Are there side effects of taking DHEA since it produces more estrogen than testosterone?
Pat
DHEA is a great supplement when taking in the correct dose. I’ve seen so much inappropriate dosing with DHEA, almost all of it overdosing. Well meaning clinics are grossly overdosing both men and women on DHEA every day. I just don’t believe they know what they are doing.
DHEA does something that you wouldn’t think would happen when taken in large doses. In men, a high dose gets converted into excess estrogens. It is different than what you think would happen. Too much DHEA in women, and it gets converted into excess testosterone.
Side effects?
It doesn’t produce more estrogen than testosterone as long as you take the correct dose. It doesn’t produce more testosterone than estrogen as long as you take the correct dose. In fact, given the correct dose, it will not convert to either estrogens or testosterone to any significant amount. For men, I recommend 25mg a day. For women, 5-10mg a day. That’s a nice safe dose. I’ve seen doctors, and I use that term loosely, prescribe women 200mg of DHEA a day and insist that this is what they want. It’s just poor medicine. Stick with the correct dosing and you’ll have no problems.
