HELP !! Can Pregnenolone raises my anxiety ?

[French.cat]

Yes I used this one for 2 months or so.

I would try the diet, lifestyle and supplement route first before taking thyroid. Chronic stress (high cortisol) due to chronic undereating, low carb, intense exercise, stressful work situation, psychological stress (and so much more) can elevate the TSH and cause thyroid dysfunction.

Magnesium is a powerful supplement for lowering cortisol and ACTH in my opinion. One of the best actually. It also is needed for T4 -> T3 conversion.

I think that you need to find a form that works best for you. I don’t do well with glycinate, because it makes me feel bit weird mentally and heavily fatigued, but I do well with malate.

Magnesium is also a well-known quick-acting anti-depressant:

Rapid recovery from major depression using magnesium treatment

Major depression is a mood disorder characterized by a sense of inadequacy, despondency, decreased activity, pessimism, anhedonia and sadness where th…

www.sciencedirect.com

How old are you ?

This is the magnesium I'm currently taking. Work like a charm on my sleep :) This + huge amount of carbs and now I'm the sleeping beauty. Or just the sleeping, let's say

 

[youngsinatra]

How old are you ?

This is the magnesium I'm currently taking. Work like a charm on my sleep :) This + huge amount of carbs and now I'm the sleeping beauty. Or just the sleeping, let's say

I‘m 25 years old.

Very good that this type of magnesium works for you, how much are you taking of it?
I always notice that I feel warmer with magnesium.

 

[Jennifer]

Thanks for the answer … That’s really nice of you I bought thyroid vitamine B1 and preg…but I don’t feel it is the right time to take them indeed
You spoke well : I have a nutritional debt to pay off ! Good Nutrition (collagen included) costs me around 90 euros per week. It think it’s the minimum budget for me, also because I am eating a lot now. To feed me properly and calm stress hormones I need almost 3000 calories which is huge !! That explains the price of my groceries haha

Your support means a lot to me Jennifer, thanks again from the bottom of my heart.

You’re welcome. 3000 calories isn’t a lot, especially given your history. I needed that much when I was healing, and I don’t have a history of calorie restriction, just following a horrible, nutritionally incomplete diet—high-carb, low-fat raw vegan. I was trying to overcome anxiety/depression and put weight on. 90 euros for 3000 cals daily isn’t bad at all. My budget is equivalent to 100 euros, but that includes my splurge foods, scallops and crab.

 

[youngsinatra]

I think many of the european countries eat around 3000-3500 calories a day on average.

There is a wikipedia page that lists caloric intake world wide by country. (for some perspective)

List of countries by food energy intake - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[French.cat]

I‘m 25 years old.

Very good that this type of magnesium works for you, how much are you taking of it?
I always notice that I feel warmer with magnesium.

I take two tablets, that is to say 250 mg of magnesium.

 

[French.cat]

I think many of the european countries eat around 3000-3500 calories a day on average.

There is a wikipedia page that lists caloric intake world wide by country. (for some perspective)

List of countries by food energy intake - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

From Pufa's and grains, I guess I wasn't aware 3000 calories was considered normal for a lot of people, I'm so surprised of that information !!

 

[French.cat]

You’re welcome. 3000 calories isn’t a lot, especially given your history. I needed that much when I was healing, and I don’t have a history of calorie restriction, just following a horrible, nutritionally incomplete diet—high-carb, low-fat raw vegan. I was trying to overcome anxiety/depression and put weight on. 90 euros for 3000 cals daily isn’t bad at all. My budget is equivalent to 100 euros, but that includes my splurge foods, scallops and crab.

How many days or month took your remission? I feel like in only 10 days my anxiety+depression symptoms dropped tremendously. I came from hopelessness to optimism in only 7 days ! :) I'm at the beginning of a new road, I can feel it. I was so energized yesterday, that I even worked on "Nutrition for women" from Ray Peat like... 2 hours straight !! While most of the time I can't even focus more that 5 minutes du to ADHD (diagnosed). I look forward to feel even better. I would love to feel good for the rest of my life, because mine has been loaded with suffering, on and on... Maybe you can relate.

