Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from David Mills.
Hi I’m David,
Three and a half years ago I was diagnosed with low testosterone. I had man boobs, I was overweight, I had low energy, and my libido sucked. In this article I’d like to share with you how I used 100% natural methods to boost my testosterone levels by more than 280% in a matter of months. Not only did I get rid of my man boobs, but I’m also in great physical shape, I’m full of energy, and at age 63, I feel better than I have in decades!
Three and a half years ago my testosterone was just 155 ng/dl (normal reference range 348-1200 ng/dl). My estrogen levels where also high, with estradiol at 46 pg/ml (normal reference range being 7.6-42.6 pg/ml). My doctor put me on weekly testosterone shots, which gave me some nasty side effects. After many months of extensive research and experimentation, I finally managed to find some all-natural alternatives that work just as well as my doctor’s prescription testosterone, yet without the nasty side effects.
I have now been off testosterone supplementation of any kind for sixteen months. At almost 64 years of age, my testosterone checked last month at a whooping 590 ng/dl, and my estradiol at just 10.5 pg/ml. Let me repeat; I am at 590 ng/dl not taking any testosterone. My testosterone increased from 155 to 590 and my estradiol decreased from 46 to 10.5. My testosterone/estradiol ratio was 3.36 to 1 before I started any kind of treatment. It is now 56.2 to 1.
4 Natural Remedies That Skyrocketed My Testosterone
Here‘s how I did it. I take four things to boost my testosterone and decrease my estrogen. All four can be bought over the counter; no prescription is necessary. Here is my regimen for the last twelve months:
- Topical progesterone – 60 mg a day;
- Pregnenolone (progesterone’s precursor) – 100 mg capsules every other day;
- DHEA – 25 mg pill once a week,
- D-Aspartic acid – between 1,500 and 2,000 mg per day (usually comes in a capsule of 500mg or 750 mg).
How I Discovered This Powerful Regimen
The main reason I had low testosterone was due to low levels of leutenizing hormone (LH). Low LH happens to many men. LH is the hormone the pituitary gland in your brain makes to tell your testicles they need to make testosterone. I was making only 2.0 mIU/L of LH, when the reference range is 2-10 mIU/L.
My internist sent me for a CAT scan to rule out a tumor in my pituitary gland. Thankfully, the scan results were negative. I had no tumor, but I also had no answer for my low LH levels. Apparently some men get low LH without any identifiable reason. So I asked my internist if there was anything I could take to raise my LH levels, but he didn’t know. He had not heard of D-Aspartic acid and was unaware of recent studies showing that D-Aspartic Acid increases LH.
The only solution my internist had for me was testosterone shots. I took these and they worked. My energy increased, my strength increased, and I had a substantial improvement in mood.
The greatest benefit was to my back. At the age of 48, I had a lumbar disc removed and my back had been in constant knots ever since. I had five or six golf ball sized knots in my lower back. I called them the “iron cross”. Twelve years of an iron cross across my back just disappeared on high levels of testosterone. It was amazing. Testosterone is a steroid after all, and it worked on my back as well as Medrol dose packs (hydrocortisone). I could only take Medrol dose packs a couple times a year and they would help for a couple of days; but testosterone was magic. I could have shots every week and the knots pretty much stayed away.
However, these high levels of testosterone (mine got as high as 1250 ng/dl at one point) also had some unpleasant side effects…
The Nasty Side-Effects Of Artificial Testosterone
The only way to safely boost testosterone is to increase your body’s own natural production of the hormone. The trouble with external testosterone shots is that your body converts all the excess testosterone into estrogen. It does this using the enzyme aromatase.
After just 10 weeks on testosterone shots, my estrogen increased from 46 to 86 pg/ml. I soon got gynecomastia (man boobs) and a shrunken testicle sac (felt like my balls wanted to ascend to my abdomen). I also gained 15 pounds in a couple of weeks.
