Do You Need Pregnenolone?

Happy Tuesday!

I just launched a new deep dive on Spotify that breaks down pregnenolone for men on testosterone therapy from the ground up.

In it, I walk through what pregnenolone is, how it behaves as both a hormone precursor and a neurosteroid, and how that translates into real-life effects on cognition, mood, and sleep.

I also cover when it makes sense to supplement and when it probably does not, plus exactly how I approached my own trial.

Let’s hit the high points of the video in today’s email.

What is Pregnenolone

Pregnenolone is the first steroid your body makes from cholesterol.

It sits at the top of the steroid hormone cascade and serves as the starting point for progesterone, DHEA, cortisol, aldosterone, and eventually testosterone and estradiol.

Most people hear that and think only in terms of hormones, but there is a second identity that matters just as much.

Pregnenolone also acts as a neurosteroid that is synthesized locally in the brain.

It modulates neurotransmission, influences myelination, and shapes how flexible your synapses are when you learn or adapt. One of its key downstream products is allopregnanolone, which is a strong positive modulator of GABA-A receptors.

That often translates into a calmer baseline mood, a smoother stress response, and better sleep continuity.

This dual role explains why some men have perfect numbers on paper yet still feel a little off in day-to-day life.

Their sex hormones look fine, but the neurosteroid side of the equation is not fully supported.

Benefits You Might Notice When It Is Needed

When pregnenolone is low or functionally insufficient, the benefits of correcting it tend to cluster around four areas.

1. Cognition: Many people report clearer recall, which lines up with the way pregnenolone and its sulfate form support synaptic plasticity and memory processes.

2. Mood and anxiety: By feeding the progesterone to the allopregnanolone pathway, pregnenolone can raise GABAergic tone and settle the nervous system.

3. Sleep: Many users, including me, notice deeper sleep and fewer nighttime awakenings when the dose and timing align with their biology.

4. Energy levels: Classic data and modern experience suggest better stress tolerance under load and a lower sense of effort during the day.

All of this depends on context.

If your baseline pregnenolone is healthy and you feel great, pushing it higher rarely does much and can even feel edgy.

The wins are most significant when there is a real gap to fill.

Why We May Need It on TRT

Testosterone therapy increases serum testosterone levels and improves many outcomes, but it also alters upstream signaling.

Exogenous testosterone suppresses LH and FSH, which lowers testicular steroid output.

Your adrenal glands still produce most circulating pregnenolone under ACTH control, so many men do not notice any gap.

Others do. Months into testosterone therapy, some men report more background anxiety, lighter sleep, or that wired but tired feeling.

One plausible reason is reduced local progesterone-to-allopregnanolone conversion in the testes, which lowers GABAergic tone even though systemic testosterone appears normal.

In that case, a small pregnenolone dose can backfill toward neurosteroids without meaningfully changing testosterone, estradiol, or cortisol.

It is a way to restore brain-side chemistry that helps the benefits of TRT show up.

For most men, a conservative approach works best.

Start low, watch sleep and mood, and retest after a few weeks.

Who Is a Good Candidate?

Good candidates share two features.

1. They have persistent symptoms despite well-run TRT. Think brain fog, word finding issues, poor stress tolerance, lighter sleep, or a new baseline of background anxiety.

2. Their labs support the story with low or low-normal pregnenolone and often low DHEA-S and modestly low male progesterone. Older men and men with a history of head trauma often fit this pattern, as do some men who choose not to use hCG. In these cases, a small trial in the 5-10mg range is reasonable while tracking sleep, mood, cognition, and daytime energy.

Poor candidates include men who already feel excellent on TRT, men whose pregnenolone is mid to high normal, and anyone who is hoping pregnenolone will raise testosterone or accelerate hypertrophy.

Final Thoughts

TRT corrects one major axis and changes the feedback loops upstream.

For many men, adrenal production carries the load, and nothing else is needed.

For a subset, the brain never quite catches up.

That is where pregnenolone can serve as a smart complement.

It will not raise testosterone, and it will not replace the fundamentals of training, protein intake, walking, sunlight, and sleep hygiene.

But when you genuinely need it, it restores smoothness in your nervous system.

That means steadier mood, a quieter mental backdrop, better recall, and deeper sleep.

If your symptoms and labs point that way, start with 5-10mg, give it four to eight weeks, and retest pregnenolone, DHEA-S, and progesterone.

Keep what clearly helps and toss what does not. If you feel great on TRT alone, you probably don’t need it.

But if you check the boxes mentioned above, you can snag some off Amazon for super cheap and give it a whirl.

Best,

Hunter Williams