Cortisol boost 101 - part 3 by chilln at Dr. 's forum.

[Guest guest]

....cont'd from previous post (part 2)

BOOST THE CORTISOL-PRODUCTION-LINE, TREAT VIA PREGNENOLONE OR PROGESTERONE

Finding the pregnenolone and progesterone " top up " sweet spots

This dosing strategy is to supplement with small doses of pregnenolone or

progesterone which only " tops up " our pregnenolone or progesterone levels, and

which only " tops up " cortisol too, and keeps cortisol just under the level which

would cause mild ACTH suppression.

The way we find the " top up " sweet spot is to;

A) Find the minimum useful " top up " dose:

......a) Start out on a very small dose, which must not cause any increase in

alertness and / or energy within 4 hours.

............Eg: oral=50mg, transdermal=5mg.

...... Increase the dose, each day, until you first notice an increase in

alertness and / or energy within 4 hours

............Eg: oral 50mg -> 100mg -> 150mg etc...

............Eg: transdermal 5mg -> 10mg -> 15mg -> 20mg -> 30mg -> 40mg etc...

......c) The dose which causes you to first notice an increase in alertness and /

or energy within 4 hours, is your minimum useful " top up " dose.

......d) If you're using oral formulation, and you get to 500mg and you never

notice an increase in alertness and / or energy within 4 hours, then start over

with a transdermal formulation.

......e) If you're using a transdermal formulation, and you get to 200mg and you

never notice an increase in alertness and / or energy within 4 hours, then

either:

...........(i) You're not absorbing the base used by your compounding pharmacist

(you should try switching bases to lipoderm)

...........(ii) Your adrenals are not synthesizing cortisol from your

pregnenolone or progesterone (you should purchase a 24hr urinary test which

measures many of the adrenal hormones, eg: Genova)

Now find the " top up " dose sweet spot

......a) Increase the dose each day, and monitor the intensity and duration of

the improvement of alertness and / or energy

...........Eg: increase your oral dose by 50mg each day

...........Eg: increase your transdermal dose by 10mg each day

...... The intensity and duration of the improvement of alertness and / or

energy should initially increase (with increasing dose) and then decrease with

continued increases in dosage.

......c) Adjust the dose around the sweet spot to confirm that you've found your

" top up " sweet spot.

C) Now find how many times per day you need to " top up " your pregnenolone or

progesterone

......a) As each dose wears off, if you still experience symptoms of too low

cortisol, or a downregulated cortisol-production-line, then re-apply the same

" sweet spot " dose.

...... If your body requires repeated applications of " top up " doses, it can

become annoying, in which case discuss with your medical professional adviser to

consider switching from pregnenolone to progesterone (which may have a longer

half life in your body) or if you're alredy trying progesterone, then consider

switching to " replacement " dosing, or consider supplementing progesterone only

at night, just before sleep time, when the ACTH suppression effect will not be

noticed while you're sleeping.

BOOST THE CORTISOL-PRODUCTION-LINE, TREAT VIA PREGNENOLONE OR PROGESTERONE

Why increasing our " top up " dose past the sweet spot (by a small amount),

results in no more improvement

Increasing the dose of pregnenolone or progesterone past the sweet spot by a

small amount, causes a too large increase in cortisol, which causes mild ACTH

suppression, which results in downregulation of self-made pregnenolone greater

than the amount of supplementary pregnenolone taken, which results in overall

lower pregnenolone, causing a reduction in neurotransmitters, which increases

drowsiness.

In those whose cortisol-production-line operates at a slow to intermediate rate,

this " top up " dosing strategy only requires once-per-day dosing, or

twice-per-day dosing or some may elect to use this dosing strategy with

3-times-per-day dosing. For these people, this dosing strategy is also their

optimal dosing strategy.

In those whose cortisol-production-line operates at a high / fast rate (like

chilln), this requires 4 to 6 times per day dosing. For these people the " top

up " sweet spot is not optimal.

In those whose cortisol-production-line operates at a high / fast rate (like

chilln), gradually increasing the dose past the " top up " sweet spot by a large

amount, eventually causes complete ACTH suppression. At this point the dose is

sufficient to replace all of our requirements for pregnenolone or progesterone

(as appropriate) for several hours. The large reservoir of supplementary hormone

is used up more slowly than the much smaller " top up " doses. This type of dosing

is called " replacement " dosing.

BOOST THE CORTISOL-PRODUCTION-LINE, TREAT VIA PREGNENOLONE

Finding the pregnenolone " replacement " sweet spot

A) First find your " top up " dose sweet spot (see above)

Find your minimum " replacement " dose

......a) Starting with twice the dose of pregnenolone which was your " top up "

dose sweet spot, confirm that this dose results in only minimal alertness

(sometimes none) but definitely causes drowsiness within an hour. This is not

yet your minimum " replacement " dose of pregnenolone.

...... Increase the dose of pegnenolone until the dose is enough to restore

alertness

...........Eg: increase oral pregnenolone by 100mg each day

...........Eg: increase transdermal pregnenolone by 50mg each day

......c) The dose of pregnenolone which is at least double your " top up " dose,

and which causes you to first notice an increase in alertness and / or energy

within 4 hours, is your minimum useful " replacement " dose. At this point you

will have replaced all of your naturally produced pregnenolone with exogenous

pregnenolone.

......d) If you're using oral pregnenolone, and you get to 1000mg and you never

notice an increase in alertness and / or energy within 4 hours, then start over

with transdermal pregnenolone.

......e) If you're using transdermal pregnenolone, and you get to 500mg and you

never notice an increase in alertness and / or energy within 4 hours, then

either:

...........(i) You're not absorbing the base used by your compounding pharmacist

(you should try switching bases to lipoderm)

...........(ii) Your adrenals are not synthesizing enough cortisol from your

pregnenolone (you should purchase a 24hr urinary test which measures many of the

adrenal hormones, eg: Genova, or get doctors prescription for Rheins)

C) Now find the " replacement " dose sweet spot

......a) Increase the dose of pregnenolone, each day, and monitor the intensity

and duration of the improvement of alertness and / or energy

...........Eg: increase oral pregnenolone by 100mg each day

...........Eg: increase transdermal pregnenolone by 50mg each day

...... The intensity and duration of the improvement of alertness and / or

energy should initially increase (with increasing pregnenolone) and then

decrease with continued increases in pregnenolone.

......c) Adjust the dose of pregnenolone around the sweet spot to confirm that

you've found your " replacement " sweet spot.

D) Now find how many times per day you need to " replace " your pregnenolone

......a) As each dose of pregnenolone wears off, if you still experience symptoms

of too low cortisol, or a downregulated cortisol-production-line, then re-apply

the same " sweet spot " dose of pregnenolone.

...... If your body requires repeated applications of " replacement "

pregnenolone doses, the solution is to supplement with transdermal progesterone,

which has a much longer half life than pregnenolone in the human body - but this

is currently experimental.

cont'd on next post...

__________________

Warning:

A) Some males excrete hormones very slowly. Normal doses of hormones, in these

males, accumulate and create symptoms of excess. These males must monitor

hormone levels very carefully to ensure their serum levels don't keep rising and

rising.

Some males excrete hormones very quickly. These people require relatively

high and frequent doses of hormones, and the cost of hormone supplementation,

for these people, is relatively high.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last edited by chilln; 9 Hours Ago at 02:31 AM.