Today we’re going to talk about pregnenolone.
I’m Dr. Carrie Lam. This is Dr. Michael Lam.
Pregnenolone is the mother of all hormones that come from your adrenals.
It actually starts from taking cholesterol, vitamin C, and pantthene which is vitamin B5,
and that’s what makes pregnenolone with a bunch of miraculous things in your adrenals.
So, what does pregnenolone become after that?
Well, pregnenolone is the top of the cascade, and from there it flows into multiple tracks
and then you can go through the tracks much better…
Pregnenolone can either decide to become progesterone or it can decide to become 17-hydroxypregnenolone.
After it becomes 17-hydroxypregnenolone, it can decide to either go to cortisol
or DHEA and all your other reproductive hormones.
So, it’s very important in creating all your reproductive hormones,
and cortisol and the aldosterone that is produced by your adrenals.
Well, the important significance of pregnenolone is that because it is the mother of all steroidal hormones,
it has—in the body—an autoregulation process where there’s a feedback loop
to tell the body how much and how little to produce.
Now, this fine line is regulated automatically and you don’t want to upset it.
Now, oftentimes, people see low pregnenolone levels by laboratory tests,
and the automatic mechanism is to jump to supplement with more pregnenolone,
but oftentimes, this is a common mistake
because pregnenolone can be low because much of it is shunted to make the downstream hormones.
So, if the body perceives that it needs more cortisol especially when it’s under stress,
then much of the pregnenolone can be shunted away to make the cortisol.
So leaving the pregnenolone reserve low,
and that is a normal mechanism.
You don’t want to just oversupply the pregnenolone
which then can flow to DHEA and cause a whole bunch of side effects.
Right, so you’re saying giving someone pregnenolone can actually increase the DHEA,
can increase their cortisol,
DHEA becomes testosterone and so women might be feeling more acne, hair loss.
They might be feeling more manly, aggression even in men if you take too much DHEA.
When you try to upset the cycle by manipulating,
then you're forcing certain pathways to be dominant and this is not the best way.
The best way to do it is to allow the body to self-regulate.
The body will tell the mechanisms which one to emphasize, which one not to emphasize,
and which one to shutoff and which one not to shutoff.
That way you don’t have the hirsutism, you don’t get the hair loss,
you don’t get the pimples and yet you get the rise in cortisol,
but to do this requires a different approach.
It requires a holistic nutrition approach to give the body the raw materials,
and the body will then decide what to do instead of feeding it
because when you feed it today, it could be right.
Tomorrow it could be wrong.
When you’re under stress you can need more. When you’re not under stress you can need less.
So the more you do this kind of micromanagement, the more difficult it is for the body to regain its composure.
There are some people who need the DHEA and the pregnenolone.
Certainly, and in those situations,
we are very careful to give and monitor the right dosage,
the right delivery system.
The delivery system makes a big difference actually.
Faster or slower-
sublingual for example is faster. Transdermal for example is slower.
Both have its advantages.
Sometimes you don’t want too fast of a release. Sometimes you do want a fast release.
So you really have to understand all the mechanisms of what is involved,
the bigger picture or the blueprint of what you’re trying to accomplish.
That way you know what to give, how to give,
when to give, and do it properly.
So, that is pregnenolone, our mother of hormones that makes all the other hormones.
Be careful when you take it.
Always have an experienced practitioner who is telling you how to do it,
how to test for it. Don’t do this by yourself.
If you have any questions, definitely ask us in the comments down below.
Like our video and share it.
We’re here to just empower you to take control of your health.
I hope you enjoyed this video.