PTSD & Pregnenalone

[dollyvee]

Came across someone mentioning pregnenalone helping to treat depression. Did a quick search, and lo and behold, it's actually being tested, or found to be helpful in those suffering from PTSD.

I'm wondering if anyone has tried it? My understanding is that it can sort of go either way and the downside being that your body may convert it to cortisol (and not inhibit cortisol production), causing more anxiety. Messing with hormones can be tricky, but maybe also perhaps helpful.

Lot of info from google, but here's a jumping off point:

The role of neurosteroids in post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder: A review of 10 years of clinical literature and treatment implications
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0091302223000675

edit: I have a bottle of pregnenalone cream that I bought years ago when I was "experimenting" with health issues and never tried it. I've tried it the past three days and after application there's a sense of calm relief. I don't know how long it lasts (as I put it on before bed), but there was something tangible there.

[Chart]

Super interesting article, DV, thanks. I find the link between alcohol and Ptsd a very important dynamic. There was a lot of other stuff in the article that I found really pertinent as well.

[dollyvee]

I'm glad you found it helpful Chart. IMO sometimes the "experience" of cptsd (the body anxiety etc) can be linked to other things in the body that affect the nervous system. So, for me, the feelings are not always trauma, or if I could solve the trauma, it would take these things away, but a mix of body and mind. So, making hormonal adjustments (or addressing inflammation) can also produce a positive effect on my mood. I also think addressing these things has maybe put me in a place where the trauma is easier to approach and deal with (ie because I don't have constant anxiety and therefore think the bad things are going to happen again, or am in the same feeling place as when I initially felt that anxiety when "the bad things happened/I was helpless etc")

Because of my exposure to mold, my hormones have been messed up I think, along with chronic stress as child, but also inflammation and stress in the body from other factors like viruses and genetics. Anyways, I like the pregnenolone. It leaves me feeling relaxed after I put it on, so let's see what it does.

Interestingly, hormones also operate on a circadian rhythm and are active etc at different times in the day, and can affect sleep/wake cycles among other things.

Here's another one:
The novel rapid-acting neurosteroid-based antidepressant generation
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2451965022000254

Connection betweeen neuroinflammation and depression:
"Clinical and preclinical evidence clearly indicates a link between neuroinflammation and depression [81,10]. Many studies revealed elevated inflammatory markers in depression and even higher levels in women with postpartum depression, which might contribute to symptoms severity [10,82,83]. Allopregnanolone has a protective role by ameliorating the disrupted GABAergic inhibition, modulating CRF signaling, and preventing pro-inflammatory toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling in the innate immune system and brain [10,13,14]. Moreover, when pregnenolone and progesterone levels (allopregnanolone precursors) are elevated in the brain, this resulted in the inhibition of neuroinflammatory signaling mediated by TLR"

"Alterations in the HPA axis responses and a low level of allopregnanolone have been demonstrated in PTSD and patients with depression who are also characterized by elevated neuroinflammation [84]. These are also possible mechanisms involved in the neurobiology of depression, PTSD, and postpartum depression. Even if the mechanism underlying the antidepressant effects of allopregnanolone by improving neuroinflammation is not fully clarified, there is a strong association between normalizing allopregnanolone biosynthesis and the HPA axis and GABAergic dysfunction in the treatment of postpartum depression and other mood disorders [9]."