Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group

I took it in the 90s and it helped and didn't hurt. I don't know why I stopped, except that I had to change due to an insurance change. I should probably go back on it...hugs jilly

I meant to say that I changed doctors...

I think for men it's more useful....

I believe it increases testosterone. If you take too much it converts to a hair hormone and you will loose hair because it speeds up the process (I think).

It does give you energy. You will know within a few days if you're taking too much because you'll loose more hair.

It will increase your sex drive.

I have tried using it and I still have some.....it depends on if you are lacking DHEA. It may or may not decrease your inflammation. It will probably increase your muscle strength and help you loose weight.

For women, it works differently. Some of it converts to Estrogen (if my memory is correct). Women too will loose hair if they take too much...it's not a drastic amount or anything. Breasts will generally get bigger too and sex drive increases generally speaking.

Bistro..type it in the Search bar on DS and see what other people say about it. Oh and it can increase acne. For some people this really does the trick with their autoimmune disease.

Good luck!
-Sarah

I took it but it increased my sex drive so much I could not think of anything else. Unfortunatly it did not do the same for my husband.

Sounds like a wonder drug!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lose weight, more sex...oh heck, I'll take the pimples if it will do THAT.

Sorry. Carry on...

where can I get my hands on this stuff, sex drugs and rock and roll, yeah baby!!

Tessie,

Unfortunately, I believe the weight loss only happens with the men, but the perks of course is your boobs get bigger, making your waist look smaller! lol

Downfalls: Too much estrogen created for women can have serious side effects down the line, namely cancer. Such a fine line!!
-Sarah

I took it for about 7 months, in 2005, with no known effects. My PCP, at the time, was an internist who had two primary directions in her practice. One was the belief that environmental issues are breaking down immune response, which, in turn causes much of the increased disease in today's world. The other "specialty" was anti-aging treatments.

I believed that she had something to offer, but she ended up becming more of a supplement salesperson than doctor. I tried the DHEA for 6 months, without seeing any results, so I tried to find information that would convince me of it's efficacy ---- for anything. I spent the next month checking out info on the interwebs, and finally concluded that there just isn't any substantial body of research that was conclusive. So, I stopped taking it, with no known change.

DHEA is not a true hormone, but does seem to stimulate the production of testosterone and estrogen, I believe from cholesterol. DHEA is produced by the adrenal glands, and I wondered if there was a connection between prednisone use and lowered DHEA levels, but I never found any info that backed that up. I believe that DHEA levels naturally decline with age.

My doctor also had me get testerone injections every 2 weeks. Once again, no noticable benefit.

I hope you'll do some research before you take it, and hope also that you'll share what you learn.

You know it took me a couple of minutes but I just realized that, DHEA is being talked about in an RA forum...and I'm reading some information here that seems erroneous and it tweaks my memory...

I was prescribed DHEA by my doctor in the early 90's when you still needed a prescription AND you had to mail away for it because local pharmacies didn't carry the lower doses required for treatment of certain problems.

I did not have RA at the time and it was not a possible suspect at the time. I had a small list of problems that included Fibromyalgia, hypothyroid, asthma and hypoglycemia.

So I turned to one of my favorite reference books, "Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine" revised 2nd Ed. by Michael Murray, N. D. and ....
I look up DHEA and I see that in addition to the problems I had it is also looked at as a possible treatment for RA, ding - lite bulb over head goes on! Oh, so that's why you all are talking about it, lol.

I hope you get an opportunity to look in this book there is a lot of excellent information, cited with real scientific research. The authors make it clear that dosages are different for various issues, sex and age of the people taking it. There is no standard dosage across the board for DHEA and they would be happier if it was still controlled by script.

DHEA is an adrenal hormone that is a precursor for all other steroid hormones in the human body, including sex hormones and corticosteroids. DHEA levels tend to decline with aging. At the time the book was written a number of studies demonstrated that declining levels of DHEA were linked to conditions such as diabetes, obesity, arthritis, autoimmune diseases, and others...

For our purposes here the authors only recommend it on a narrow basis. For RA in women under 40 the dosage may be 50 to 100 mg per day. But this dosage can result in acne during the first few weeks.

For premenopausal women they do not recommend DHEA unless these levels are low, because many women have an increase in DHEA levels as they approach menopause - too much can result in acne and facial hair.

After menopause it should be used with caution and in low doses (5 to 15 mg). Unless the woman has an autoimmune disease.

Please remember I am not a doctor and this information that I have posted came from the book listed at the beginning of my post. I was very lucky to be treated by a dr in the early 90s who believed in a natural and holistic approach to life. He encouraged reading more about it - whatever "it" is.

So now that I have refreshed my memory regarding DHEA, I will not be taking it unless my doctor prescribes it. My hair has already attempted to migrate from my scalp to my upper lip, I sure don't need any help with facial hair LOL.

I hoped this helped answer some questions...hugs jilly



It can be recommended for men 40 to 50 who have decreased libido, fatigue, or diabetes - dosage is based on blood levels of DHEA and testosterone and usually falls into the range of 25 to 50mg.

I don't even know what DHEA is ?!?