Re: DHEA dosage --> Waiting period for evaluating impact of supplements?

[Guest guest]

>

> Hi all..

>

> I can't remember what Andy says about dosing DHEA (esp. for men). I

> seem to recall a dose of up to 300 mg/day...? I can't find my book.

On Page 149 of AI, the recommended doses for men are shown as

50mg-150mg (per day), 25mg-50mg for women.

Having reviewed other references for suggestions on DHEA dosages, I've

never encountered a supplement with as much variation in

recommendations as this one. Some will recommend only using 5mg per

day, and never exceeding 25mg. Other references suggest that for some

people, the dose may need to be several hundred mg/day to have

therapeutic benefit in some people. (Andy discusses " supranormal

doses of DHEA -- 100mg to 250mg 4x per day -- for treating lupus.)

I've even read about daily doses well into the thousands of mg,

apparantly without any problematic, short-term side effects.

However, long-term effects of such high doses, or even the moderate

doses, are unknown and could potentially be harmful. Caution is

certainly warranted... best to start low and increase gradually, and

monitor symptoms and hormone levels (blood and saliva tests)

periodically. Seems like caution is especially warranted for women

taking DHEA. It seems like definitive research is badly needed in

this area (and so many others, of course).

> Also, has anyone had any noticable results from taking it?

Saliva hormone tests have shown that I have chronic low DHEA-S, and

I also have had low testosterone (blood tests), so I'm hoping that

supplementing with DHEA will help me feel noticeably better while

chelating. I'm steadily increasing the dose every few days, starting

at 30mg, am now at 75mg (using Thorne's Dehydrone-15 product). So

far, I haven't noticed any huge effects, but perhaps have felt some

subtle benefits. Need more time to fully evaluate if it's doing

anything. I may need higher doses to notice any significant effect,

so within the next few weeks, I should get there. I'll try and

remember to post my experience, but if I forget, feel free to drop me

an email.

SLIGHT TOPIC SHIFT-->

What's most confusing to me is trying to figure out how long to wait

for a medicine/supplement/intervention to assess whether it's helping,

or whether you should save your money and/or go in a different

direction. For some drugs, for example, the effect should be

immediate or within a few days. For some supplements, though, I think

you need to wait several weeks or months to fully evaluate whether

it's helping. For chelation, it could be weeks, months, or years

before noticing a positive impact, I believe. For hormone

supplementation, I have no idea. I believe supplementary HC helps

pretty much right away if you're on a proper dose. But what about

DHEA? I would think that one should be able to notice within a day or

two if one's found a good therapeutic dose. But maybe I'm wrong on

that... maybe it has to " build up in the system " for many days/weeks

to notice an effect. Any thoughts on this?

Darren

[Guest guest]

Hi Darren..

Thanks for your thoughts. I will also " up " my dose of DHEA to 50 or

75 mg and report back....

-michael

> >

> > Hi all..

> >

> > I can't remember what Andy says about dosing DHEA (esp. for men).

I

> > seem to recall a dose of up to 300 mg/day...? I can't find my

book.

>

> On Page 149 of AI, the recommended doses for men are shown as

> 50mg-150mg (per day), 25mg-50mg for women.

>

> Having reviewed other references for suggestions on DHEA dosages,

I've

> never encountered a supplement with as much variation in

> recommendations as this one. Some will recommend only using 5mg per

> day, and never exceeding 25mg. Other references suggest that for

some

> people, the dose may need to be several hundred mg/day to have

> therapeutic benefit in some people. (Andy discusses " supranormal

> doses of DHEA -- 100mg to 250mg 4x per day -- for treating lupus.)

> I've even read about daily doses well into the thousands of mg,

> apparantly without any problematic, short-term side effects.

>

> However, long-term effects of such high doses, or even the moderate

> doses, are unknown and could potentially be harmful. Caution is

> certainly warranted... best to start low and increase gradually, and

> monitor symptoms and hormone levels (blood and saliva tests)

> periodically. Seems like caution is especially warranted for women

> taking DHEA. It seems like definitive research is badly needed in

> this area (and so many others, of course).

>

> > Also, has anyone had any noticable results from taking it?

