When your hormones are balanced, your body ticks along nicely. It’s a bit like a beautiful orchestra, with all the individual instruments playing in harmony. But once hormones become unbalanced, the effect is like a jarring sound from an orchestra that’s out of tune. To add to the noise, the level of one hormone will affect others, with knock-on effects, or there may be upstream causes you might not suspect.
Add to this the cyclical nature of women’s hormones over the month, and you have a recipe for confusion if you try to guess what’s going on.
This is where hormone testing is invaluable. It can tell you exactly what is out of kilter, therefore informing strategies to help bring everything back into balance.
Common conditions resulting from unbalanced female hormones include:
The list goes on.
The major female hormones include oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone.
Oestrogen is responsible for preparing the uterus for pregnancy, and for triggering ovulation. However, in many women, it can become elevated. This situation is known as oestrogen dominance. It can contribute towards the development of fibroids, heavy and irregular periods, PMS, breast tenderness and bloating.
Progesterone helps to sustain a pregnancy by maintaining the womb lining. It’s released in the second half of the menstrual cycle. Progesterone is especially susceptible to the effects of stress. This is because when you’re stressed, your body prioritises producing stress hormones over progesterone. Therefore, many women’s progesterone levels drop when they’re stressed. So, if you’ve ever noticed stress disrupts your menstrual cycle, this could be the reason.
Testosterone on the other hand, although usually thought of as a male hormone, is important for women, too. It’s responsible for regulating the menstrual cycle, maintaining muscles and supporting brain health.
Both oestrogen and testosterone are carried around your body either as free, unbound hormones, able to influence cells, or bound to a protein. This means that if a lot of your hormones are bound, they’ll be inactive and unable to affect your cells. Therefore, on the face of it your overall hormone levels may look fine, but they’re not having the desired effect.
Our Female Health Testing Package consists of a bundle of four tests. They’re aimed at evaluating your hormone production, metabolism, hormone availability and the effect of your genes on your hormone levels.
DUTCH Complete Test
The DUTCH Complete Test includes a urine and saliva test. These provide a comprehensive picture of sex hormone levels as well as the stress hormones cortisol and DHEA. Testing stress hormones in this way can establish the potential effects of stress on your reproductive hormones. Furthermore, the test looks at levels of brain neurotransmitters, involved in mood and motivation, alongside melatonin, a hormone involved in healthy sleep. Finally, the results can indicate whether you are deficient nutrients crucial for hormone metabolism, like vitamins B6 and B12.
In addition to all this, the test measures how your body is metabolising oestrogen. Oestrogen can potentially be metabolised via several different pathways, and these differ both in how beneficial they are, and the symptoms produced.
SHBG Test
This test looks at the amount of carrier protein, called sex hormone binding globulin, in your blood. It helps to reveal the availability of hormones and whether they are having the desired effect. If a high proportion of hormone is bound to SHBG, you may experience symptoms associated with low hormones.
Hormones Genetic Test
The Hormones Genetic Test uses a simple cheek swab to check predispositions towards hormone metabolism and detoxification, and your body’s response to stress. These all potentially contribute to menstrual irregularities. DNA variations known as SNPs influence whether the effect of a gene is amplified or decreased. Results can reveal dietary and lifestyle modifications to support those pathways that are not functioning optimally.
Testosterone Test
The Testosterone Test looks at blood levels of this hormone. This is particularly relevant if you are experiencing issues with fertility, or symptoms associated with PMOS, like excess body hair and acne.
If you’re tired of suffering from hormone-related issues and want to get to the root cause of your symptoms, now is the time to consider testing. Package prices offer a considerable saving on the costs of the tests when purchased individually. Results are presented in an actionable format but if you prefer, practitioner interpretation is available at an additional charge.
Start your journey today with our Female Health Testing Package, or if you’d prefer to chat to one of our practitioners, we’re offering a FREE 15-minute Discovery Call.
If you want natural support and testing for your female hormones, why not book a FREE Discovery Call to see how Functional Medicine can help?
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