Pregnenolone Dosing: 5 Mistakes I Made (So You Don't Have To)

So I'm sitting in my home office at 2 AM on a Wednesday in March 2023, staring at my Amazon order history. $237.89 spent on pregnenolone supplements over six months. Three different brands - Life Extension pregnenolone, Pure Encapsulations pregnenolone, and some cheap micronized pregnenolone that came in a sketchy brown bottle. And here's the thing that's keeping me up: I have no idea if any of it actually worked.

My bottle of pregnenolone 50 mg sits on my desk next to my coffee mug (the one with the faded CrossFit logo). I'd been taking it for cognitive benefits - sharper memory, better focus, maybe some mood support. The internet called pregnenolone the "mother hormone" because it converts to other hormones like DHEA, progesterone, and downstream to testosterone and estrogen. Sounded promising. I jumped in without a real plan.

That was my first mistake.

TL;DR - Quick Answer: The 5 biggest pregnenolone dosing mistakes are: (1) starting too high without bloodwork, (2) taking it at night instead of morning, (3) ignoring the pregnenolone-DHEA ratio, (4) using non-micronized forms, and (5) not cycling or monitoring conversion. I learned these the expensive way so you don't have to.

The "More Is Better" Disaster (Mistake #1)

I started with pregnenolone 100 mg because some forum post said "most people need at least 100mg to feel anything." This guy claimed he took 200mg daily and felt like a superhero. I ordered Life Extension pregnenolone 100mg capsules - they arrived on a Tuesday (I remember because the UPS guy left them in the rain and the box was soggy).

Day one: I pop 100mg with breakfast. Feel fine. Day two: same thing. Day three: I wake up with this weird anxiety I can't explain. My heart's racing slightly. I'm irritable at my girlfriend over something stupid - she left a wet towel on the bed, and I snapped at her like she'd committed a crime. That wasn't normal for me.

I didn't connect it to the pregnenolone supplement at first. I thought maybe I'd had too much coffee. But by day five, I felt wired and tired at the same time - this jittery exhaustion that made no sense. I'm checking my notes from that week, and I wrote: "Feel like shit. Can't focus. Thought this was supposed to help cognition?"

Here's what I learned after reading like 30 research papers and talking to my doctor: pregnenolone converts downstream to other hormones. If you flood your system with high-dose pregnenolone without knowing your baseline hormone levels, you're basically gambling. In my case, I suspect it was converting heavily to cortisol or estrogen, throwing everything out of whack.

What I should have done: Get bloodwork first. Then start with pregnenolone 10 mg or pregnenolone 25 mg and titrate up slowly over weeks. Most people don't need 100mg. I eventually found my sweet spot at 30mg, but it took months of trial and error to get there.

The Nighttime Dosing Mistake (Mistake #2)

Around week three of my pregnenolone experiment (after I'd backed down to 50mg), I read some article about taking supplements before bed for overnight recovery. The logic sounded good: your body does most of its hormone production at night, so why not support it with pregnenolone while you sleep?

I shifted my dose to 9 PM. Took my pregnenolone 50 mg capsule with a glass of water, brushed my teeth, went to bed around 10:30 PM.

2:47 AM - I'm wide awake. Not the "I need to pee" awake. The "my brain is running a marathon" awake. I'm lying there thinking about a work project from 2019. Then I'm mentally reorganizing my garage. Then I'm wondering if I should finally fix that leaky faucet. My wife's snoring next to me (she can sleep through anything), and I'm staring at the ceiling with thoughts racing.

This happened three nights in a row before I realized: the pregnenolone supplement was the only thing I'd changed. I searched "pregnenolone insomnia" on Reddit at 3 AM and found dozens of people with the same experience.

Turns out, pregnenolone can be stimulating for a lot of people. It's a neurosteroid - it affects GABA receptors and can enhance alertness and cognitive function. Taking it at night is like drinking espresso before bed for some people.

What I should have done: Take pregnenolone in the morning with breakfast, just like I do with my other supplements. When I switched to AM dosing, the sleep issues vanished within two days. Now my pregnenolone 30 mg goes down at 7 AM with my eggs and coffee, and I sleep fine.

Ignoring DHEA (Mistake #3)

Month four of supplementing with pregnenolone, I decided to get bloodwork done. Finally being smart about this. I went to Quest Diagnostics on a Friday morning - fasted, grumpy, desperately wanting coffee. The phlebotomist was this chatty woman who told me about her son's baseball tournament while drawing my blood. I wasn't listening. I just wanted my results.

