Brain fog and racing thoughts are caused by too low neurotransmitters. Pregnenolone, the father of all hormones, also boosts neurotransmitters.
In my experience, and in the experience of those who take pregnenolone, brain fog goes away within 1h after an application of pregnenolone.
There are 4 catches:
you must take transdermal (TD) pregnenolone, not oral, which doesn’t work in most people
you must take enough pregnenolone. The quantity strongly depends on how fast you metabolize hormones
TD pregnenolone is available over the counter in the USA, while it is a prescription medication elsewhere
TD pregnenolone won’t necessarily help with fatigue, insomnia, and libido. But it definitely sweeps away your brain fog and racing thoughts, unless they are caused by dehydration, which many of us suffer of. It also helps with anxiety, but may not help to bring your pulse down, if it is high.
I began taking this a few days ago. I think you could be right about it’s ability to rid guys of the brain fog. It is also referred to as the happy hormone, as it has an ability to help improve spirits. It has also has been proven to improve memory as well.
Yea the good thing is you don’t need a script to get it in the USA either and it’s pretty cheap.
How many pumps or Mgs of the stuff are you using right now?
Does the pregnenolone provide temporary relief (you have to take it continually)? Or, does it actually cause a recovery, wherein pregnenolone is no longer needed at some point, and you can think clearly on your own?
There is evidence that low levels of Allopregnanolone and THDOC are involved in mood disorders, depression and anxiety as a result of inhibition of these neurosteroids by Finasteride while on drug. This is documented in numerous scientific papers already posted on this forum.
Pregnenolone is a precursor hormone and different than the above. There is evidence Finasteride can inhibit Pregnenolone synthesis, as shown here:
Just FYI, I was tested for Pregnenolone at 19 months off drug in May 2007, results were 221 (23 - 173). I was out of range HIGH on the scale.
The high level of Pregnenolone made no difference in cognitive symptoms at that time. Could it be my body rebounding and overcompensating for the damage that occured on Finasteride?
I investigated what conditions elevated Pregnenolone is involved in and found the following:
However, having not been tested for such, do not know if the above is playing a role somehow (theoretically), or if it’s even possible or plausible for Finasteride to induce such a state in normal people. I have not been re-tested so don’t know what my Pregnenolone level is today, or how it factors into things still. Also, the fact I had HIGH pregnenolone while Finasteride was shown to lower pregnenolone (see post above) doesn’t seem to correlate.
I have done some digging but have not been able to find anything linking drug to Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, which is present from birth due to genetic defect and typically involves women ie, hirsutism (excessive body hair, increased androgen production)… although, in men it can cause hypogonadism as well. Info: caresfoundation.org/productcart/pc/rare_forms_cah.html
Hundreds of mg per day, but I’ll reduce the amount soon. I’m trying to boost my cortisol and thyroid. I’ll report in another thread later. I would like to keep this thread on people’s experience with pregnenolone and brain fog.
Hey Former,
It definitely help temporarily. I.e., take it when you have brain fog. A recovery with only pregnenolone? Hardly. But, if you are lucky, it may permanently rid you of brain fog. Briefly, it depends on whether your thyroid needs a boost or not. If it does not need a boost, then taking pregnenolone for a few weeks may permanently boost your cortisol-production line, which will keep your pregnenolone up. This is the theory, which applies to men who have not taken fin but who have brain fog because of other hormonal issues.
Hey Mew,
I don’t understand the question (not sarcastically). If you have brain fog, then your neurotransmitters are low in that moment.
I haven’t talked about the effect of finasteride on the neurotransmitters because nobody here is taking finasteride. Other males have brain fog and they never took finasteride in their lives. They all benefit from supplementing pregnenolone. With this thread I would like to collect people’s experiences to show if pregnenolone can treat brain fog in finasterided people.
I actually just read your member story, and it seems that you did not have brain fog at the time. Specifically, you say on June 1st 2007:
My mental clarity has pretty much returned and brain fog/anxiety gone, however I still find I don’t have the ambition/drive I used to, my old hobbies don’t give me pleasure, music doesn’t do much for me (I am a musician) anymore, I am emotionally flat, unable to feel love/lust. But overall I am at least able to think and am not feeling so SLOW like I was on the drug, though my memory is a lot worse than before I took it.
The lack of passion/ambition/drive, in my experience, is linked to testosterone and not to neurotransmitters. The memory issues you had back then, though, surprise me. I thought that pregnenolone would fix memory issues. Your story suggests that it doesn’t. Thanks a lot for sharing your experience.
I am taking Life Flo Pregnenolone and just recently hit a very, very good patch in terms of my side effects. I will update whether this is for real, or it goes away after a week.
• Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia is caused by the disruption of cortisol production. - source
• 5 alpha reductase type 3 (SRD5A3) produces dolichol. - source
• Dolichol is synthesized through the same path as cholesterol. - source 1source 2
• Cholesterol is required for cortisol synthesis. - source
• Finasteride inhibits 5 alpha reductase type 3 - (about the same as type 2). - source
• You could theorize that by inhibiting SRD5A3, therefore the production/synthesis of dolichol, it could disrupt the synthesis of cholesterol - source (page 316) - into cortisol, and potentially causing a similar CAH condition such as Lipoid congenital adrenal hyperplasia
Another possibility (or combination of the two) would be the direct effects of dolichol/N-glycosylation deprivation, which could potentially lead to a similar condition of Congenital Disorder of Glycosylation. It lists “fluctuating hormone levels (e.g.prolactin, FSH and GH)” as a symptom, which sounds similar to what PFS does.
We get our dolichol production/conversion through our 5 alpha-reductase type 3 enzyme (SRD5a-3). Dolichol is vital for producing glycoproteins. Glycoproteins have a hormone function in the HCG and TSH. Disrupting glycoprotein synthesis can cause a dysfunction of almost any cellular process. Finasteride inhibits 5 alpha-reductase type 3 roughly the same as 5 alpha-reductase type 2. I would theorize that by inhibiting 5ar3 (in addition to type 2), our body becomes depraved of dolichol production, which in turn sets off a chain reaction.
[i]Two critical extracts from the above paper are:
NMDA receptors are ligand-gated ion channels that admit Ca2+ after binding of the neurotransmitter glutamate and are fundamental to excitatory neurotransmission and normal CNS function
and
These results suggest that the PS (pregnenolone sulfate) is a modulator of NMDA receptor Po, the effectiveness of which is lowered by glutamate binding. This modulation may have important consequences for the neuronal excitability.
Additional background factoids:
Pregnenolone is bound to sulfate in the human body which is the long term storage form of pregnenolone.
The NMDA receptors regulate all neurotransmitters, not just a few.
Supplementing with too much pregnenolone results in “excess normalization”, which results in “spacey” feelings, not feelings of depression, anxiety, aggression, OCD, or any other symptom of neurotransmitter excess of deficit.[/i]
In response to NMDA receptor agonistic effects of pregnenolone:
The study was done on Kidney cells;
NMDA receptors in the brain may have different receptor subunit composition (e.g. proportions of NR2A vs. NR2B).
Increased channel open probability will increase excitability, however this is not necessarily a good or bad thing;
Too much excitation through the NMDA receptor can lead to cell death (through excitotoxicity);
Calcium only is let into the cell if the cell is currently depolarized (mainly through AMPA receptor activation), these receptors act as coincidence detectors.
Not to say that pregenolone may not be helpful for mental side effects, just that the linked study, and previous comments do not provide evidence for such an effect.
Were you getting spacey feelings? Probably not. Then you were not taking enough. (I assume that you are taking transdermal, please confirm)
When they first started, some people on musclechatroom needed to take 800 mg/day. You should be followed a dr to take such high amounts, though.
It happened to me too. That’s normal if your thyroid is bad and cannot keep up with the cortisol increase. I had to add T3 to fix this.
Testing is a good idea, but brain fog is not directly caused by thyroid hormones. It is directly caused by neurotransmitters, which are directly modulated by pregnenolone.
“Spacey feeling” is the symptom that you get when your pregnenolone is too high. That’s why I was asking if you got spacey feelings FROM pregnenolone. You can also get a “tingly face”.
If you find that pregnenolone doesn’t do absolutely anything, then it means that you are not taking too much. Therefore, there is some room for an increase.
Yeah , the reason is dysfunctional response to androgens which modern medicine doesn’t seem to have a clue about.
It’s bad enough you have to post in pompous considerable length whatever waffle comes into your head, but when you start hectoring others who always have much worse symptoms that they aren’t trying the right methods it’s rude, and pays little heed to the facts about our situation. Find a hobby ffs.
Anyone with messed up adrenals/thyroids can exhibit a “dysfunctional response to androgens”.
Some of you guys just seem hellbent on pushing the idea that all PFS sufferers are beyond the realms of treatment.
If you actually cared to study how critical adrenals and thryoid is in the mechanics of this then you’re doing yourself a disservice.
“Modern medicine” isn’t as out of touch as you think. Most endos are but there’s plenty of information out there if you want it.
Yep, that’s me…
Hectoring others? I make an observation that people are too quick to give up treatments and make conclusions that something didn’t work without actually looking into the details of why something didn’t work or considering how they might thing of tweaking things. If you don’t agree with the simple fact that much of this is trial and error then you’re deluded.
It doesn’t matter how extreme one’s case is or not, the principle remains the same.
“Facts” about “our” situation …what “facts”? The facts are very clear, actually. Most people on here would find improvements on the right treatments, let’s find them.
I wouldn’t call it a hobby but “getting better” is pretty far up my list of thing’s im spending alot of time on lately. As opposed to complaining about how we’re completely different than anything ever witnessed in medical history, that is.
