Pregnenolone And Puffy Chest.

nomadicone

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Hi all,

I am new to Ray Peat's way but have been reading up over the last few months and applying some of his dietary advice. I am a 32 year old male from the UK and recently I started taking pregnenolone 50mg once per day after reading about it on this site mainly for the cognitive improvements (I have a foggy head most of the time). Pregnenolone did definitely improve libido and my morning basal temps jumped up from my normal 36.5 to 36.6 and I have also been hotter during the day (close to perfect). Also memory seems clearer and aggressiveness increased in a good way meaning I was more assertive. My problem however is today when I woke up my chest feels strange and is also swollen so I am quite worried I have caused some harm, I know I should have had my hormones checked. I have been looking at the steroidogenic pathways and I am wondering whether the pregnonelone has converted to testosterone which then aromatized to estrogen?? Obviously this is quite a worrying side effect my chest feels puffy and full including the central chest (between both pecs). What can I do to reduce this? Is my reasoning about estrogen correct?

Thanks for any help.
 

DKayJoe

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Puffyness is definitely a symptom of estrogen dominance, what's your diet like now/before you started shifting to peaty stuff?
 
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nomadicone

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Its not completely perfect yet but usually eggs for breakfast with OJ and coffee. Lunch is usually cheese on toast or chicken breast and dinner is always meat/fish with potato and vegs I also have 2-3 pieces of fruit a day. Any ideas how I can fix this? I have only been on the pregnenolone for about 8 days didnt think this could happen so quick.

Thanks,
 
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nomadicone

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Can I use progesterone (progest -e) to balance the estrogen dominance?
 

DKayJoe

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Personally I've just stopped using progest-e as it gave me some pretty harsh sides (acne, it knocked my mood down and gave me some really messed up dreams) what pregnenolone are you using? Also progesterone can still be pushed down pathways that eventually convert to estrogen, although there are much more informed threads on this forum on the matter rather than my own opinion. Maybe try zinc supplementation.

Looking at it your diet is far from ideal as well, I'd go for beef over chicken (grass fed always and ideally a cut on the bone) my diet really took a turn for the better when I ditched all starch as well, I now get all my carbs (about 400g a day) from fructose and lactose. Definitely ditch the toast as well (gluten is a nightmare) and try and balance your calcium/phosphorus better. If you don't tolerate dairy well then ground eggshells are mean't to be quite effective.
 

answersfound

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I would try taking benadryl at night to reduce histamine and estrogen. This may shift pregnenolone towards the more beneficial pathways. Also, you may want to do 50 mg of pregnenolone every other day. Pregnenolone builds up in the system, and actually tells the body to produce more of it on it's own. Vitamin A, fructose, and thyroid hormone also are used to produce pregnenolone. Make sure you are incorporating all the fat soluble vitamins and eating shellfish for minerals like zinc and copper.
 

answersfound

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and if your a male i certainly would not touch progest-e. pregnenolone will convert to progesterone.
 

tara

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Pregnenolone can have effects for several days.
I like answersfound's suggestion to try it every second day, or maybe just once or twice a week.
 
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nomadicone

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Thank you so much for the suggestions really appreciate it. I can see my diet does need some more work but just new to all this at the moment and continuing to research. How long will it take for my chest to go down as obviously this is quite a worrying side effect will it be several days as per tara's post?

Thanks,
 

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