Results came back the following Tuesday. I opened the PDF sitting at my kitchen table. My pregnenolone levels looked fine - mid-range. But my DHEA? Crashed. It was at the bottom of the reference range, almost flagged as low.

I called my doctor (had to wait on hold for 15 minutes while some smooth jazz version of "Piano Man" played on repeat). When I finally got through, she explained: pregnenolone doesn't always convert efficiently to DHEA in everyone. Some people's bodies preferentially convert it to progesterone or other pathways. By taking pregnenolone alone, I might have been creating an imbalance.

The internet is full of people talking about "pregnenolone steal" - the idea that high stress or cortisol production diverts pregnenolone away from DHEA and testosterone production. I don't know if that's exactly what was happening to me, but my numbers didn't lie: I was taking pregnenolone, but my DHEA was tanking.

What I should have done: Monitor both pregnenolone AND DHEA levels. Some people do better with a combination approach - either DHEA plus pregnenolone together, or alternating days. I started taking a low dose DHEA and pregnenolone combo (25mg pregnenolone + 15mg DHEA), and my next bloodwork three months later showed both in healthy ranges. There are even supplements marketed as "pregnenolone plus DHEA" or "DHEA pregnenolone" combos for this exact reason.

Should You Take DHEA and Pregnenolone Together?

Based on my experience and research: yes, if your bloodwork shows low DHEA. No, if your DHEA is already optimal. Get tested first. Don't guess. I wasted four months guessing.

The Micronization Mistake (Mistake #4)

Early on, I bought the cheapest pregnenolone I could find on Amazon - $12.99 for 60 capsules of pregnenolone 50 mg. The bottle said "pregnenolone supplement" and had a generic white label. No mention of "micronized pregnenolone" anywhere. I figured pregnenolone is pregnenolone, right?

Wrong.

I took that cheap stuff for about three weeks and felt absolutely nothing. No cognitive boost, no mood changes, no energy difference. Just $13 down the drain. Meanwhile, I'm reading forum posts about people raving about Life Extension pregnenolone or Pure Encapsulations pregnenolone, and I'm thinking, "What am I doing wrong?"

Then I stumbled on an article about bioavailability. Pregnenolone, like many hormones, is fat-soluble and not easily absorbed in its raw powder form. Micronized pregnenolone is processed into smaller particles that absorb much better - some studies suggest 3-4x better absorption than non-micronized forms.

I ordered Life Extension pregnenolone (which is micronized) and tried 30mg. Within a week, I noticed a difference - subtle, but real. My brain fog at 2 PM wasn't as heavy. I could recall names and details a bit faster in meetings. It wasn't magic, but it was noticeable.

What I should have done: Only buy micronized pregnenolone from reputable brands. Life Extension, Pure Encapsulations, and a few others explicitly state "micronized" on the label. It costs more - maybe $20-30 per bottle instead of $12 - but you're actually absorbing it. There's also pregnenolone sublingual options (dissolves under the tongue) which some people prefer, though I haven't tried that route.

The "Set It and Forget It" Mistake (Mistake #5)

By month five, I'd dialed in my dose: pregnenolone 30 mg, micronized, taken at 7 AM with food. I felt good. Sharper cognition, stable mood, decent energy. I thought, "Great, I'll just take this forever."

Month eight, I started feeling off again. That same weird anxiety from the beginning crept back in. My sleep got a little worse - not terrible, but I was waking up once or twice a night. I couldn't figure out why. I hadn't changed my dose or timing.

I got bloodwork again (another Friday morning at Quest, another chatty phlebotomist - different woman this time, told me about her garden). Results: my pregnenolone levels were now in the high-normal range, and my estradiol (an estrogen metabolite) had climbed higher than I wanted.

My doctor explained: when you supplement hormones or hormone precursors long-term, your body's feedback loops can shift. What worked great at month three might create imbalances by month eight. Some people's bodies downregulate natural production when you supplement consistently. Others start converting pregnenolone differently over time.

What I should have done: Cycle pregnenolone or at least retest every 3-4 months. I now take breaks - I'll do 8 weeks on, 2 weeks off. Or sometimes I drop down to pregnenolone 10 mg for a few weeks as a "maintenance dose" before going back to 30mg. And I retest my hormone panel every 4 months to make sure nothing's drifting out of range.

