Female Hormone Assessment

> Diagnostic Testing

Hormones communicate with our bodies, sending our cells signals and messages. From the hormones that communicate with our brain when we are hungry to the sex hormones that regulate the menstrual cycle and the sex drive, there are many hormones in the body. All hormones play an important part in our bodies, by establishing important communication pathways and enabling cells to do their jobs.

Hormones are also implicated in many other disease processes, like issues related to mood changes and menses. Hormonal imbalance can present as a variety of symptoms like infertility, mood swings, breast tenderness, irregular periods, painful periods, hair loss, acne. Menopausal women can also experience hot flashes, vaginal dryness, low libido, night sweats, and weight gain.

Female Hormonal Imbalances can have various signs and symptoms. The two major female hormones that are most commonly deficient are progesterone and estrogen. These two hormones not only regulate the menstrual cycle but also play an important role in digestion and mood. The most common imbalances that occur are estrogen dominance and progesterone deficiency.

Types of hormonal testing:

There are 3 main types of hormonal testing, each with the pros and cons associated with it.

Serum

Saliva

Urine

Serum hormone testing is the most common form of lab testing and done by most health care practitioners.

Pros:

Ideal for testing serum peptide hormones: FSH, LH, fasting insulin, thyroid hormones.
A relatively simple collection, needs little patient involvement.

Cons:

Can’t differentiate between free hormones and bound hormones in the blood, especially estrogen & progesterone.
Snapshot at a single point in time doesn’t capture the pulsatile manner of natural hormone secretion.

Patients are required to collect saliva sample into a test tube. This could be just once or multiple times a day or month, depending on clinical judgment.

Pros:

Noninvasive.
Multiple samples a day provides a better snapshot of the pulsatile nature of hormones.
Efficient in determining the balance and flow of estrogens and progesterone.

Cons:

Requires more patient compliance
Does not measure TSH and other growth hormones
Does not measure hormone metabolism

This is a 24-hour urine collection.

Pros:

Help understand hormones secreted at night and during deep sleep
Measures the way hormones are metabolized
Decreases false elevations or depressions that can happen through a single-point collection
Measures unbound hormones, which is the bioavailable form

Cons:

Most costly
Requires more compliance from the patient

Here is a sample report of both Salivary hormone testing and Urine hormone testing:

“Don’t guess, let’s test to address!” – Dr. Swalah, ND

Dr. Swalah, ND is aware of the importance of proper hormonal function and uses additional diagnostic testing to understand what hormones are imbalanced, by how much and which other hormonal pathways are being implicated. By testing, we are removing the guesswork and creating the best treatment protocol. By testing, we are diving deep into understanding what the root cause is and addressing it, rather than just alleviating the signs and symptoms.