Pregnenolone

[June25]

In the following link, Dr Myhill recommends for the treatment of osteoporosis

"pregnenolone 50mgs sublingually daily. As we age our ability to make this declines."

drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Osteopo...

I would like to ask if anybody is using pregnenolone and has it been useful in any way? What dosage do you use and how often?

I am hypothyroid and I know from taking thyroid meds that the body adjusts to the meds and cuts down its own production accordingly. I wouldn't want to take pregnenolone on a regular basis if there was the possibility of that happening. However I am attracted to the idea that it would be like a replacement to HRT, only easier to access and without a prescription. I think I need a lot more information about pregnenolone before I could make an informed choice.

Thanks,

June

[Hidden]

There is no evidence that this is an effective treatment for osteoporosis. Please give us a ring on the helpline if you would like to discuss licensed treatments for the condition. 0808 800 0035

[Met00]

Although medically qualified, Dr Myhill specialises in alternative rather than traditional medicine and I'm not sure I'd trust her on osteoporosis (her specialism has been ME). As well as pregnenolone, she says to take up to 50,000iu Vit D weekly, which for most of us would be far too much. She mentions Vitamin K, but not specifically K2, which suggests she's talking about K1. She also advocates taking strontium citrate, which is almost guaranteed to improve bone density as strontium is denser than the calcium that it partly replaces. I personally think there's a place for using strontium citrate in some cases, but it does carry some health warnings for some people and if used, invalidates any claims about any other supplements taken at the same time leading to increased bone density. She makes no mention of a calcium, magnesium and protein rich diet . She advocates osteoscan, but the company/scan she's referring to, based in Wales, is an unreliable heel ultrascan which, although recognised as being able to provide an indication that there may be bone loss, cannot diagnose osteoporosis. This Welsh company is not to be confused with Osteoscan UK Ltd (osteoscanuk.com/) who provide REMS bones scans (of the hip and thigh) which are now approved for diagnosing osteoporosis in the USA and Italy, though not yet in the UK. Whether or not pregnenolone can be helpful for bone health isn't clear, but you could end up wasting a lot of money and, as you say, potentially risk other health problems.

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to Met00]

I agree, Met00 when I saw the post I was very interested but having read through her website etc I decided that unfortunately it isn’t a route I would consider going down.

Apart from anything else her fees are expensive. The blood tests she advocates are also expensive, I was also surprised at the OsteoScan link.

I know how desperate you can feel when you have been diagnosed with osteoporosis but I really don’t think this is the way to go. As you say you could spend an awful lot of money and be taking risks with your health.

[June25 in reply to Met00]

Thank you for this very comprehensive answer. I'm glad I posted the question and I think I'll be giving pregnenolone a miss for the foreseeable.

[Posy-White]

Thanks for asking this question and all the helpful replies from people.

Posy White

[Deb_Mc]

Interesting...... Found this study: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/322...

Shows that Pregnenolone inhibits osteoclastic activity but does NOT prevent osteoblastic production (as do other anti-resorptive treatments). Promising, but this study was done "in vitro". It's a bit early to rule on this one, I'd say.

Also, if Dr Myhill is recommending 50k ius of D weekly, it's quite likely she's prescribing D2 NOT D3, which is just fine. D2 doesn't covert quite as well as D3, but it's dirt cheap (at least in the US.)

I do share Met00's opinion on Strontium - 100%. Surest way to skew bone density tests with little to no evidence that it's actually improving strength of bone.

[June25 in reply to Deb_Mc]

Really interesting article Deb, thanks. It's tantalising that pregnenolone might be very useful but so few studies have been done to prove it. No money in it for Big Pharma.

[wellness1 in reply to Deb_Mc]

June25 's post got me curious and I looked for what studies support pregnenolone as a treatment for osteoporosis. I saw that article too, but no RCTs to support its use, let alone that dose. As precursor to the steroid hormones, it could have multiple effects. Agree, it seems early to recommend it as an osteoporosis treatment. There have been some studies on DHEA, another steroid hormone precursor, and bone density. But it's something that would have to be prescribed and monitored closely by a doctor.

healio.com/news/endocrinolo...

sciencedaily.com/releases/2...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/325...

June25, since you're also on TUK, you may have seen discussions of DHEA over there, too.

[June25 in reply to wellness1]

Thanks wellness1. Yes I've looked at DHEA but one thing that appealed to me about pregnenolone was that the body decides itself what to make out of it. That seemed to me to be less prone to error, given that private testing facilities for these hormones are minimal.