My doctor put me on an aromatase inhibitor to lower my estrogen, but I didn’t feel it was helping. I was also suffering from another common side effect of external testosterone supplementation, called polycythemia. This is where your body produces more blood cells and your blood gets thicker. It can lead to heart attacks, strokes, hypertension, and countless other life-threatening conditions. I learned that many people have to stop taking testosterone because of this condition.
The Testosterone Alternative That Flattened My Man Boobs Almost Overnight
I was not at all happy with the idea of taking an aromatase inhibitor (aromatase inhibitors are highly toxic and one of my doctors flat told me to throw it out), so I started taking progesterone to see if it would work on my man boobs.
Progesterone is the body’s natural aromatase inhibitor. It also opposes estrogen. Taking 30 mg of progesterone a day reduced my estrogen from 86 to 30 pg/ml. It worked literally overnight to cure my gynecomastia and shrunken testicle sac. So I said goodbye to prescription aromatase inhibitors and began using progesterone to reduce my estrogen levels. I started taking progesterone two and a half years ago for my man boobs and still take it to this day.
I was astounded by my discovery that progesterone could reduce estrogen so effectively.
But this paled in comparison to what I discovered next (and did so completely by accident).
Here's what happened.
The ups and downs you get from weekly testosterone shots can drive you crazy. Thirty hours after a shot, testosterone peaks; and thereafter it begins a steady decline. Ten days later you are back to baseline.
Taking a daily topical gel stops the ups and downs, so my doctor put me on testosterone gels; but the gels didn’t work nearly as well as the shots. After six months on gels, my testosterone level was back in the 200 range and taking large amounts of gel only got me to 350 or so. The gels did help my back but not nearly as good as the shots.
In the end I decided to get back on the shots, but to do so, I would have to come off the gel to establish my baseline testosterone levels.
As I feared, soon after I stopped taking testosterone altogether, my back pain started to come back. And here's where the magic happened…
I increased my progesterone dose to 60 mg to see if its anti-inflammatory properties could rival that of testosterone. To my surprise, it did! Progesterone worked just as well as my old testosterone shots.
When I went for my next hormone test, I was fully expecting to have testosterone levels of 150 ng/dl again (since I had stopped taking testosterone); but to my surprise, it was about 350 ng/dl, and all thanks to progesterone!
Progesterone had somehow boosted my body’s internal production of testosterone, which as I mentioned earlier, is the best way to boost testosterone safely and without side effects.
So How Did I End Up Adding Pregnenolone, DHEA, And D-Aspartic Acid To My Progesterone Regimen?
Since adding these to my regimen, my testosterone has gone from 350 ng/dl (on progesterone alone) to an impressive 590 ng/dl! I was not satisfied with 350 and wanted to see if I could get it higher.
Here’s how I did it.
On doing some research online, I discovered that D-Aspartic acid can raise LH levels – something my doctor was NOT aware of. In fact, it was the bodybuilding community that taught me this (it turns out bodybuilders know more about testosterone than most MD’s). When the study showing D-Aspartic acid raises testosterone came out, the bodybuilders were all over it. So I wanted to try it to see what it would do.
The problem was that D-Aspartic acid taken alone could deplete your testosterone precursors. Just to be on the safe side, I thought I should have testosterone precursors in reserve. The three primary precursors of testosterone are progesterone, pregnenolone and DHEA. These three precursors were also listed in a scientific article as a means of reducing cholesterol if you returned them (along with testosterone) to “youthful” levels. Since my cholesterol was on the high side, it made sense to try all of them, plus I had literature supporting the idea of taking them.
I figured if I took reasonable, safe doses of these three testosterone precursors, I could safely take D-Aspartic acid and not worry about running out of testosterone precursor reserves.
So I started adding in pregnenolone, DHEA, and D-Aspartic acid to my progesterone regimen. I decided to take very little DHEA because of concerns about its use in higher doses (I take 25 mg of DHEA a week instead of the 25 mg a day recommended on the bottle).
