DHEA & T vs. XX & XY

[differenceblog]

Although present in both men and women, DHEA levels are higher in men throughout life. DHEA is produced in the adrenal gland, and according to Quackwatch.com (2004) "no one knows exactly what it does in the body." DHEA is easily converted into testosterone and estrogen. A Mayo Clinic study (Nair et al, 2006) published today in the New England

Comments

[poeticalpanther]

Some good thoughts in there, for sure. I know going the other way, plenty of folk think it's a good idea to take herbal supplements containing phytoestrogens, but I've seen a study (which I wish I could find again) that pointed out that this can LOWER the effectiveness of prescribed drugs, by taking up receptor-space that would otherwise be filled with more effective estrogens than the low-powered ones found in plants. In effect, it reduces the effectiveness of the prescribed meds by muscling them out of the places they need to be to work.

[differenceblog]

Bless your soul, it is so good to get the opposite direction viewpoint. I really appreciate your comments!

I usually try to mention each day's article on an LJ community that is on a related subject, which means I'm seeing a lot of LJ communities. Today I ended up checking out herbal_t, and I can't decide if I should post to it. I don't really want to invade their space, but they do list DHEA in the interests. Thoughts?

[poeticalpanther]

Can't hurt - at worst, they'll delete it, you'll apologise, and move on. *shrug*

[neitherday]

It's interesting how things change. When I came out, non-prescribed estrogen was virtually impossible to obtain. Internet pharmacies had not yet come into existence and there was not a substantial enough black market to tap into. However, there was a thriving black market for testosterone because the demand for non-prescription T extended well beyond the trans community.

Of course online pharmacies have reversed the situation, moving non-prescribed estrogen products to the grey market while non-prescribed T remain relegated to the black market.

[astrogeek01]

I would argue that being concerned about long-term effects of any treatment that isn't well documented yet is reasonable. Just because yours also isn't, doesn't make the concern for other people invalid. At least yours is being supervised by doctor type peoples; I always worry when people try to self-medicate.

A random thing because I didn't understand a lot of the post itself... if DHEA converts readily to both testosterone and estrogen, how is taking DHEA supplements going to help with transition?

[differenceblog]

basically? It isn't.

It's marketed as being a "natural" testosterone booster, which it sort of is, but no one who's buying it for "performance enhancement" is going to want to hear that it increases estriadol, too, so they just don't mention that. (assuming I understood my reading this morning correctly).

It's not being marketed for transition. It's being sold for performance enhancement, anti-aging, and dieters.

[astrogeek01]

Ah, I see. So... in the trans community is it more prevalent for FtM to take it than MtF? Based on the marketing, I'd assume so, but that doesn't necessarily translate.

[differenceblog]

It is more prevalent in FTMs. As pointed out, MTFs are more likely to take menopause supplements, like soy.

[amberite]

Hi -- bit late but I'm running through tags in ftm.

Quackwatch is a little ... scare-driven for me to take them seriously. Most of the alt!health sites are, also -- just in the opposite direction. I usually hit the extremists on both sides (as they frequently DO have information no one else is talking about) and then check out medline or something similar for confirmation of anything that sounds remotely solid.

I have collected the following reports from various anecdotes and abstracts about DHEA: it may cause masculinizing effects, but not reliably (the most frequent anecdotal report I've seen is women losing their hair -- whoops!) and in most doses sold otc it also puts some strain on the heart and liver, which is NOT what anyone wants when they're looking towards T therapy. In safer, lower doses -- 5mg or similar -- it won't cause physical changes, but as you reference, can raise androgen levels a bit.

I've just started taking 5mg sublingually. I have noticed the following effects:

* slight change in state of mind. I don't

[differenceblog]

Thanks for sharing your experiences with this!

[amberite]

No problem. Random infospew is my middle name. :-)