Chasteberry, Gyno and Prolactin levels

I would like to try chasteberry for lowering prolactin levels to improve gyno. I have read in many places that chasteberry lowers libido and testosterone. Is this merely because in lower dosages, chasteberry raises prolactin or is there still a risk in lower libido and testosterone resulting from taking it at a higher prolactin-lowering dose as well?

When I read various forums where men are taking high dosages of chasteberry, no one complains about sexual side effects (if anything, it's the other way around). I also have read in maybe two or three instances on forums where males said high-dose chasteberry made a difference in their gyno.

Is it safer just to go with mucuna, ginko, zinc or B6?

I've used chasteberry and didn't seem to have any noticeable sexual side effects either way, maybe slightly increased.

rjfnyu wrote:I would like to try chasteberry for lowering prolactin levels to improve gyno. I have read in many places that chasteberry lowers libido and testosterone. Is this merely because in lower dosages, chasteberry raises prolactin or is there still a risk in lower libido and testosterone resulting from taking it at a higher prolactin-lowering dose as well?

When I read various forums where men are taking high dosages of chasteberry, no one complains about sexual side effects (if anything, it's the other way around). I also have read in maybe two or three instances on forums where males said high-dose chasteberry made a difference in their gyno.

Is it safer just to go with mucuna, ginko, zinc or B6?

This topic was well covered here quite a while ago. The devil is always in the details.

Chasteberry does not lower libido or reduce testosterone when the correct dose is used.

What is the correct dose? Over 120 mg per day. Only very low doses affected prolactin negatively. Dosages above 120 or greater will decrease prolactin, and might actually boost libido.

I had Chasteberry on my site for a while, until I realized that it is only addressing the symptom and not the cause of elevated prolactin levels.

The cause is usually, but not always low thyroid function.

http://healthyfixx.com/plan/6/fixxing-your-thyroid

To what CS said, I will add that Iodine sufficiency may be the most important thing.

Almost nobody did the process of getting saturated with Iodine, probably just JDP and CS.

I've been reading reports from people takin enough iodine and lowering their fasting blood sugar from 99 to 78. Is that something or what?

Totally second LF on iodine. Prolactin problems are taken care of with sufficient iodine.

Iodine even taken alone increases insulin receptor sensitivity.

An iodine deficiency, which most people in the world have today can cause or exacerbate
the overgrowth of pathogens in the gut.

Thanks for your responses. I have read the old posts, but I did not see anything specifically related to libido.

I have been on iodine for the last few weeks and I think I am going through halide detox as some of these symptoms are getting worse. The gyno was getting much better for a while, but it has gotten really bad over the last few days. I believe that the iodine has made my skin much better though in the short term.

rjfnyu wrote:Thanks for your responses. I have read the old posts, but I did not see anything specifically related to libido.

I have been on iodine for the last few weeks and I think I am going through halide detox as some of these symptoms are getting worse. The gyno was getting much better for a while, but it has gotten really bad over the last few days. I believe that the iodine has made my skin much better though in the short term.

Follow the plan as explained in the healthyfixx article. Often people miss things like proper doses and companion nutrients.

I still need to add tyrosine, zinc and maybe a glandular.

Going back to chaste berry, if I have already started it, is there any risk of a rebound effect (elevation of prolactin) by stopping it?

Also, the one thing that I see no one mention in regards to thyroid function is the importance of vitamin A. I have a long history of not being able to take vitamin A due to it effecting my sleep. Ray Peat advised me that this is generally a symptom of hypothyroidism and that when you increase thyroid function, you should increase vitamin A (only non-synthetic vitamin A) in proportion. I found, at least with myself, that using iodine or coconut oil would produce too much anxiety for me to tolerate them, but increasing the vitamin A in proportion worked like a charm to combat the anxiety. Now with several months on coconut oil and a couple of weeks on iodine, I generally can consume lots of vitamin A with no short-term negative effects.

CausticSymmetry wrote:

rjfnyu wrote:I would like to try chasteberry for lowering prolactin levels to improve gyno.  I have read in many places that chasteberry lowers libido and testosterone.  Is this merely because in lower dosages, chasteberry raises prolactin or is there still a risk in lower libido and testosterone resulting from taking it at a higher prolactin-lowering dose as well?

When I read various forums where men are taking high dosages of chasteberry, no one complains about sexual side effects (if anything, it's the other way around).  I also have read in maybe two or three instances on forums where males said high-dose chasteberry made a difference in their gyno.

Is it safer just to go with mucuna, ginko, zinc or B6?

This topic was well covered here quite a while ago. The devil is always in the details.

Chasteberry does not lower libido or reduce testosterone when the correct dose is used.

What is the correct dose?  Over 120 mg per day. Only very low doses affected prolactin negatively. Dosages above 120 or greater will decrease prolactin, and might actually boost libido.

I had Chasteberry on my site for a while, until I realized that it is only addressing the symptom and not the cause of elevated prolactin levels.

The cause is usually, but not always low thyroid function.

http://healthyfixx.com/plan/6/fixxing-your-thyroid

Do you have a study which confirm, that low doses affected prolactin negatively?

High prolactin -low libido
low prolactin -high libido

It didn't make sense, because some people take chasterberry to reduce there sex drive and they also take a large dosis about 240mg. But if it's lower your sex drive, it will actually higher your prolactin, won't it?!
Really don't know how much I should take

I take 400 to 800 mg of Chasteberry on a semi-regular basis. Definitely seems to increase my libido and decrease refractory time when needed.

hawk44 wrote:I take 400 to 800 mg of Chasteberry on a semi-regular basis. Definitely seems to increase my libido and decrease refractory time when needed.

what do you mean by "semi regular basis"? A guy from a german forum said taking 40mg each other day will show to the best inhibition of prolactin.

mento wrote:

hawk44 wrote:I take 400 to 800 mg of Chasteberry on a semi-regular basis. Definitely seems to increase my libido and decrease refractory time when needed.

what do you mean by "semi regular basis"?

I cycle it. Say 3 weeks on, 1 week off. Something along those lines.