DHEA and your adrenals.
Do you need to take DHEA?
Is it a supplement that you’ve been hearing about a lot?
What actually is it?
I’m Dr. Carrie Lam and this is Dr. Michael Lam.
We’re here just to teach you a little about this hormone that is so key in our bodies.
So, just, where does DHEA come from?
You have cholesterol which is taken in by your adrenals which makes pregnenolone,
and pregnenolone is the mother of all hormones.
So it can either decide to make aldosterone which is free water balancing and salt balancing in your body.
Pregnenolone also makes progesterone. Pregnenolone then can also become DHEA.
What does DHEA become?
It’s a precursor to testosterone, estrogen, and if you decide not to become DHEA,
pregnenolone can also become cortisol.
So, that’s where DHEA is. It’s made in our adrenals.
So, what is so important about DHEA?
Well, pregnenolone, DHEA, and cortisol are the three main hormones in the adrenal output.
The pregnenolone is the grandmother, so to say.
The DHEA is the mother and the daughter is cortisol.
So, this is a simple way of thinking about it.
Now, the more downstream the hormone— for example, of cortisol,
It’s stronger.
So, DHEA is less strong as cortisol and pregnenolone is less strong as DHEA.
So, it depends on what your body’s needs are then you can supplement with the right type of hormones.
Now as Dr. Carrie said,
pregnenolone is called the mother of all these steroidal hormones
because that’s like the source.
It’s gentle. iI’s more subtle,
and it spreads further down the cascade.
So, pregnenolone is a wonderful mild, what we call pro hormone.
While DHEA actually is one of the workhorses of that.
People use DHEA a lot in bodybuilding because of the testosterone downstream effect,
but in the case of adrenal fatigue, some people tend to use DHEA
especially when the DHEA level is low by laboratory test,
but oftentimes we don’t find it's really necessary.
In fact, if you use DHEA in an adrenal fatigue setting, you can actually make the body worse.
Can you expand a little more about the DHEA and lab testing?
Is it serum? Is it saliva?
What’s the best way to test?
The best way to test any hormone is to test a free hormone,
and in this case, it would be the free DHEA.
Now, unfortunately DHEA once it’s released in the body from the adrenal system,
they rapidly disintegrate.
So the half-life is so short that you cannot at this point in time,
measure the free DHEA level and the serum or the blood.
So, the surrogate is to measure what is called “DHEA-s” or “DHEA Sulfate,”
and if you see your doctor for a serum test, that is the one you will get,
and it’s a surrogate marker.
Of course, the best is actually to get the free DHEA by itself,
and that is best done through saliva
because you get the free hormones.
It’s not only DHEA.
You also get the pregnenolone and also, of course, the free cortisol as well,
but that’s the best method.
What does it mean when you have high or low levels of DHEA in your saliva?
Well, if you have high DHEA, obviously it means that the body's putting out more DHEA.
Then the question is “Well, why is it putting out more DHEA?”
You get a signal from the brain to put out more DHEA.
The HPA axis is on overdrive.
Or you have a problem converting the DHEA to a downstream hormone
resulting in the backup of DHEA and rise in DHEA.
So, high DHEA can have multiple reasons.
It’s not just one reason.
So it has to be correlated with what is really going on in the person to make good sense out of it.
Otherwise, people can actually make a lot of mistakes thinking
“Well, the DHEA is very high so let’s bring it down.”
Or, DHEA is too low just to simply bring it up
because if you have a problem with DHEA or the lab that shows low,
but actually it’s not low because it’s being shunted to make other hormones,
then over-supplementation with DHEA can actually make the body worse.
So, people with adrenal fatigue what have you seen about their DHEA levels?
Is it safe for them to take DHEA? When should they take it?
Well, the key is not to just look at the number,
and this is a very common mistake that people make is just look at the absolute number
and try to normalize the values.
As I said, this can be problematic,
especially for women because it leads to testosterone.
You can have hair loss. You can have pimples, etcetera.
So you really have to look at the whole body holistically from afar and see the adrenal functions as what is really going on.
That way, the picture will become clear whether you should use it or how to use it.
The delivery system also makes a difference. The timing also makes a difference.
The dosing makes a difference.
So it’s not something that you want to just embark on without careful consideration.
So, today we talked about what DHEA is and what hormones it makes,
and the way you can test for it even though it might be good,
and the cautions you might have if you have adrenal fatigue.
Always find an experienced practitioner before starting DHEA.
We don’t recommend it for you to just start right away if you’re doing it by yourself, okay.
So we’re here just to empower you on your health journey.
So, I hope you enjoyed this video.