Hi everyone

[Wilky21]

Was just wondering if you can take pregnenolone as this is supposed to help with arthritis or DHEA whilst on thyroxine. I am menopausal at the moment and read that these are the natural way and can help instead of HRT

[greygoose]

Pregnenolone and DHEA are hormones. You shouldn't take them without getting tested first to see if you need them. Excess hormones can be as bad - if not worse - than low hormone levels.

[Wilky21 in reply to greygoose]

Thanks grey goose. I have been reading the thyroid health book by dr Barry durrant and he talks about the importance of hormones in thyroid health. Just wondered what everyone thought My hormones are low as I have had a hysterectomy and am menopausal. He recommends 30mg dose daily without side effects

[greygoose in reply to Wilky21]

I think when you're talking about 'hormones', it's wise to specify. Pregnenolone, DHEA, testosterone, progesterone, oestrogen, cortisol, adrenaline, TSH, T4, T3 are all hormones - and there are many more I haven't mentioned. So, if you just say 'hormones', how are we supposed to know which ones you're talking about?

Did you have your overies removed at the same time as your hysterectomy?

[Angel_of_the_North]

The main problem with taking upstream hormones instead of the ones you definitely need is that you can't be sure that they will be converted into what you want. So some people will have good results with pregnenolone and others will find that they still aren't getting enough progesterone or DHEA or whatever, as it is converting into other hormones. If you have low cortisol, it is probably not a good thing to take. It's still a steroid hormone (like all the other sex hormones) and should be monitored by a specialist. However, bad side effects are unusual

[Wilky21 in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

Thankyou for your reply it’s really helpful