At age of 35 my face, for the first time in my life,I started to break out in acne and over the next 6 years into cysts. I finally got it under control with antibiotics, but have always had to wash with Clearasil soap and apply a 10% Benzoyl Peroxide gel.

At around age 38 my hair started falling out. At first a lot then just slowly...until 2 weeks ago and DHEA. Oh, I also around this same time frame (age 38) started having facial hair, about 20 dark hairs on either side of my chin (Jesus!)...well that is subsiding as well.

I'm not tired and yawning like I used to either. This is the first time I have ever taken a supplement that has actually had a notable effect. I have experienced no ill effects so far. In fact, according to all I've read (side effects include acne, irritability, fatigue, accelerated growth of facial hair and hirsutism in women) my experience has been just the opposite.

My next complete physical is in 8 months...we'll see how it really goes then. I have not restarted my walking with it yet (roads are too slippery and icy) but will keep you posted come spring.

I have tried preg (I am female) and got the impression that taking a small dose of DHEA (with preg) would mean that the preg would be converted into other hormones besides DHEA because I am getting enough DHEA already with a supplement. (Haven't tried the DHEA yet because I have found the sublingual form of preg works better for me and I just started that recently.) I am in the process of reading a book on hormones, and it seems that progesterone (natural progesterone, not synthetic progestin) when taken (in cream form) helps to balance an estrogen dominance in women, which can help with hair loss, hirsutism, acne, and a lot of other problems believed to be the result of an estrogen dominance.

The only issue about preg is getting absorbed, and I am still learning about the sublingual form; therefore I've thought about trying progesterone cream because it might not have an issue of absorption (and no liver problem). The other reason is to see if the preg is actually being converted into progesterone and that is why I am feeling so much better from preg.

I've read that there are no known side effects of using progesterone, even long term. But with using preg, I don't know what hormones my body is converting the preg into. I think that using preg (or DHEA) long-term might create a hormonal imbalance (or just high levels of hormones), or if an imbalance already exists, it might just make it worse. (You can never know what hormones preg or DHEA are being converted into, but the only hormone I know progesterone can be converted into is testosterone.)

Well, I think DHEA is probably doing good things for you, but you might want to consider looking into other options in the area of hormone supplements because you may develop a better understanding of what exactly was causing the problems you had in the first place.