DHEA = Becoming nocturnal

[Sharky]

I've been taking it a few weeks, I was feeling really restless so I thought I would give it a try. Besides acne, and some increased hair, the biggest change has been becoming nocturnal. I can stay up for 48 hours and still not be able to sleep at night. I can't fix my body clock. I decided to stop taking it today. Anyone else experiment with DHEA, did this happen to you? How long did it take for your sleep patterns to become normal?

[LordKAT]

I'm a lifelong night owl. Always seemed that some people are and some people aren't.

[jmaxley]

I had the same thing happen to me.  I don't know if it's been the DHEA or what, but the last six months I've had the worst time getting to sleep at night, there's been a few nights I didn't sleep at all.  I stopped taking DHEA a few days ago after getting bloodwork back and my DHEA levels are half of what they were when I started (I'm wondering if my body stopped making some of it's own DHEA).  It'll be interesting to see if my sleep patterns return to normal.  I started taking DHEA at the end of January and increased what I was taking of it around March or April.  Starting having trouble in May getting to sleep at night.  Don't know if it's connected or not.

[Sharky]

I had the same thing happen to me.  I don't know if it's been the DHEA or what, but the last six months I've had the worst time getting to sleep at night, there's been a few nights I didn't sleep at all.  I stopped taking DHEA a few days ago after getting bloodwork back and my DHEA levels are half of what they were when I started (I'm wondering if my body stopped making some of it's own DHEA).  It'll be interesting to see if my sleep patterns return to normal.  I started taking DHEA at the end of January and increased what I was taking of it around March or April.  Starting having trouble in May getting to sleep at night.  Don't know if it's connected or not.

Oh wow you were taking it for awhile. What doses? Did your doctor say taking it could cause your body to stop producing it?
At first I liked that I only needed 6 hours of sleep vs 8-10. Then I just started sleeping less and less.

[jmaxley]

We're not supposed to list dosages.  Sorry.   

Did your doctor say taking it could cause your body to stop producing it?

It was based on something I read online a few months ago about bodybuilders injecting a lot of testosterone and their body started producing less.  Don't know if it was true or if I remembered the article correctly, just a thought I had when I saw those lowered levels.  I thought I'd err on the side of caution though.  I never planned on taking DHEA long-term (because it can screw with your thyroid), just never thought it'd take as long as it's taking to go on T.

My sleep patterns now are so erratic.  I have trouble getting to sleep at night, trouble staying awake during the day.  Sometimes I can go 48 hours with no sleep (not by choice) and sometimes I can go a couple of days where I spend most of my time sleeping.  It's been driving me crazy.