Progesterone - Not A Sex Hormone, But A Systemic Health Hormone

[Charliebizz98]

Congrats on the T increase.

Not on T at the moment no, I've thought about adding low dose T since I've dropped the P to about 10mg. (from 28mg few months ago) Don't need more now, when it comes to Testosterone if anything I'll do something like 3mg/day Max to not induce HPTA shutdown, My last lab showed a good 612 and I've been around there for a while now, which is a lot better than the 400's I was in around 3 years ago, I guess clearing my body of Estrogen, lowering BF % and changing my diet/stressed lifestyle while I was doing the higher p4 those two years just restored proper gonadal function while reducing adrenal hyperactivity, I healed my thyroid.

I still do very low dose DHEA and there is no reason to think it wouldn't help you as long as you don't exceed a limit, the male body already produces a lot of DHEA but it's the estrogen burden, excess BF%, improper thyroid, poor liver-kidney clearance, sustained exhaustion without enough rest, lack of light and stimulating activities and lack of Nutrients are the real hindrance in optimizing the Androgenic potential.

Have you tried Pregnenolone instead, or, if anything, low Progesterone but with the main precursor added in?

Progesterone is very anti catabolic and the strongest opposing force against E2, but it is also for that same reason a bit anti androgenic in higher doses, it varies from man to man, in my case I actually became more androgenic using 28mg for two years, others report reductions in libido with as little as 20mg.... I think minerals play a big role here, it doesn't interfere with Testosterone metabolism.. But due to similarity it competes for 5AR and reduces DHT binding, DHT and Estrogen are both metabolites of testosterone so it's no wonder the youth hormone reduces both (in high amounts).

You might want to lower it a bit to 10-12mg still split in two and add 3/4 mg DHEA and Pregnenolone, a good ratio would be 9:3:1, so 30mg pregnenolone + 10mg P4 +3.3mg DHEA.

The increase in Am Cortisol could be from the progesterone increasing Glucose need, BS crashing at night (as it raises demand for all minerals as well - the strongest Mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid Antagonist ) so it would help to know about your diet.

How long have you been on Testosterone Replacement and what put you there in the first place? Restoring hormonal metabolism should start with thyroid and Pregnenolone.

Back about 12 years ago I got hooked on working out. I was in my mid 20s had no idea what I was doing. I wanted to get lean and ripped and I just started lifting and cycling like a man man. All while under eating. At that time I was 6ft 190lbs in decent shape. I cut all the way down to 145lbs and looking back looked horrible. I was shredded to no end but looked sick. I almost had anorexia to a degree how obsessed I was with staying lean. That's when all my health issues started. I couldn't sleep,destroyed my sex drive and erection quality. Was cold all the time and tanked all my hormones. That's when I got into the trt community. I did try thyroid medication first but I now know my nutrition wasn't up to par to handle it then. I first tried t3 that left me dizzy riddled with anxiety. Not able to increase it enough to raise body temps. Armour I also wasn't able to raise enough to raise temps would get insane headaches. I tried many different styles of eating over the years none have really changed my hormone levels or body temps. But I never tried peating. Right now my diet isn't great but I'm just trying to eat more calories in hopes of boosting metabolic rate. Problem is I'm already overweight.

I have my own thread on trt I don't want to highjack this one. I haven't got any responses. But I personally feel like over time on trt my mental state starts to decline pretty bad with the lack of upstream hormones.

 

[remnant]

My advice as a man who's used it everyday for 2 years (see post above) is to take/apply no more than 12mg and divide it morning/evening, add a bit of DHEA to compensate for whatever Androgen-Estrogen or intermediate it may be taking too much, but only a bit. And occasional Androsterone... Only occasionally.

For example : 20mg a day,

9am= 5 mg p4
3pm= 1-2 mg DHEA
9pm= 15mg p4

Every other day 1mg androsterone 1mg.

You should do really well but pay attention to the quality of the o4 (progesterone ) I only Trust Peat's Progest-e for incredible gum absorption and Hadut's Progestene best topical Ive used

Thank you for this! I ordered Peat's Progest-e and Haidut's new product, Pantsterone. I'll follow your guideline and see how things work out. Cheers to happy 2023!