Question: The use of pregnenolone to manage perimenopausal symptoms, particularly insomnia.
Carrie: Well, so here's the thing about pregnenolone. Oral or sublingual, so if you've got drops or little tables you suck on. Pregnenolone and progesterone, when they go through first pass, so you swallow them and then you go through first pass, they turn into other metabolites. One is called allo, which is short for allopregnanolone. Allo binds to your GABA receptors in your brain. Allo can cross the blood-brain barrier, binds to GABA. GABA, of course, is your calming, relaxing, everything is going to be okay hormone. Pregnenolone, oral pregnenolone and oral progesterone actually work on the anxiety and on the insomnia from a GABA point of view.
This Q&A can also be found as part of a much longer episode, here:
https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/podcast/2019/10/19/ask-us-anything-hormones-dr-carrie-jones-may-10-2019
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DISCLAIMER: I have a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and my expertise is in performing and evaluating nutritional research. I am not a medical doctor and nothing herein is medical advice.
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Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.
Chris Masterjohn, PhD, is the Founder and Scientific Director of the mitochondria test Mitome.