HORMONAL TESTING
Article #2 in a Women’s Fertility and Menstrual Health Series from Nourish & Breathe
Why would my Naturopath suggest a hormonal blood test?
There are 2 main reasons in naturopathic clinic why I will recommend to clients to undertake hormonal testing.
When they have been trying to conceive for more than 3-6 months, or
When experiencing disrupted, irregular or regular, absent, painful, heavy or light menstrual period, spotting, noticeable mood changes, oestrogenic symptoms such as carb cravings, tender breasts and fluid retention.
Trying to Conceive
Taking a blood test to provide a hormonal profile and to be used in conjunction with your physical symptoms assists me in guiding treatment and the support required for you. Hormone levels will confirm ovulation and length of luteal phase, and whether the level of hormones are adequate to support and maintain a pregnancy, and if there is presence of any interfering factors. A blood test hormone profile guides the use of herbal medicines for your unique treatment.
Further valuable information and journal articles about preconception care are coming soon.
Monthly Cycle Madness
Whichever stage of life you are at, you could be asking yourself this question, ‘my hormones don’t feel right’. And for women, this is usually in reference to our female hormones and in particular oestrogen. However, there are a number of hormones which are important to consider - other female reproductive hormones, adrenal hormones and androgens which all may influence your monthly menstrual cycle.
Events or stages of life can throw out the balance of your hormones and cause you to experience ‘monthly cycle madness’, such as:
at the onset of your menstruation in your teens
during your 20’s and 30’s or 40s after a stressful period of your life, or after an illness
after ceasing hormonal contraceptives
after having kids
during the transition years through to menopause
But what is actually happening for you?
There are a number of scenarios that can be occurring and at play, influencing your unique cycle, and that is why I find it very useful to refer clients for a female hormone profile by blood test.
HORMONES
Your hormones all interact and influence each other with feedback mechanisms. Hormones are little chemical messengers released from the glands of our endocrine system which then travel around in your blood and lock into receptors of their target cells and regulate body function. Our master glands, hypothalamus and pituitary, are in the brain and these glands are influenced by diurnal rhythms, (the amount of light that enters through the eyes, food and stress both physical and emotional) and feedback mechanisms. Some hormones work very locally i.e. target cells in immediate surroundings, others travel far. The hormones once locked into a cell receptor trigger a cascade of reactions within the target cell.
This is a simplified description of a very complex system that is constantly being monitored within your body, changing and reacting every second of your life, even whilst sleeping.
The main hormones that I like to look at in a hormone profile are:
Oestrogen
Progesterone
FSH - Follicle Stimulating Hormone
LH - Luteinizing Hormone
Prolactin
Androgens - DHEAS, Testosterone, Androstenedione
Sex Hormone Binding Globulin
Adrenal and thyroid hormones may also provide useful information and clues to your unique physiology and may be tested if I think they may be influencing your symptoms and health.
HORMONE INFLUENCERS
There are a number of factors that can affect the interplay of these hormones, their secreting glands and organs, the target cells and ultimately your symptoms and how you feel. The hormone profile provided by the blood test provides the clues as to whether in your unique body any of the following is occurring:
Oestrogen dominance either locally or systemically
Oestrogen dominance relative to progesterone
Inadequate clearance of oestrogen
Prolactin interference
Androgen excess or suppression
From this information and in-clinic consult questioning and investigating we can work out what is happening for the very unique YOU! And then we work out your treatment plan, what herbal medicine and clinical nutrients might be necessary to support and re-establish your hormonal balance, and just as important diet and lifestyle changes to incorporate.
It may be that with a few tweaks of diet and nutrition, better sleep habits, stress management and some movement and exercise that your ‘hormones’ will self-correct and no more active intervention is necessary. Our body and its innate regulating systems are always working to reach homeostasis themselves….a fancy way of saying ‘balance’.
Please reach out if you have any questions with regards to whether hormonal testing may be useful for you, to achieve balance and calm, energy and clarity. Everything and anything is possible.