@StreamOfWater Yeah whats the recommended preg source? I've seen this recommended (https://healthnatura.com/pregnenolone-20-grams/) but its out of stock.

@mouse https://www.amazon.de/Suntjens-Candyland-4711558-English-Winegums/dp/B007CXU2UQ

@Luke I found winegums in a Berlin Ubahn vending machine that were made with coconut oil, I was so stoked.

@Peatly I will try to get a cleaner preg supplement, but since my preg bloodwork is way up, it seems to be working at getting in the body at least. Whats the DHEA risk with such low dosages?

How do you interpret this quote?
"sometimes the stressed system is able to sustain only cortisol and aldosterone production, and that leads to degenerative problems."

I struggle to understand it as anything else but in certain circumstances, cortisol can dominate the hormonal pathways.

@Peatly Thank you this is very interesting, from what I understand from that, Ray speaks against Pregnenolone Steal as a regular direct mechanism, but acknowledges that in a stressed system, lacking thyroid for example, the system can turn to converting most pregnenolone to cortisol.

"sometimes the stressed system is able to sustain only cortisol and aldosterone production, and that leads to degenerative problems."

Which is what I would assume is happening then. Its good to be aware of how things like thyroid etc. affect and regulate this mechanism, but in principle, if I read him right, the body is still "stealing" all the preg for cortisol production.

Ill try progesterone directly to adress this.

Haidut seems to believe theres no such thing, but hes also talking about DHEA/cortisol connection, and that most people with Pregnenolone Steal dont have low Progesterone, which I clearly have. Since Preg is anti-cortisol, should I just try a bigger dosage?

Ok so after some more research, there seems to be a thing called Pregnenolone steal where it all goes into cortisol. Which would align with my second intuition. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4684134/) This is messed up, my body is robbing me.

I (M 25) started taking pregnenolone (25-50mg daily) and DHEA (5-10 mg) a few weeks back. I chose Preg over Prog because that seems to be consensus peat advice for men and a lot of it should convert to Progesterone anyhow. Imagine my surprise to get bloodwork back a couple of days ago, and it's telling me Pregnenolone is off the charts (8,5 ng/ml), and progesterone is almost nonexistent (0,7 ng/ml). Oestradiol is low which is nice and I think tracks with my experience on the supplements, Test and DHEA are both fine. I've looked through both forums and haven't been able to find anything similar so far, my best assumption so far is that either the preg to prog conversion is messed up (3β-HSD problem?), which might go against the low oestradiol though, or progesterone is converting immediately further which would prob mean cortisol is off the charts - unfortunately its not in my bloodwork-, which would track with my stressed out state atm. Any ideas for explanation or treatment would be greatly appreciated.