What brands of oral DHEA did you use and what dosage, just to compare notes? Also did you take it with or without food?
As far as I know, the best absorbed oral method would be micronized DHEA on an empty stomach first thing in the morning (that's what I've done).
It was more than 10 yrs ago (I was in my 40s at the time) when I 1st started supplementing with DHEA & don't quite recall all the details. Way back in 1995, Life Enhancement Products re-introduced DHEA into the US. The stuff that I was getting from them back then was pure pharmaceutical grade DHEA, manufactured in Europe. I would usually take it 1st thing in the morning, just before breakfast. As I recall, I started with daily dosages of 25mg & then later bumped it up to 50mg. Other domestic suppliers such as Smart Basics (now distr by VitaCost) and TwinLabs started offering DHEA products soon after this. I had tried their products as well as others that became available. Some of those manufacturers recoemmended taking their product with a meal (which I did on acassion).
Micronized DHEA made an appearance shortly after this. I started using this form & I think that I
may have experienced a slight improvement in results with this form. After some disappointing gains in DHEA-S levels (after some initial minor gains) , I made some inquiries to the testing lab, Life Enhancement & other resources. The consensus of the feedback that I received back then was that some (many) ppl were not able to get significant levels of DHEA into their systems becuz of hostile digestive systems.
It was suggested that I try sublingual & cream version of DHEA. After 3 months of supplementing with both of these alternate forms, my levels increased significantly. After another 3 months, my levels were
quite a bit higher than what was considered normal for a male in his 20s. At that point, I decreased my supplement levels by more than half.
Currently, I am using only
10mg of
sublingual Pregnenolone (from
Source Naturals) 5 times a week as well as
25mg of 7-Keto-DHEA (from
NOW Foods) every other day. Every month or two I switch from the sublingual Preg to a Pregnenolone body cream from
Life-Flo.
~gr
Edited by systemicanomaly, 31 March 2006 - 09:06 AM.