I may have lupus (ANA+, 30 yrs nonerosive arthritis, daily fevers, extreme fatigue, mild proteinuria, low hormones - DHEA, androgens, estrogens). I am in the midst of changing rheumatologists, but my endocrinologist is ready to treat me with testosterone. I am wondering whether to first try DHEA. The doc didn't think it would help, but suggested 50mg/day (25x2) as a dose.

I am a male and I know DHEA can affect men and women differently. I have questions for both males and females.

My questions:

1. For males - what was your experience with DHEA and/or testosterone? Did it help? How soon? What symptoms did it help (if it helped)?

2. Males and females: If you took DHEA and it helped, how long did you take it before you noticed a significant improvement?

Thanks!

mendel

I (female) started taking 200mg of DHEA about a month ago, along with half of a 100mg Provigil in the morning and the other half at night. I feel like I never got sick. Crazy good results, no fatigue at all, miraculous. The prescription compounded DHEA seems to work no better than the over-the-counter Natrol DHEA for me. Natrol is much cheaper. As I have yet to grow any man-parts, I would assume it is safe for you to take at least a dose permitted for females. My rheum says up to 200 mg for me is fine. Endocrinologists to me are like chemical analysts. They look at your test results and try to normalize those, whereas good rhuems. look at treating your symptoms, regardless of your test results, and try to treat the symptoms.

Obviously I don't want to be taking testosterone, so I would prefer DHEA. Also, I've read some postings by men on remedyfind.com who say that they prefer the 7-Keto DHEA, which apparently is more readily coverted to testosterone than regular DHEA. So you might want to try either DHEA or 7-Keto DHEA, both over the counter and experiment some.

Good luck to you.

Jennifer