The amount of pregnenolone I decided to take was based on recommendations by Dr. Ray Peat. I settled on 60 mg a day of progesterone, though even higher doses of progesterone had been recommended to me by Wray Whyte, the owner of progesteronetherapy.com, who had been running the site for 15 years. She convinced me that several hundred milligrams a day of progesterone was safe, partly due to the fact that as fetuses, we are floating in a placenta making 400 mg of it a day during the third trimester of pregnancy.
As for how much D–Apartic acid I take, I started at a lower dose than what is recommended on the bottle. The bottle lists a daily dose of 3,000 mg a day and I decided to take 1,500-2,000 mg a day. As of last month, my LH is now 3 mIU/L, which is up from the 2 mIU/L I had three and a half years ago.
Tweaking the Regimen Even More
Now that I have my latest results, I recently bumped up my D-Aspartic acid to 3,000 mg a day instead of the 1,500–2,000 mg I was taking before. If I can get my LH to 4 or 5 maybe I can get my testosterone back up to 700 or so, which is my target. I am feeling pretty good right now, so who knows, I might already be in the 700 range – my next test will tell.
Safety and Benefits of the Regimen
I have now been on a regimen of 60 mg of topical progesterone, 100 mg of pregnenolone capsules every other day, 25 mg of DHEA a week and at least 1,500-2,000 mg a day of D-Aspartic acid for twelve months with zero side effects and excellent lab results. I also lost the 15 pounds I gained from my testosterone shots.
All of these substances are known to be very safe, with the possible exception of DHEA in high doses (which is why I take a much lower dose than recommended on the bottle).
The studies are all clear on the safety of progesterone, pregnenolone, and D-Aspartic acid in high doses. In one study, subjects took 2,660 mg of D-Aspartic acid daily for 90 days. Not only did they experience significantly higher testosterone levels and increased fertility, researchers also noted no serum abnormalities and no side-effects.
Just for good measure, and because Wray Whyte highly recommended it to me, I also take 6,000 units of Vitamin D a day to keep my Vitamin D levels up. Vitamin D is more of a hormone than a vitamin and it has a symbiotic relationship with progesterone.
So What Have You Got to Lose?
I welcome anyone to try my regimen, but if you do, I would caution everyone to get their hormone levels tested regularly. Getting tested may seem expensive, but since you’ll only be doing it every six months or so, it really isn’t that bad.
Where Is The Best Place To Get These Supplements?
I have looked all over the internet searching for the best deals on these products. Seeing that they have restored my testosterone levels, along with my youth and vitality, the fact that I pay just 50 bucks a month for all four of these supplements, seems like a total steal.
Here is where I have found the best prices and best quality.
I buy progesterone and prognenolone from a place called Supplementspot.com. I get the progesterone gel in the pump bottle; and each pump is very consistent in delivering 15 mg of progesterone per pump (so I take 4 pumps a day).
It's important, by the way, to only ever get bioidentical hormones, as these are closer to nature and studies have shown that they are safer and more effective than their synthetic counterparts.
I get my DHEA from Walgreen's.
I buy D–Aspartic acid on Amazon. I use a brand called “Finaflex Pure Test”, but since I am increasing my daily dosage I just bought a brand called “Hard Rhino D Aspartic acid”.
If you are interested in learning more, I have told Garry I would be glad to write more about progesterone, pregnenolone, and testosterone; including their relationship to cholesterol (they all come from the LDL “bad” cholesterol — for which I took statins and which ironically may have contributed to my low testosterone). I have been studying this stuff almost daily for the last three and a half years and am glad to share what I have learned. Your thoughts, comments and questions are welcome.
David Mills is a retired personal injury attorney with a keen interest in medicine. Over the 35 years he spent in this career, he has amassed a team of reliable medical experts he can consult at any time.