Some people also experiment with pregnenolone CRT (controlled-release tablets) to smooth out levels throughout the day, though I haven't personally tried that. And for those combining therapies, there's even products like Cognitex Elite from Life Extension that include pregnenolone along with other cognitive-supporting nutrients - though that's more of a comprehensive nootropic stack than pure pregnenolone dosing.

Other Lessons: What I Wish I'd Known

Beyond the five big mistakes, a few smaller things I learned:

What I'd Tell My Past Self

It's now been about 18 months since I first opened that soggy box of Life Extension pregnenolone 100 mg. If I could go back to that version of me - the guy who thought he could just pop 100mg and optimize his hormones without a plan - here's what I'd say:

Get bloodwork first. Not optional. You need to know your baseline pregnenolone, DHEA, testosterone, estradiol, and cortisol. Otherwise, you're flying blind. A hormone panel costs about $150-200 out of pocket if your insurance doesn't cover it. I spent more than that on wasted supplements.

Start low. Pregnenolone 10 mg or pregnenolone 25 mg. Take it for two weeks. If you feel nothing, bump to 30mg. Then maybe 50mg. Only go to 100mg if bloodwork and how you feel justify it. Most people don't need that much.

Take it in the morning. With food. Preferably something with fat since it's fat-soluble. I do mine with eggs and avocado.

Monitor DHEA. If you're supplementing with pregnenolone and your DHEA tanks, you might need to add DHEA. Or switch to a DHEA and pregnenolone combo product. Blood tests every 3-4 months will show you what's happening.

Only use micronized. Seriously. Don't cheap out. Brands like Life Extension, Pure Encapsulations, and others that explicitly state "micronized pregnenolone" are worth the extra cost.

Cycle and retest. Don't take the same dose forever without monitoring. Your body adapts. Take breaks or adjust doses based on how you feel and what your bloodwork shows.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the best pregnenolone supplement?

Based on my experience: Life Extension pregnenolone (micronized, clean ingredients, consistent quality) or Pure Encapsulations pregnenolone (pharmaceutical-grade, hypoallergenic). Both worked well for me. Avoid random Amazon brands that don't specify micronization.

Can you buy pregnenolone at CVS or other drugstores?

You can sometimes find pregnenolone CVS or at Walgreens, but the selection is limited and often not micronized. I've had better luck ordering online from reputable supplement retailers or directly from brands like Life Extension. Amazon works too if you stick to known brands - just search "micronized pregnenolone" or "best pregnenolone" and read reviews carefully.

Should I take pregnenolone with other peptides or hormones?

I currently take pregnenolone alongside enclomiphene (for testosterone support) and occasionally ARA 290 (for inflammation and recovery). They seem to work fine together, but I spaced out when I started each one by at least a month so I could isolate effects. Never start multiple hormone-affecting compounds at once - you won't know what's doing what.

How long does it take for pregnenolone to work?

For me, subtle cognitive benefits showed up around week 2-3. Mood stabilization took closer to 4-6 weeks. It's not a quick fix. Some people report feeling more alert within days, but I think that's placebo or they're very responsive. Give it at least a month at a stable dose before deciding if it works for you.

The Moment It Clicked

I'm back in my home office, but it's not 2 AM anymore. It's 10 AM on a Thursday in September 2024. I just got my latest bloodwork back. Pregnenolone: mid-range. DHEA: mid-range. Testosterone: 680 ng/dL (up from 310 when I started this whole biohacking journey six years ago). Estradiol: in check. Cortisol: normal.

I look at my current bottle - pregnenolone 30 mg, micronized, from Life Extension. I've been at this dose for three months, feeling solid. Sharp at work, sleeping well, mood stable. No weird anxiety, no jitters, no crashes.

It took me $237.89 in wasted supplements, months of feeling like garbage, three rounds of bloodwork, and a lot of trial and error to get here. But here's what I know now that I didn't know when I started: pregnenolone isn't magic, but it's not useless either. It's a tool. And like any tool, you need to use it correctly.

The guy who bought pregnenolone 100 mg and just started popping pills without a plan? He wasted time and money. The guy who spent six months learning, testing, adjusting, and tracking? He actually dialed in something that works.

I'm not a medical professional - this is just my personal experience. Always talk to your doctor before trying pregnenolone or any hormone-related supplement. What worked for me might not work for you. Your biochemistry is different. Your goals are different. But if you're going to experiment with supplementing with pregnenolone, at least learn from my mistakes.

Start low, test often, and don't guess. That's the difference between wasting money and actually optimizing your health.