Hormone testing for sex hormones such as estrogens, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, LH, FSH, prolactin and binding globulins (SHBG) is an important step in determining hormone abnormalities that may be causing or contributing to symptoms. Deciding which of these tests to perform requires your doctor’s assistance and understanding of the nature of your complaint.
Blood, saliva, and urine tests are available. An advantage of salivary testing in women is that samples can be taken and frozen over a period of time and then collectively tested for hormone levels and patterns. Salivary testing is not useful for follow-up testing when transdermal hormone creams are used: reported values are falsely elevated. Testing information is available at Great Smokies Diagnostic Laboratories as well as many other sites.
24-hour urinary testing is a good method of determining hormone levels, both initially and for follow-up. Timing of the test in relation to the menstrual cycle is important for accurate and usable results with regard to estrogens and progesterone levels. Your doctor can advise you when it is best collect the sample. Some testing information is available at Meridian Valley Laboratory.
Generally, bioidentical hormone replacement is recommended by natural doctors when any hormone level is found to be low.