David has had a lifelong influence from medicine. His father (deceased) taught medical and graduate school for 40 years. His brother, with a PhD in biophysics, has spent 30 years doing human biochemical and medical university research. His wife is a registered nurse.
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Hi David.
Do you cycle the D aspartic acid eg two weeks on, one week off or take it every day?
When I took it regularly, I did not cycle.
Dave
Have you ever tested your progesterone levels? I did a saliva test at ZRT labs and after taking only 12.5 mg of pregnenolone and DHEA for around 2 months the said my progesterone level was an extreme 29,217 pg/mL (normal range 12-100)
I’ve never even taking any progesterone
email me at [email protected] as I’m not able to read the latest comments on here for some reason
I found out that the saliva results are an error due to the fact I was taking sublingual pregnenolone. ZRT labs does a good job of not letting you know that as the only place it is written is on the back of instruction sheet in small lettering.
What do you mean Dan, ZRT labs doesn’t let you know that taking sublingual pregnenolone can skew your saliva tests? Please elaborate.
I contacted the BBB about this issue. The only place they state that using sublinquals or troches is on the BACK of the small instruction sheet NOT in the area of “collection instructions”. I told the BBB that they need to be putting in BOLD LARGE LETTERS on the website above EACH saliva kit that you should NOT be using sublinquals or troches if doing a saliva test. I’m sure they are making a nice revenue on repeat business due to false lab readings. I was not too pleased to say the least. They did mail me another kit but I’ve got a sour taste in my mouth toward the way they do business. They also need to have a large lid that goes over the top of the tube like 23andme.com uses. Trying to spit in that little vial is a joke.
Hi David I’m 62 have had a lot of surgerys and just got off the narcotics have started working out again to try and build back up extremly hard to loose any weight I’m 6’1 226lbs your post is very encouraging I just don’t know much about the stuff you used I’m ready to try it just a little nervous about overload of any of these how long were you on this I’m taking force factor test 180 don’t think it’s doing a thing please advise thanks Rick.
I presume the narcotics were for pain from the surgeries.
Progesterone is a great pain killer in high doses. Without progesterone women would not be able to tolerate the pain of childbirth. What I take, 60 mg a day, is a bout 1/4 of what the placenta makes daily during the third trimester of childbirth.
And remember, as fetus, you were literally bathing in the stuff.
So it is very safe.
I have not found it helpful in losing weight, however.
But at least I am pain free enough to exercise. And since it is a great anti-inflammatory, it helps with inflammation.
This summer I have been spending about an hour and a half 6 days a week in the pool teaching my grand-kids to swim. I have a new maxim: ‘What gravity drops, hydraulics lifts.” Though I haven’t lost any weight, I have toned up a lot. I am sure progesterone keeps me able to be in the pool that long.
So progesterone may help you get and stay off narcotics and work out better.
That’s a great maxim there David. A lot of people with chronic lower back pain who get no relief from any position, whether standing, lying or seated, often find relief in the swimming pool.
Two other ways to counteract the effects of gravity, that I’ve heard some notable figures mention even helps delay aging, are hanging on an overhead bar with your arms (which includes doing lots of exercises like chinups, pullups, and muscle-overs) to relieve spinal compression; and doing handstands, handstand pushups, or just hanging upside down with your feet strapped to a pullup bar to reverse the effects of gravity on your whole body.
Garry, I am specifically talking about being in water vertically up to at least your neck and preferably over your head so you can stay vertical. When you are swimming you are horizontal and I don’t think that takes any more pressure off your spine than laying down.
There are many people, especially older people who can’t invert themselves out of water due to high blood pressure or the possibility of causing some kind of blood vessel issue like clots.
And unless you are an ape, you probably can’t hang long enough to really stretch out your spine. I am beginning to think that being in the water for an hour a day is about the minimum time to really do some good. And two hours is better. Plus you have resistance in every direction the whole time. Lots of crossover muscle work.
