Has anyone taken DHEA supplements?

[Hannah143]

Hi ladies, having just experienced our second failed attempt at IVF I am preparing myself for my consultation follow up and to discuss when we can try again and what we can do differently.

I've been reading a lot of books, blogs and articles around supplements and have read many times that 50g of DHEA should be taken daily for women over 35. I've also read up on the side effects and some of them are pretty scary, voice changes, hair loss and growth of facial hair!!

Has anyone taken or is taking this supplement and have you experienced any side effects? Does anyone have any success stories by taking this supplement? Or has anyone's consultants recommended that you take this? I'd love to hear your views, thanks everyone xx

[Hidden]

Hi, yes, I was on Dhea 3 times a day in preparation of ivf. I had been on and off it for 3 years. No side effects that I noticed. I'm heavier than I was before ivf but I put that down to all the variety of meds and eating better. I don't produce any natural Dhea so my levels were zero hence why I was put on it and I had to take a blood test every three months, can't remember what the blood test was checking, to do with some side effect, could have been something to do with testosterone. Have you had your hormones fully checked?...I got mine checked not by my ivf clinic but by another clinic that specialised in hormones and found I wasn't producing progesterone so wasn't producing Dhea and all the other hormones as progesterone controls everything. I believe getting all my hormones balanced has definitely helped. What's been drilled into me is the importance of getting my environment ( body & womb) in optimum condition prior to embryo transfer. Hope that helps, X.

[Eggfreezer2015]

Hi, I'm currently taking DHEA the side effects that I've experienced are insomnia, some facial hair growth and I feel less tolerant and snappy. That being said it's manageable. The reason that I'm taking them as my last 2 cycles my egg to follicle ratio was low and I'm about to start my 3rd and last cycle and so I'm giving it everything I got. I'm freezing my eggs so wil have no idea if it also a helps with the quality. You should ask your doctor about it and take it under supervision, if it does not agree with you, you can always stop. Good luck!

[JessR]

Yes! My consultant told be to take DHEA for a couple of months in preparation for our last cycle. My AMH is really low and we'd had several very unproductive cycles and we're starting to think about donor eggs.

We ended up with 2 embryos to transfer (that's as good as my first cycle some years ago) and that was with mild IVF so minimal stimulation. I'm currently very early pregnant- too soon to celebrate but it's also the furthest we've got in a long time.

I can't be sure it was the DHEA but it was the only thing we changed. And I had no side effects at all.

Good luck!

[Hannah143]

Thanks so much for sharing your views with me. I'm on my way to our follow up appointment now and I'm going to ask him what he thinks. We have to throw what we have for our third round as we are running out of money 😢, thank you and I hope you are all doing good xx