Something I can't bear and don't have patience for is BLURRY VISION, I've already mentioned this issue (on my first thread). It happens from the moment I eat something, so it might be digestion related. Did you have the same problem during your refeed ? I'm taking B1 to help my glucose tolerance. I took this advise on the forum... I'm lost with all the supplements so I'm gonna stick to diet first, you're absolutely right.

100 euros is my maximum per week but I just bought collagen (online), so I guess I have the same budget as you now haha

 

[Explorer]

View attachment 55239

I have many of the symptoms mentioned here and in a 2021 blood test my morning cortisol was above ref. range and DHEA-SO4 on the lower side, I'm taking 50mg DHEA now

My skin and eyes too are very dry

I have sympathetic cortisol activation mainly due to sensory irritants e.g. when flies land on my skin when I'm relaxing or certain noises e.g. dog barks appear, the issue is even when the stressor has ended it takes my body far longer time to stop pumping out cortisol/adrenaline so I still feel tense so often before I relax from one irritant the next one appears so this keeps me in a frequent sympathetic loop

Idk how to fix it, I haven't found anything that lets me quickly re-enter parasympathetic mode

 

[bookshelf]

I find it can make me jittery sometimes, I think. I am careful not to use progesterone more than 2 weeks at a time. (2 on 2 off, e.g.)

 

[Jennifer]

How many days or month took your remission? I feel like in only 10 days my anxiety+depression symptoms dropped tremendously. I came from hopelessness to optimism in only 7 days ! :) I'm at the beginning of a new road, I can feel it. I was so energized yesterday, that I even worked on "Nutrition for women" from Ray Peat like... 2 hours straight !! While most of the time I can't even focus more that 5 minutes du to ADHD (diagnosed). I look forward to feel even better. I would love to feel good for the rest of my life, because mine has been loaded with suffering, on and on... Maybe you can relate.

Something I can't bear and don't have patience for is BLURRY VISION, I've already mentioned this issue (on my first thread). It happens from the moment I eat something, so it might be digestion related. Did you have the same problem during your refeed ? I'm taking B1 to help my glucose tolerance. I took this advise on the forum... I'm lost with all the supplements so I'm gonna stick to diet first, you're absolutely right.

100 euros is my maximum per week but I just bought collagen (online), so I guess I have the same budget as you now haha

I sustained a pretty severe injury from following the raw vegan diet and it affects my digestion so it has taken years to fine tune my diet so that I don’t suffer symptoms. 7 days from hopelessness to optimism is amazing! Good for you! Blurry vision was one of my most annoying symptoms so I completely understand your frustration. For me, anything that irritates my intestines, even if I don’t feel it, will cause blurriness. When I have a diet low in acidic foods, fiber and bacteria, my vision clears up, even the eye floaters/spiders (not sure of the technical term) disappear within hours. It’s wild.

 

[Peatress]

View attachment 55239

Dr Peat on pregnenolone steal

[PREGNENOLONE 'STEAL' THEORY] Regarding the pregnenolone steal theory, It would be interesting to know who started that, it's a mechanical way of thinking about physiology that ignores the things that really matter. Thyroid hormone, vitamin A, and cholesterol support the formation of pregnenolone, and the well nourished body is able to make large adjustments in these, to minimize the need for cortisol. In health, enough pregnenolone and progesterone are produced to inhibit the stress systems, for example by inhibiting the release of ACTH. When something prevents the formation of pregnenolone and progesterone, rising ACTH will increase its production as conditions permit, but if something, such as thyroid hormone, is lacking, the ACTH will increase cortisol, often with DHEA and the androgens increasing too, if resources permit; sometimes the stressed system is able to sustain only cortisol and aldosterone production, and that leads to degenerative problems.

 

[tasfarelel]

@French.cat - from my personal experience, I can tell that whenever I tried in the past something new in an "emergency" situation - I was to 80% a bad idea.

If I read you correctly - I think you need supplements with more acute & short-term effects that combat your depression and enable you to perform at work. The things that I see in this thread have rather long-term beneficial health-related aspects, which are usually very subjective acutely. I would claim for example that if you had taken the pregnenolone in a fully relaxed situation without any pressure, say traveling for holidays - you would have felt great.

I suggest you look into things like: Semax (probably best of all), Selank, P21, 7,8-Dihydroxyflavone, high-purity Ashwagandha Extract, Emoxypine.