After taking 3000 mg of Daspartic acid a day for one week my T went from 8.1 (10-32) to 17.3. LH is 4.3 (1.6-8.0) I am waiting for delivery of pregnenolone 50mg pills and am excited about future results. Do you think i should get progesterone cream too or will the pregnenolone convert into progesterone?
Hey Ollie. I’ll let David answer your question about the pregnenolone/progesterone.
Have you noticed any changes in how you feel or any changes in your body since your testosterone has gone up?
Yeah Garry extreme change in energy and happyness. Both way up. Might sound funny but music even sounds better now. No real changes in my body except now i have ‘morning wood’ every morning
Wow, sounds great! Amazing the kind of changes just focusing on boosting this one hormone can bring.
Was your LH 4.3 before taking the D-Aspartic Acid or after?
And if you are going to take D-Aspartic acid for an extended period of time, I highly recommend you take progesterone and pregnenolone and some DHEA with it so you do not use up all of these precursors just on making testosterone. You need a plentiful supply of these precursors or eventually you will not be able to make T. Using up these precursors is why some people suggest cycling on and off.
But I don’t really like the idea of cycling on and off? Why? You don’t want these precursors to get low at all. These precursors have very important body functions of their own and you will be shutting down these processes if they all are used in making T.
LH was 4.3 after taking Daspartic. Not sure what it was before. the doctor only had the hormone profile figure – 8.1. But after some reading (especially your page) i got him to do a full test- albumin, hormone, SHBG, LH, and free T.
Thanks for that answer, you explained it beautifully. I will order some cream…
Having a real hard time reading these comments…
Hi Ollie. What problems are you experiencing exactly? Please let me know and I’ll see if I can improve the settings for you.
I can only read page 7 some of the time. Probably one out of five times i load it. I cant read any of the other comments and it looks like there is quite a few
Thanks Ollie. I’m going to try to install a new theme soon, hopefully it’ll sort things out.
Hey David it’s rick again thanks for responding yes the narcotics were from multiple surgerys I started taking your regimine today wow I felt supercharged 2\3 rds of the day and actually no real pain.
Even not taking my 800 mg ibuprofen thats a first also i have a couple of questions the squirt gel says to take 2 pumps twice a day is that what you did or can you do them all in the morning it’s a little bit of a pain to put that stuff on with a glove also or do I need to worry about that and just wash my hands real good I’m taking 1500 mg of d-aspartic acid do you think I should start low and work up or not everything else I’m taking exactly what you said my wife also sent you a question thanks so much from both of us hope it works like it did for you. Rick
I usually do four pumps a day at once. I don’t use gloves. I want what ever I get on my hands to be absorbed as well.
It might make better sense to put it on twice a day. Progesterone has a half life of 13 hours as I recall so you might get a more even pain relief doing it twice a day.
But putting it on twice a day can be a nuisance. That is for sure.
Hope it continues to help.
Garry. I got a couple of emails from a guy named Levi. But his posts don’t show here for me to respond to that I can find.
Hi David. They haven’t come through here as far as I can tell. I checked my spam folder too, nothing. If he emailed the same info to you, maybe you can paste his emails on here and give your reply for all to see?
Update: Ah! Found it! You’ll find Levi’s comment if you click the “Older Comments” link at the bottom of the comments section. Levi’s comment is comment page #6, here:
https://chestsculpting.com/how-i-boosted-testosterone-and-reduced-estrogen-with-a-regimen-of-progesterone-pregnenolone-dhea-and-d-aspartic-acid/comment-page-6/#comments
I’ve added in your reply.
Hi David, thanks once more this article but my result after giving your regime a go got my female friends asking how is going work for them as opposite sex
Friend 1 is 32 years of age her prolactin levels was so high up to 9000 with tumour growing. Her weight rocketed from size uk 10 to18.They put her on Cabergoline 500mg X 2 a week. level went down and tumor shrank but on medication still. since then she has been struggling with weight loss for over 6 years now.
