storage form) if your body determines it does not need the DHEA at that moment. Whereas with oral, the liver converts it to the storage form. However, the body can call up the storage form whenever needed. And it is not then likely to contribute much to downstream metabolite balance because there is never a sharp influx. My experience has been much better balance from oral. Topical created a too much/not enough yo-yo for me.
I think it's probably the way to go if you want DHEA-S and your labs are low but I regularly use AIs and still had estrogen issues after a week or so.
 

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