I started supplementing tudca/ox bile this week (https://lifeblud.co/products/tudca-max) and 2 out of 3 times when I've taken it I'll get this very slight pain in my back right near the bottom of my ribcage. Also my stomach will gurgle and I'll usually have a BM shortly afterwards.

I'm assuming the pain is liver/gallbladder related but wondering what it could be a sign of and considering its pretty transient, maybe lasts 20 mins at most, if it's anything to be concerned about?

For context too, I started supplementing the TUDCA because I was in the ER recently and they ran some tests on my liver and the takeaway is that I had a slightly fatty liver and also one of my liver levels was elevated (still within the normal range but up 10 points from 6 months ago). I've had higher cholesterol and signs of hypothyrodism for the past year so I figured maybe getting things moving with my liver was the right place to start.

I tested low for Pregnenolone, lower T, high cortisol, high TSH a few months back and my doctor suggested I try supplementing pregnenolone.

I definitely think it was converting to estrogen on me, I had also started TRT and went from feeling incredible to absolute garbage (migraine, zero energy etc) so discontinued taking it.

I then tried Progest-E and the first few times I took it I felt sedated and then eventually felt nothing. Around that time I remember feeling anxious and depressed, really down. Was going through a rough few weeks so that couldve been the cause, but attributed to the Progest-E, which in retrospect may not have been right to do. It was taking like half of a popcorn kernel rubbed into my wrist every few days.

Anyways, I found a cleaner source of pregnenolone so I've been doing that all week, and I don't feel much at all, slightly calm but no other benefits. Wondering if it makes sense to reintroduce Progest-E and if there's any issue taking both together?

@izkrov awesome thank you!

The sedating effects didnt seem to last very long so i think the 2-3 per day makes sense. Within maybe 2ish hours of taking it yesterday I felt calm but not necessarily sedated and then even that seemed to taper off for me.

It's not unusual for my body to have a very low tolerance to anything new at first but then it usually builds.

@Dezbio I did a HBOT protocol specifically for brain injuries, 5 days a week for 8 weeks, 1.5 hours/day. It definitely was helpful and I got several steps ahead of where I was at, but don't know if it was worth the 8 grand I paid for it.

I met other people there who is did help, for things such as having severe strokes and whatnot, so my opinion is it works really well for some people some of the time.

I've heard really good things about lithium as well

Also worth adding, I was super horny and felt the effects of TRT up until Friday. I took another dose then, but Friday night, yesterday and today felt emotional. Since I took the Progest-e today I've noticed I feel a lot more even keeled and my libido is picking back up so wonder if its preventing the TRT from aromatizing

@izkrov Did you take the 5 kernels all at once, and did you take any days off? Also how did you take it?

I got some in the mail a few days ago, took my first dose 3ish days ago. Very small dose, we'll call it half a kernel lol just to try it out, and rubbed it into my wrist. Felt my mood lift and a little spacey but in a good way about 30 mins in. Felt very calm until Fridayish.

It almost felt like if I took anymore it would've been too sedating.

Took my TRT shot Friday, felt a little speedy until yesterday and then felt anxious last night and today.

Took some more Progest-e today, this time it was almost a kernel, again rubbed it on my wrist. About 30 mins later I felt sleepy, slightly euphoric. Then it kind of dissipated and now I feel a little chilled out.

Wondering at what point to increase the dose and the frequency? I read Ray Peat saying that a man should do a kernel once every few days but seems like you were doing way more for concussion recovery

My endodontist who is pretty holistic suggested I see a "sleep dentist" for my grinding.

theres a mouthguard called the aqualizer that's supposed not be a full time thing, but is supposed to re-train the jaw to not grind: https://aqualizer.com/

It's kind of small so i would do your homework and talk to your dentist or someone far smarter than me to make sure you're not gonna choke on it while you sleep.

Also have heard that grinding can be related to parasites

One easy, free, and immediate thing to consider to see if it works is somatic meditation, on the nights when I do this or a similar meditation I'm able to release tension in my entire body that I wasn't even realizing I was holding, most of the time its in my face/neck/jaw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or8U7YUjNGU

@izkrov Awesome thank you! And I def think I'm hypothyroid, my TSH was on the higher side, and I have many symptoms. My doctor described it as "cushing-esque"

This all makes sense, thanks for your help. Going to order the progest-e today

@izkrov lol thanks. I took the life extensions one: https://www.amazon.com/Life-Extension-Pregnenolone-100-capsules/dp/B0002D3890

But was dumping most of the capsule out and starting with 10ish mg. I took this Saturday and Monday. I remember on Monday it made me feel super chilled out for a little while, but then the migraine came back.

On Sunday I tried this other one I had lying around, but tbh it came with a very tiny spoon and so trying to nail the 10mg dosage on that was nearly impossible. I ended up just putting a tiny little crumb inside my mouth and honestly could've been 1mg for all I know: https://shop.forefronthealth.com/collections/all/products/pregnenolone-supplement-powder

The other thing that makes me think I was dealing with an estrogen issue is I took 3mg of Thorne k2 on Tuesday, after not doing any pregnenolone that day (and it being 5 days after I took the TRT), and pulled myself out of the migraine by that night.

I don't know what else wouldve caused it, I felt so fucking terrible, and was eating like 4,000 - 5,000 calories per day, eating dinner twice, just shoveling food in my mouth trying to get some energy back.

Anyways, sounds like I could start small w/ progest-e and see what happens, what kind of dosage did you use to bounce back? Does it matter that I have low pregnenlone levels too?

@izkrov so if i'm understanding correctly, it never converts to estrogen, just lowers testosterone in high doses? And because in small doses it opposes estrogen, then it prevents testosterone from converting to estrogen? Do I understand all of that correctly?

It's funny, because I could've sworn I read Ray Peat advocated for doing prenenolone directly after a brain injury, so I thought I was doing the right thing.

Also interestingly enough, within 3 days of starting on testosterone, I started taking prenenolone, on the orders of my functional doctor (same one that prescribed the TRT), because my pregnenlone levels were low. By night 3, I felt absolutely terrible, had a migraine coming on, which lasted another 3 days, had absolutely zero energy, did a total 180 from how well I felt before. Felt 100x worse in fact. I was assuming that the testosterone was aromatizing but I guess now I'm thinking the pregnenolone wasn't helping my case either.

I'm a little nervous to start experimenting, I feel like my brain has been through enough, but also need to get my life back so I think progest-e might be worth a shot, thanks. Also just read the thread about the guy who posted that his brother went into a psychotic episode after doing a bunch of supplements and "peating" so I think that's part of it too haha.

@izkrov I thought pregnenolone was safer than progesterone as a man because progesterone can convert to estrogen if you overdo it?

I took some pregnenolone last week but either didn't help me at all or made me worse, hard to tell.

I also went on TRT last week, took my first shot and by the next day my PCS was 90% resolved. Only lasted 3 days but at least gave me hope that theres something there.