Friends no 2, 28 years of age was a basketball player until 5 years ago.she’s in good shape with ability to build good lean muscles but fat distribution didn’t get to her breast at all and minimal at the butt. She’s trying to increase fat around breast and butt for so many years now but no luck at all.
what suppliment or advice can help this 2 wonderful women balance their hormones and be happy again. Thanks a lot for what you doing here helping people’s lives. God will reward you in his own way. Waiting to hear from you soon
There is an absolutely fantastic website primarily for women called progesteronetherapy.com. The owner of that website is particularly knowledgeable about progesterone, far more than I am.
Although one of my daughters takes progesterone at my recommendation, I don’t feel very confident in making suggestions for women.
But Wray Wright, who is the owner of that website has been extremely helpful and many other posters are as well.
Hey David Rick wow I got my ZRT levels prior to starting your regimen I must be dead my estradiol is 0.5 pg/ml my testosterone 56 pg/ml, dhea 1.6 ng/ml this is all saliva tests.
Wasn’t really sure how to compare them with yours because of the pg/ml to your ng/ml found a conversion but I basically don’t hardly have anything hope they build would you recommend staying with what you took or to increase anything hope I’m not bothering you thanks, Rick.
I would start with my regimen and adapt it for yourself. Whenever I am really hurting I up my progesterone and I put it on the areas that hurt the most. I sprained my knee recently and my wrist and I have been putting most of my progesterone on them and upped it to about 120 mg a day. On the days I really hurt. When you were a fetus you were swimming in a placenta that made 400 mg per day. So that it is really hard to OD on this stuff. The problem for every one if us is that no one really knows what our baseline should be because none of us were ever tested when we were younger.
I just know progesterone really helps my pain and inflammation. And getting my testosterone in the high normal range does as well.
Hi David I am much younger only 32. However my main problem is wondering about “gyno” seeing if your regiment would still be a good one to start with? I have recently loosing the few extra pounds I had but battle back n forth with the puffiness in my chest area etc… Also I do have a lumber? back pain from a work injury suffered 4 yrs or so… I have not been tested yet to be diagonois. Wondering the best place, and actually how to get started..
If you have gynocomastia, you definitely want to take progesterone. It may be enough by itself. 15 to 30 mg topical per day and I would put it right on your chest.
For your lumbar area, you might need 60mg topical a day or you might only need 15 to 30 mg of progesterone a day. Also put it directly on your back where you are hurting.
If you are treating both at the same time, I would start with 30 mg per day and put half on your chest and half on your back. If that doesn’t resolve your symptoms go up to 60mg a day and split it half and half on your back and chest.
Hi David.
I understand that you are at least a little bit concerned about the potential side effects of DHEA and because of that you’ve lowered your dose to 25 mg per week rather than the recommended 25 mg per day. Have you considered replacing DHEA with its (likely) safer cousin 7-Keto DHEA? What do you think would be the implications of this change?
Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts on this.
Shawn.
I have since changed my regimen. I take 25 mg of DHEA a day now. I think I was way too conservative to begin with and also concerned that it is banned in sports. I don’t know that I would recommend that young people take this much. But I am 66 now and I doubt that it is going to do much to me at my age.
I also do not take D-Aspartic acid regularly any more either.
I did it basically to reduce the cost since D-Aspartic Acid is far more expensive than DHEA. I am retired and have to budget far more than I used to.
I really don’t know the effects of both changes because my doctor refuses to test me.
Hi! I am 22 years old and just bought some andro plus cream.
After taking it for a couple weeks though I am running out.
I have noticed a lot of benefits from taking it and I have gotten so much more stuff done and I have also been consistently working out on a regular basis.
I know I have a hormone deficiency because I had gynecomastia when I was 11 that never went away until my surgery at 19.