>

> Saliva hormone tests have shown that I have chronic low DHEA-S, and

> I also have had low testosterone (blood tests), so I'm hoping that

> supplementing with DHEA will help me feel noticeably better while

> chelating. I'm steadily increasing the dose every few days,

starting

> at 30mg, am now at 75mg (using Thorne's Dehydrone-15 product). So

> far, I haven't noticed any huge effects, but perhaps have felt some

> subtle benefits. Need more time to fully evaluate if it's doing

> anything. I may need higher doses to notice any significant effect,

> so within the next few weeks, I should get there. I'll try and

> remember to post my experience, but if I forget, feel free to drop

me

> an email.

>

> SLIGHT TOPIC SHIFT-->

>

> What's most confusing to me is trying to figure out how long to wait

> for a medicine/supplement/intervention to assess whether it's

helping,

> or whether you should save your money and/or go in a different

> direction. For some drugs, for example, the effect should be

> immediate or within a few days. For some supplements, though, I

think

> you need to wait several weeks or months to fully evaluate whether

> it's helping. For chelation, it could be weeks, months, or years

> before noticing a positive impact, I believe. For hormone

> supplementation, I have no idea. I believe supplementary HC helps

> pretty much right away if you're on a proper dose. But what about

> DHEA? I would think that one should be able to notice within a day

or

> two if one's found a good therapeutic dose. But maybe I'm wrong on

> that... maybe it has to " build up in the system " for many days/weeks

> to notice an effect. Any thoughts on this?

>

> Darren

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Darren..

Thanks for your thoughts. I will also " up " my dose of DHEA to 50 or

75 mg and report back....

-michael

> >

> > Hi all..

> >

> > I can't remember what Andy says about dosing DHEA (esp. for men).

I

> > seem to recall a dose of up to 300 mg/day...? I can't find my

book.

>

> On Page 149 of AI, the recommended doses for men are shown as

> 50mg-150mg (per day), 25mg-50mg for women.

>

> Having reviewed other references for suggestions on DHEA dosages,

I've

> never encountered a supplement with as much variation in

> recommendations as this one. Some will recommend only using 5mg per

> day, and never exceeding 25mg. Other references suggest that for

some

> people, the dose may need to be several hundred mg/day to have

> therapeutic benefit in some people. (Andy discusses " supranormal

> doses of DHEA -- 100mg to 250mg 4x per day -- for treating lupus.)

> I've even read about daily doses well into the thousands of mg,

> apparantly without any problematic, short-term side effects.

>

> However, long-term effects of such high doses, or even the moderate

> doses, are unknown and could potentially be harmful. Caution is

> certainly warranted... best to start low and increase gradually, and

> monitor symptoms and hormone levels (blood and saliva tests)

> periodically. Seems like caution is especially warranted for women

> taking DHEA. It seems like definitive research is badly needed in

> this area (and so many others, of course).

>

> > Also, has anyone had any noticable results from taking it?

>

> Saliva hormone tests have shown that I have chronic low DHEA-S, and

> I also have had low testosterone (blood tests), so I'm hoping that

> supplementing with DHEA will help me feel noticeably better while

> chelating. I'm steadily increasing the dose every few days,

starting

> at 30mg, am now at 75mg (using Thorne's Dehydrone-15 product). So

> far, I haven't noticed any huge effects, but perhaps have felt some

> subtle benefits. Need more time to fully evaluate if it's doing

> anything. I may need higher doses to notice any significant effect,

> so within the next few weeks, I should get there. I'll try and

> remember to post my experience, but if I forget, feel free to drop

me

> an email.

>

> SLIGHT TOPIC SHIFT-->

>

> What's most confusing to me is trying to figure out how long to wait

> for a medicine/supplement/intervention to assess whether it's

helping,

> or whether you should save your money and/or go in a different

> direction. For some drugs, for example, the effect should be

> immediate or within a few days. For some supplements, though, I

think

> you need to wait several weeks or months to fully evaluate whether

> it's helping. For chelation, it could be weeks, months, or years

> before noticing a positive impact, I believe. For hormone

> supplementation, I have no idea. I believe supplementary HC helps

> pretty much right away if you're on a proper dose. But what about

> DHEA? I would think that one should be able to notice within a day

or

> two if one's found a good therapeutic dose. But maybe I'm wrong on

> that... maybe it has to " build up in the system " for many days/weeks

> to notice an effect. Any thoughts on this?

>

> Darren

>

[Guest guest]

,

I just stumbled on a site that contains a very informative journal

article about DHEA...

http://www.ithyroid.com/dhea.htm

Darren