Have you noticed that Alzheimer’s is exclusively a disease of old people? Kids and teenagers never have it. Even twenty-somethings are pretty much immune. So what’s the difference? One big difference between young people and old is the drop in various essential hormones
that happens with age. One of the most important hormones that drops is Pregnenolone. Could there be a link between the hormone Pregnenolone and Alzheimer’s?
Our Experience with Trying to Reduce Alzheimer’s
We are working with a family in our Memory Care homes to help her reduce or maybe even reverse her Alzheimer’s. We started out with Apollo Health and the Bredesen Protocol. As part of the treatment, we teamed up with a health coach and medical practitioner from a company certified in the Bredesen Protocol. That company is A Mind for All Seasons.
A Mind for All Seasons reviews the lab results from the blood tests we gave to our resident as part of the Bredesen Protocol. They came up with a ‘Road Map’ for our resident to help them work on improving their cognition.
One area that caught our eye was the hormone test. The road map let us know this:
As you can see our resident’s Pregnenolone level is very low. We are looking forward to seeing what will happen with her cognitive function if we increase it.
What is Pregnenolone?
Your body forms Pregnenolone from cholesterol. It helps make other hormones such as DHEA, Testosterone, Progesterone, Estrogen and Cortisol. It also even makes Vitamin D in your body (Vitamin D is actually a hormone instead of a vitamin).
Up until recently, scientists thought that Pregnenolone was only made in the adrenal gland and the gonads. Now they are finding it is also produced in the brain and spinal cord.
Otherwise known as the nervous system.
Pregnenolone is often called the “Parent Hormone”. It is used by the brain to make other neurohormones that help brain cells grow and improve cognition and memory.
Starting to see the connection?
Pregnenolone naturally decreases with age. However, the hormone can be made in a lab and increased in your body either orally through capsules, powder or through the skin with a cream.
How To Test Your Pregnenolone Level
As we found out with our resident, you can test your Pregnenolone level with a simple lab test like these. It is also one of the battery of tests they do when you sign up for the Bredesen Protocol and will be a lot cheaper when grouped together.
I don’t think insurance covers the testing. Hormone therapy just isn’t the standard of care for conventional medicine.
What To Do if Your Pregnenolone is Low
If your test comes back low (as they did for our resident), and you’re worried about cognitive impairment, you may want to contact a Bredesen-trained physician. They can find you the right amount of hormone that can restore you to a normal level. It might even improve your mood, sleep and cognition.
Conclusion
Pregnenolone is a powerful hormone that affects memory, mood and sleep. It also is needed to produce other essential hormones. If you are at risk for cognitive decline, it might be worth looking into. Have you ever tested yourself for Pregnenolone?