I was wondering if this regimen is effective for young folk trying to up their body’s natural production because i DISLIKE the idea of being dependent on synthetic stuff.
Also, how might you modify it for younger men?
All I can says is that the guru of progesterone, Dr. Ray Peat, advised that younger men take pregnenolone rather than progesterone. It has been years since I read that comment and I have forgotten what his reasons were.
But I think you could take pregnenolone. Some people do experience some side effects with pregnenolone and if you decide to take it, and you have them, you should obviously stop.
Dr. Peat always recommended taking the minimum dose of progesterone and pregnenolone that resolved the patient’s symptoms. It does no good, and could be harmful to take more than you need.
If you think you might want to take progesterone anyway, you might ask Wray Wright at progesteronetherapy.com about it. She is the most knowledgeable person on the internet who will actually answer questions about these drugs. She is very good at responding to questions from both men and women.
It is suggested that readers considering taking pregnenolone read this information paper on this hormon: http://www.raysahelian.com/pregnenolone.html
100 mg is an extremely high dose with documented side effects.
What is effective for one person may be hazardous to another.
Every one of these drugs has possible side effects. I am not an MD and do not claim to be. If you are going to take anything based on someone’s internet advice, you really take it at your own risk. You are your own guinea pig.
I have been my guinea pig now on this regimen. All I cans say is that I have never experienced any negative side effects on it. One person emailed me and said that he had some side effects from pregnenolone. And he stopped. Which is what he should have done if he had side effects. But only one person I know has ever had side effects bad enough to quit.
I don’t take statins because I hate the side effects. I quit taking testosterone because I hated the side effects.
Hi David, thankyou for the article. Coincidentally I’d stumbled across a similar cocktail myself but with the addition of Maca. Unfortunately the combination is giving me terrible insomnia and causes me to overheat at night. I’m going to have to play around with the dosages. Have you ever noticed anything in that regard?
Thanks
I don’t know what Maca is. Never tried it. I don’t have insomnia and I don’t get hot at night.
Great article! I am suffering from low T at just 31 and I guess I have been all my life, according to the symptoms. Doctors don’t want to deal with the problem, and a private one will probably put me on TRT with dangerous side effects.
I’ve just ordered prenenolone and thyroid today because its probably low as well (cold feet and hands). I’ll see the results, but if it’s not what I wanted, I’ll try your regimen. Did you try 7-keto DHEA? I’ve read that is less side effects than DHEA.
I have not tried 7-keto DHEA.
I had blood work done for my levels and my testosterone was like a 316 and that was when I was 27, I’m 30 now, do you think the progesterone would help or your regimen??
Yes I think it would but Dr. Peat always recommended young men take pregnenolone rather than progesterone. I could never figure out why but I am reluctant to say young men should take progesterone because Dr. Peat did not recommend it.
DHEA worked for me.. very well.. I guess I had an undiagnosed adrenal fatigue ..also due to increasing age.
Progesterone is 5 alpha reductase inhibitor, for those who had low Testosterone, and no issue with excessive DHT, progesterone may not necessarily be good for you. If you are taking saw palmetto or nettle or etc herbs.. to block DHT.. and then taking progesterone, that would likely be a killer ..and would significantly kill your libido (and mood). It is like the lights are being switched off entirely.. that happened to me when DHT was blocked excessively. I didnt know that DHT is actually very crucial for libido (I thought it was only testosterone)… so be careful.. blocking DHT excessively could give you a very surprising unwanted side effect
If I remember correctly, before I started doing my regimen I was put on a 5 alpha reductase inhibitor and it really did knock out my libido and the ability to have an erection or an orgasm. I was put on the drug to shrink my prostate. It was a bad side effect.
But progesterone has never given me a similar experience. Perhaps the natural hormone, rather than the synthetic 5 alpha reductase inhibitors, just works better without the side effects.
Since I have been on my regimen I have never had an enlarged prostate.
