Marcelle Pick, a women's health expert, explains why she prescribes DHEA for patients with low levels and irritability. She starts with 1 mg twice daily for about 4-6 months and pairs it with non-pharmacologic approaches: daily joy, dietary protein, and adaptogenic herbs to support cortisol balance.
Hi, I'm Marcel Pick, best selling author and women's health Expert with over 30 years experience in dealing with women and women's health. I've had so many people recently ask me about dhea. So what I wanted to do is do a Facebook live about it. Dhea, of all the things that I use in my practice, is probably one of my most favorite hormones that I add. Now, why would I even think about doing that? So I've talked so many times and have so many articles on adrenal issues and this particular hormone is so good for those people, people that have low DHEA levels. I call this hormone the feel good hormone. For those people that come in that are so grumpy and they're so irritable because their adrenals are just maxed out, just like that rubber band that just can't take any more pressure, they have road rage, they feel like they're not themselves, they get irritable of the tiniest little things that oftentimes can be many things, of course, but oftentimes it's related to adrenals. And the thing that helps the most is adding some DHEA if that hormone is low. And I always check that as well. Now you can get it over the counter. I don't recommend that. I like to use a compounded formulation. And what happens when people start using it? They start with one drop twice a day and then they work their way up and one drop equals a milligram. Well, you know what they find? They find that their energy is better. They find that their get up and go is get up and come back. Now, it is true, however, that you don't always need that hormone. You know what makes it the best for you is having things in your life that make you happy. Oh, my God. Who would have thought? We've known for a long, long time that our hormones change when we have joy and happiness in our lives. So if you're interested in looking at what can I do in my life to increase my DHEA on my own without adding a hormone, I would suggest that you find things every single day that you love to do what makes you happy. Well, if you've been following me at all, you know that my thing is dancing. So I can be really in a terrible mood and I'll go to dance and I'll dance for half an hour or even for 10 minutes and my whole mood changes because my DHEA has gone up. I haven't taken a drug, I haven't done anything, but I've done things that really make me so happy. So what is it in your life that you can do that you love to do every day, even if it's just five minutes, that will increase your DHEA level. But if that doesn't work and you need to add some dhta, I would urge you to look at the possibility of seeing if you can get someone in your life that works with compounding pharmacy to add dhea, because it truly is that feel good hormone. Now, you don't have to be on it the rest of your life. You could be on it short term. And you could even try if you want to go to the health food store and try using one of their DHA formulations to see if you don't have anybody else around you. How much of a difference does that make? Now, of course, look at my articles on adrenals because I talk a lot in there about what are the other things you need to do. Adaptogenic herbs are really important. If your cortisol is high, we need to bring it down. If it's low, we need to bring it up. But the overall piece we're talking about today is dhea. That really adds so much benefit to you and your life. Now, the truth is, as we get older, our DHEA levels go down. So getting older is one of the things that can be an issue only in regards to you need to have more fun in your life because that will then bring up that level. And DHEA is one of the most important hormones for many of the other cascades in your body, especially progesterone and testosterone and even estrogen. So it's a balancing hormone as well. So changing your diet, increasing the great vegetables. And I'm going to do a Facebook live on what do you, how do you prepare foods, how do you even cook? What do we even start with this. So stay tuned for that. Probably in the next week or two, we're going to be doing that. So I want you to have more color on your plate. I want you to have more balance of protein, not so many processed foods. Also really important is to make sure that you're not allowing that blood sugar to go down so you keep your blood sugar stable, because that's one of the key pieces with adrenals as well. But the overall piece to the puzzle for you might be adding adaptogenic herbs to support the adrenals, adding dietary changes to really make sure that your blood sugar stays stable. Using color. If you have a plate for breakfast that's just cereal and a banana, it's all one color. You don't want to do that. You want to have more color. Perhaps an omelette with some blueberries on the side or some green vegetables in that omelette and perhaps some red pepper. That's color. And then you have a lunch that's similar to that or a dinner that's got some protein and some vegetables and sweet potato that's beautiful color. And then add those adaptogenic herbs. And in addition to that, what you're going to do is you're going to add dhea, because I'm telling you, it is probably one of the most profound things that I do. I have so many people in my practice that say, I don't want to start a hormone Marcel. And you know what they say to me when they come back? If you ever take me off this, we're going to have a talk. I can take them off it in a few months, of course, but they're feeling so good on the dhea. It makes such a big difference. They don't want to get off it because they've seen the transition in their life. So please understand, if you're someone that is suffering with adrenal issues and you've tried all the adaptogenic herbs and you've tried the dietary changes and you're still feeling a little stuck, you might want to consider adding DHEA as it truly is that feel good hormone. And you don't have to be on it long, short term intervention to get those adrenals turned around. Generally about four to six months is the time frame that I recommend for people. So know that you can feel better and if you enjoyed this, Facebook Live, share it with other people like it. And also stay tuned because I'm going to be talking more about what's a day in the life of Marcel like.
