Why did pregnenolone cure my Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder (DSPS)?

[sleepless1]

DSPD has been the bane of my existence. Not being able to wake up before noon affected my academic, career, and social life. I tried everything for years and it was only after supplementing pregnenolone that I noticed the side effect of waking up earlier and going to bed earlier.

What physiological reaction is happening?

One interesting thing is that all the benefits pregnenolone disappeared when I took up smoking and then immediately came back when I stopped. Is nicotine an antagonist?

 

[sleepless1]

Any hypothesis?

 

[cupofcoffee]

my best bet is that pregnenolone increased your allopregnanolone levels, thus enhancing GABA activity and helping with your sleep!

Nicotine seems to be an inhibitor of 3α-HSD, which is an enzyme that is involved in allopregnanolone synthesis

The biosynthesis of allopregnanolone in the brain starts with the conversion of progesterone into 5α-dihydroprogesterone by 5α-reductase. After that, 3α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase converts this intermediate into allopregnanolone.[9]

Allopregnanolone - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

so that might be it!

 

[Gûs80]

DSPD tem sido a ruína da minha existência. Não conseguir acordar antes do meio-dia afetou minha vida acadêmica, profissional e social. Tentei de tudo durante anos e só depois de tomar suplementos de pregnenolona é que percebi o efeito colateral de acordar mais cedo e ir para a cama mais cedo.

Que reação fisiológica está acontecendo?

Uma coisa interessante é que todos os benefícios da pregnenolona desapareceram quando comecei a fumar e voltaram imediatamente quando parei. A nicotina é um antagonista?

Oi! Tenho sono retardado desde a adolescência.

Quantos mg você toma e a que horas?

Eu testei a agomelatina recentemente e ela funciona razoavelmente bem. Também tem algum efeito positivo com 300mcg de melatonina 6 horas antes de ir para cama.

A pregnenolona ajuda a estabilizar ou reduzir os níveis de cortisol no cérebro, o que ajuda a reduzir o estresse. E ajuda a equilibrar dhea / cortisol.
Lembro-me de ter tido níveis muito altos de cortisol noturno em um teste antigo.

 

[Gûs80]

Hi! I have delayed sleep since my teens.

I have tested agomelatine recently and it works reasonably well. It also has some positive effect with 300mcg of melatonin 6 hours before bedtime.

Pregnenolone helps to stabilize or reduce cortisol levels in the brain, which helps reduce stress. And it helps to balance dhea / cortisol.

I remember having very high levels of nocturnal cortisol in an old test.

How many mg do you take and at what time?

 

[sleepless1]

Hi! I have delayed sleep since my teens.

I have tested agomelatine recently and it works reasonably well. It also has some positive effect with 300mcg of melatonin 6 hours before bedtime.

Pregnenolone helps to stabilize or reduce cortisol levels in the brain, which helps reduce stress. And it helps to balance dhea / cortisol.

I remember having very high levels of nocturnal cortisol in an old test.

How many mg do you take and at what time?

I take 10mg in the morning right when I wake up. I took 50mg for a year but still I have the positive benefits at 10mg.

You are right. With my sleep disorder I would get a cortisol release at night which would keep me up, then extreme fatigue in the mornings irregardless of when I went to bed or if I got 8 hours of sleep. Pregnenolone switched this. I feel instant cortisol in the morning that wakes me up.

 

[sleepless1]

Also DHEA had no effect on my sleep schedule, only pregnenolone. I take a low dose of melatonin at night as well, i know that is not Peat friendly but it helps with my lifelong and chronic sleep issues. I only take pregnenolone in the morning.

 

[sladerunner69]

DSPD has been the bane of my existence. Not being able to wake up before noon affected my academic, career, and social life. I tried everything for years and it was only after supplementing pregnenolone that I noticed the side effect of waking up earlier and going to bed earlier.

What physiological reaction is happening?

One interesting thing is that all the benefits pregnenolone disappeared when I took up smoking and then immediately came back when I stopped. Is nicotine an antagonist?

I think I know what may be going on with nicotine, I had similar issues. Nicotine is a powerfule 3b-HSD enzyme inhibitor. That is, at least in part, why so many men love nicotine. One action of 3b-HSD is to degrade Dihydro-Testosterone (DHT) or convert it into the much weaker androgen, aldosterone. By inhibiting 3b-HSD one should retain more DHT, the most powerful androgen, and feel more alert, motivated, confident, etc, However, another known action of 3b-HSD is to synthesize progesterone from (drum roll please...), yep you guessed it *pregnenolone*. While pregnenolone itself does have some anti-stress effects, these are quite mild compared to the strong ant-stress effects of progesterone. And the effects of progesterone are, in turn, relatively mild compared to the potent anxiolytic, neurologically-stabilizing effects of it's 5-ar enzyme reduced downstream metabolite, the mighty Allopregnanolone. People with 5-ar deficiency (myself among them) can have tremendous difficulty relaxing enough to fall asleep at night, and can suffer an ungodly insomnia. So that is likely what you are experiencing, low progesterone and low allopregnanolone (and all of the metabolites in between such as 5a-dhp). If you are converting less pregnenolone to progesterone, the first step in the steroidal cascade, you are going to be inhibiting all downstream steroids.

Personally, when I would use nicotine frequently, I felt great during the daytime. I was motivated, driven, and very strong in the gym. But around the evening time I would feel much worse, had almost no emotions and couldn't visualize and abstract ideas, difficulty reading, and found it very difficult to relax or lay in bed comfortably. When I fell asleep I would wake up with anxiety from a bad dream. I was able to balance this out somewhat by taking progesterone and 5a-dhp, but ultimately I just gave up the nicotine (except a cigar every now and then), and use androsterone or dhea to increase my DHT without lowering my progesterone.

 

[sleepless1]

I was taking fluvoxamine for the past year. I read that it could help treat covid. For the past year the effects of pregnenolone were wiped out, like with nicotine. I switched to being a night owl again. After I stopped taking it my sleep schedule switched back to morning, even on a low dose of 10 mg pregnenolone.

Any theories on why? Is it the same mechanism as nicotine?