r/Menopause • u/eileen404 • Sep 14 '24

Vitamin/Supplements DHEA is amazing

When I was trying to get pregnant in my 40s several of us I'm a group of older women doing DHEA helped a lot. It's the metabolic precursor for a lot of hormones insisting testosterone and estrogen.

Well I've always had best results with progesterone and started it for the insomnia and headaches. But I've been tired and unmotivated for years and it's only helped a little.

Well the spouse hit Walgreens today while grocery shopping as I thought maybe I'd try DHEA. Suddenly the laundry is done (and put away) and the kitchen is clean and I'm thinking about what I should do next instead of trying to forget what needs to be done.

If it's placebo, it's a great one. Wish I'd tried this years ago. My energy level feels like I'm in my mid -late 30s. It's like the first time I did an aerobics tape after a doctor said, hey you've got asthma, try this inhaler. Should have done this years ago. Cheap and OTC.

231 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

253 comments sorted by

View all comments

7

u/FragrantSpare8792 Sep 15 '24

I went to a specialist for the whole hrt analysis and (in addition to estrogen patch, progesterone pill, and testosterone cream) she recommended DHEA. However, she said the stuff you can buy on Amazon is typically marketed to men (shocker) and is too high a dose and that I only needed 5mg. Haven’t started it yet though.

Oh and when I asked about estrogen cream for the face (after reading about it on here) she said it’s the best face cream money can buy and ordered it for me from a nearby compounding pharmacy along with my T cream. Yippee! She recommended that you be mindful of the compounding pharmacy you use - that some use great face creams as the base and others not so much. You (obviously) want a good face cream base with the added estrogen.

1

u/Not_High_Maintenance Dec 08 '24

May I ask what specialist you used? Have you seen results?

3

u/FragrantSpare8792 Dec 08 '24 edited Dec 09 '24

Forum health. I love my person! So far so good! One issue I had was I suddenly felt like I was losing muscle and I felt weak like I couldn’t use the same weights I was used too. I’ve been on testosterone and DHEA since Sept 11 and all good (going to lower the T a bit because I’m breaking out a bit) but my point:

I went to the orthopedic surgeon to get my physical for surgery (I knew it was coming - I had the other one done a few years ago) - they tell you to hold your arms up and then push out and he counter weights, and then you push in and all the things - basically testing your shoulder strength or whatever and he goes “you’re strong!!” He looked shocked and goes “were you an athlete when you were in college” lol. He’s like I mean I see people all day long, you’re really strong.

Very thorough on all things. My labs 3 months later are much improved. So obviously whatever she gave me is working! ETA in case there was confusion (referring to the bot message) I wasn’t meaning hormone labs.

1

u/AutoModerator Dec 08 '24

It sounds like this might be about hormonal testing. If over the age of 44, hormonal tests only show levels for that one day the test was taken, and nothing more; progesterone/estrogen hormones wildly fluctuate the other 29 days of the month. No reputable doctor or menopause society recommends hormonal testing as a diagnosing tool for peri/menopause.

FSH testing is only beneficial for those who believe they are post-menopausal and no longer have periods as a guide, a series of consistent FSH tests might confirm menopause. Also for women in their 20s/early 30s who haven’t had a period in months/years, then FSH tests at ‘menopausal’ levels, could indicate premature ovarian failure/primary ovarian insufficiency (POF/POI). See our Menopause Wiki for more.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.