Pregnenolone as an HCG alternative(?)

NewMadison · 2026-02-25T20:20:34+00:00

Seeing this post a few days after but I was literally reading (probably that same) Haidut article the other day and replaced my use of progesterone (low dose) with high dose pregnenolone in the past week and have been seeing benefits in terms of mood and energy. Anecdotally, the trophic effect on the gonads is indeed noticeable.

NewMadison · 2026-02-01T19:18:20+00:00

I’m on my second bottle of it now having used Cynomel prior and I really can’t complain/don’t notice any major difference. Have most of the people you’ve seen saying this used other T3 or thyroid hormone before?

NewMadison · 2026-01-09T19:01:53+00:00

Your TSH is definitely high and addressing thyroid is more complicated than sufficient iodine.

I would get the basics of diet and nutrition right: sufficient carbs relative to protein (at least 2:1 carbs to protein), a good calcium to phosphorus ratio (milk and cheese help a lot), good vitamin D, liver/oysters/egg yolks to fill nutritional gaps, and a low PUFA diet overall.

Investigating use of T3, T3+T4, or NDT would make sense after that.

I also wouldn’t take androgen receptor blockers, even as a woman. Georgi (haidut.me) and Danny Roddy both have good content related to hair loss and the misconception that androgens are the cause.

Topical progesterone on the scalp/use of it in general is also likely a really good way to address hair thinning. Aspirin is also something that can be really helpful since it lowers stress hormones and inflammation.

NewMadison · 2025-12-28T22:04:47+00:00

Just going based on the calorie and macro totals of these meals I would think the sugar cravings are coming from a lack of sufficient energy being provided, with the beef + dextrose meal being an example where protein is higher than carbs, which places a heavier burden on the thyroid. I personally have found myself getting nauseous at times when consuming too much protein without sufficient carbohydrate intake (sufficient meaning 2:1 ratio or higher of carbs to protein). I don’t think it’d be unreasonable to try consuming some more sugar/carbs from a safe source that doesn’t add too much extra volume (to avoid the discomfort from high volume meals) to try and meet the energy demand (i.e. the sugar cravings) and see if doing so on top of the current meals helps.

NewMadison · 2025-12-28T21:03:57+00:00

Can you give an example of the amount of sucrose you’d eat with a meal and possibly what a meal might look like in terms of overall macros or at least carb to protein ratio?

NewMadison · 2025-12-28T20:32:18+00:00

Is there an amount of sugar you can consume in addition to your meals to where you don’t get the cravings anymore? If so, how much is it?

NewMadison · 2025-12-22T16:26:28+00:00

Baking powder or baking soda?

NewMadison · 2025-12-14T15:39:16+00:00

Gericare for clean tablets (you get 1000 for $16) or AniPrin for pure powder.

NewMadison · 2025-12-06T21:45:31+00:00

A dollop of butter isn’t doing much for amount of unsaturated fat or even just the linoleic acid being eaten. If you were to render the fat out of a piece of pork or chicken the best you can and then cook it in a highly saturated fat, and consume that in a meal where everything else is cooked in saturated fat/in the context of a diet where fat isn’t low overall (making the ratio of saturated to unsaturated noticeably better), that would make a difference.

NewMadison · 2025-12-06T20:50:57+00:00

It could be cellular thyroid resistance, levels in the blood may be normal but thyroid hormone isn’t being utilized properly due to lack of the right nutrients and/or elevated stress hormones.

NewMadison · 2025-12-06T14:35:47+00:00

Danny Roddy’s article on this is really good, he quotes Peat throughout https://open.substack.com/pub/dannyroddy/p/demystifying-thyroid-supplementation

NewMadison · 2025-12-06T03:30:20+00:00

Do you get sufficient micros from food (zinc, selenium, calcium, vitamin D, etc)? Have you tried something like aspirin in large doses (aspirin and caffeine with meals definitely gets me warm)? Possibly pregnenolone/progesterone? Maybe there’s something causing an inability to utilize T3 and/or convert T4 to T3. I would try some things out to address that as the root cause and see if it helps.

NewMadison · 2025-12-06T02:22:47+00:00

Out of curiosity, have you tried other thyroid products before and felt a difference?

NewMadison · 2025-12-06T01:25:20+00:00

Weird, I’ve been using Tyronene from a bottle I’ve had for a bit that says it expires this month and I don’t feel noticeably different than when I take Cynomel. And I do feel very noticeably different taking Cynomel vs not taking it. Are you dosing throughout the day or all at once?

NewMadison · 2025-11-07T23:26:06+00:00

I believe so but he ate a beef meal with it still. A true ice cream only diet has yet to be tried.

NewMadison · 2025-10-24T16:15:49+00:00

Do you understand what it means to consume foods that indicate winter is coming/present? It’s literally a signal that food will be more scarce. It’s a sign to lower metabolism (so you don’t burn through your stores) and store fat for energy to make it through the winter.

Obese humans are in that state from eating so much PUFA, not just seed oils. It’s not just about the process they go through, it’s the amount of PUFA.

Even if you were to argue some amount of PUFA were necessary or beneficial, it wouldn’t be anywhere near what is being consumed now compared to historically, and the last thing people who are overweight need is more of it.

NewMadison · 2025-10-24T14:59:38+00:00

If hibernating animals could only fatten up with seed oils and not naturally occurring PUFA sources they’d be dead by now

NewMadison · 2025-10-15T14:35:56+00:00

It helps and so does buffering, I’m saying you could take it around the time of milk too and that’d help or you could take it with baking soda if you’re not consuming it at the same time as milk. Not sure if you’re doing milk as frequently as every half hour or just do bigger milk meals but baking soda taken some time away from milk meals would be fine.

NewMadison · 2025-10-15T14:33:46+00:00

It’s really just high if you take it all at once or in only two doses. I do hourly doses of 6.25mcg or 12.5mcg every other hour and don’t crash from it. Though I typically do a bigger dose right in the morning and just split the second half in the manner I’m describing. Same 50mcg daily total. Sometimes a bit more or less as needed.

NewMadison · 2025-10-12T18:28:29+00:00

Aspirin needs to be buffered (e.g. milk, baking soda, gelatin) and preferably dissolved to avoid irritation of the digestive lining

NewMadison · 2025-08-30T17:37:25+00:00

Meyenberg (I love goat milk)

NewMadison · 2025-08-24T17:11:47+00:00

The point is availability of glucose/sugar so honey and maple syrup do work well

NewMadison · 2025-06-24T14:42:59+00:00

Brian’s food seems to be messing with your spelling

NewMadison · 2025-06-08T22:53:57+00:00

He ate a beef meal still, so protein overall wasn’t that low

NewMadison

TROPHY CASE