And the following is the worst advice I can give - don't do it, I'm just saying it to be complete: on days you are totally down but you have to perform no matter what: take a sufficient amount of OPMS Silver - Green Vein - Maeng Da Powder (Kratom) on empty stomach. Sufficient means enough to be euphoric. If you feel nausea, you had too much. Start working, then take it (not the other way around). Then you will see magically you will want to continue working the entire day (and feel not even hunger). But best forget this advice, unless your life depends on it.

 

[French.cat]

I sustained a pretty severe injury from following the raw vegan diet and it affects my digestion so it has taken years to fine tune my diet so that I don’t suffer symptoms. 7 days from hopelessness to optimism is amazing! Good for you! Blurry vision was one of my most annoying symptoms so I completely understand your frustration. For me, anything that irritates my intestines, even if I don’t feel it, will cause blurriness. When I have a diet low in acidic foods, fiber and bacteria, my vision clears up, even the eye floaters/spiders (not sure of the technical term) disappear within hours. It’s wild.

I have the same condition Jennifer, anything that causes gut irritation makes me blind

Blurry vision and feeling of dizziness, almost depersonalization !! I felt it today, spent the day outside and sometimes wondered were I was exactly… totally lost. It s like things were spinning around me. I had hard time to focus on the museum. My adhd were 1000 % present because of this sudden fatigue.

Well ALSO I don’t know how to stabilize my blood sugar level and I think I got some troubles with it.

So it might be gut+glycemic related IMO. .

I think I have gut AND carbohydrate tolerance problem. Well, I was thinking about avoiding starch and making sure I keep My protein intake stable (30 gr per meal) but… what else ?

I drink milk and OJ as my main source of liquid and they might be irritating but honestly I think everything that is not pure meat or fish hurt my digestion SO it does to my mood and focus.

What do you think could help my digestion ? Avoiding starch ?

What are the foods that causes you spiders on the eyes ? I have the same stuff ! I was thinking about dairy … you told me fiber could be a reason because of irritation gut relation….vegetables ?

 

[Jennifer]

I have the same condition Jennifer, anything that causes gut irritation makes me blind

Blurry vision and feeling of dizziness, almost depersonalization !! I felt it today, spent the day outside and sometimes wondered were I was exactly… totally lost. It s like things were spinning around me. I had hard time to focus on the museum. My adhd were 1000 % present because of this sudden fatigue.

Well ALSO I don’t know how to stabilize my blood sugar level and I think I got some troubles with it.

So it might be gut+glycemic related IMO. .

I think I have gut AND carbohydrate tolerance problem. Well, I was thinking about avoiding starch and making sure I keep My protein intake stable (30 gr per meal) but… what else ?

I drink milk and OJ as my main source of liquid and they might be irritating but honestly I think everything that is not pure meat or fish hurt my digestion SO it does to my mood and focus.

What do you think could help my digestion ? Avoiding starch ?

What are the foods that causes you spiders on the eyes ? I have the same stuff ! I was thinking about dairy … you told me fiber could be a reason because of irritation gut relation….vegetables ?

Oh, no. Those symptoms really are terrible to live with. Since you mentioned meat and fish not hurting your digestion, do you recall the foods you ate as a child? If so, maybe start there? Like you, I’m French (French Canadian) and I didn’t grow up on a high-carb, low-fat diet, especially not one based on tropical fruit, and after almost two decades, my body just never responded well to it so I went back to a similar diet I ate as a child—one heavier in animal proteins and saturated fat and fairly equal in all 3 macros—and recovered fast. I have even been able to wean myself off my thyroid supplement, something I was unable to do on high-carb, low-fat.

I developed an allergy to fruit so I’m not sure that this would apply to you, but fruit gives me eye floaters/spiders, and anything that doesn’t digest well so if you’re having a hard time digesting dairy, I would imagine it could be causing them, sure. And yes, vegetables, especially if they aren’t well-cooked, can irritate the intestines and cause the floaters, IME.

 

[lamassu]

Yes I think its possible. Maybe due to contaminants - maybe not. I may have noticed this as well. I found progesterone and dhea (low dose) safer supplements