Hi David. Been a while, 8 months since I started taking the regimen. I had my saliva tested @ ZRT labs when I started and again just a week ago and I was shocked! My T level went down 3 pg and my DHEA was down a little also. I’m not sure if it’s me or what. I would do the serum test but it’s so hard to get blood out of me they have to use a pick line whenever I have to have a surgery. Also thinking my inability to produce T may be due to the fact I lost one testicle in a motorcycle wreck in my youth. Seriously thinking about getting on TRT therapy don’t want to but my results indicate andropause and I have been working out like an animal for 8 months now with very little results compared to what I use to be able to build up to firmer but not bigger and it’s hard to keep going any advice would be great. Thanks. Rick.
[All caps removed and punctuation added for readability by site owner. Hope you don’t mind Rick.]
I could not make T because my LH levels were so low. That could be your problem or it could be that since you only have one testicle you might not be able to make much. But I think you are where you need to see what the doctors say if you have been on the regimen for eight months with no increase in T.
What about your estrogen levels? Did it make any difference with them?
Yes my levels are estradiol <0.5 pg/ml progesterone 297 pg/ml testosterone 53 pg/ml dheas 1.4 ng/ml. I don’t really have a family doctor and have checked the internet on these male clinics here they both appear to be Viagra pushing to get you in the door then rip your head off on the low t end well I don't have an erection problem just low energy slow muscle build and more overall pain than I'd like to have like you with your back me too any ideas about a safe place to go? Thanks Rick.
You use DAA every day even tho the bottle says use for 90 days and stop? Is it supposed to be cycled? Just curious.
I don’t use it everyday any more like I once did. But I never had issues with it. I think the danger in using it every day was the possibility that you would run out of testosterone precursors and that could rob your body of much needed progesterone, pregnenolone and DHEA for other needs. But since I was taking all of these every day, I never had an issue.
I quit taking DAA every day due to cost. It was hard for me to tell whether I needed it that often and the only way I could be sure it was helping was to have frequent testosterone tests which my present doctor won’t do. It is hard to justify spending money when you can’t get lab results to verify whatever you are doing. And I am retired and on social security so cost matters some. If I was still working I probably would still be taking it and I might be going to a doctor who would authorize more tests.
I have found it very hard to find a doctor who will support me and my regimen. So it really is hard to find out what part of my regimen really makes economic sense and what doesn’t for me now.
Thanks David. 1 more…how much DAA do you take now?
When I take it, I still take 3000 mg a day. But I probably don’t take it more than every other month or so.
Dear David, thank you for an amazing post. I was just wondering about the dosage of Progesteron. In most creams I manage to find there is only about a dose of 20mg per pump (about 1,3ml).
In the other article about Progesterone, Dr John Lee suggests 8-10mg once or twice per day. How is it that you use 60mg every day?
The cheapest alternative I could find avaliable to my country was from ‘Now foods’ for about 12$, which is OK i guess. But I think itll get quite expensive if I would need 60mg per day.
Ive had pubertal manboobs which haunted me all the way till now, im in my late 20s, bodybuilding is my main primary objective.
Dr. Peat, the worlds guru on progesterone says young men should use pregnenolone. Pregnenolone is much cheaper than progesterone so try it first. If pregnenolone doesn’t work then you might try progesterone. Your issue is probably too much estrogen. But old men turn much more testosterone into estrogen than young men do. Hopefully you would not need to take as much as an old guy like me. Start with low doses and see if they work. If you find a dosage that works it is best to use the least amount of pregnenolone or progesterone that works.
When I type progesterone (from italy) appear Wild Yam food supplement.
Is that the same thing ?
no
hi im on progest e 24mg day how long does it take to see huge benefits on this alone? im 2 weeks in.
24 mg a day is probably not enough to change your T levels much, but it may be enough to thwart gynocomastia. The big issue is your estradiol. You want to take enough to get your estradiol levels in the low range to have a good testosterone to estradiol balance.