HORMONE TESTING
Throughout this book there are discussions about the importance of proper hormone balance and the impact of imbalanced hormones on health. Imbalanced hormones can affect many areas of health and cause problems such as depression, sleep disturbances, weight gain or loss, bone loss, breast swelling and tenderness, fibroids, low libido, sexual dysfunction, and many other aspects of health.
While blood tests are most commonly done to check hormone levels, testing saliva for hormones is becoming increasingly popular. In fact, if you’re experiencing hormone-related symptoms, a saliva hormone test is possibly the best way to uncover hormone causes of symptoms. Generally, the best test for hormone balance involves testing the ‘big five’» sex steroid hormones: cortisol, DHEA, estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone. The balance between these hormones is critical to good health. For example, Rocky Mountain Analytical, a Canadian saliva hormone testing lab, has data that shows that 7 out of 10 women with self-reported symptoms of depression and 4 out of 5 women with hot flashes and/or low sex drive had laboratory-confirmed hormone imbalance. This tells us that saliva hormone test results correlate very well with how patients feel. Unfortunately, blood tests do not look at symptoms, nor do they test all the same hormones.
There are basically three ways to test for hormones: in blood, in saliva, or in urine. Blood testing is the standard method most doctors use to test for hormones. There are some drawbacks with blood tests for hormones. For example, blood or serum is less accurate for the measurement of testosterone in women because the test is calibrated for the high testosterone levels seen in men. As well, hormones in blood are often bound to proteins and may or may not be available to the tissues that require them. Consequently, blood and serum levels of hormones may not give the best picture of how hormones are behaving at the tissue level. This means that blood test results often don’t match up with the symptoms you are experiencing.
Saliva, on the other hand, measures the amount of hormone that actually gets into tissue because salivary hormones have already passed through tissue (the saliva gland] to get into saliva. Saliva hormone levels tend to correlate well with symptoms. Saliva samples are also easier to collect—it can be done at home and samples can be mailed in. There are suggested ranges for women who are supplementing with hormones. In addition, there are some hormones that are not routinely measured in blood.
Saliva hormone testing has been in the scientific literature for over 50 years and is rapidly becoming the test method of choice for hormone monitoring for many practitioners. Nevertheless, saliva testing is not without controversy. Some saliva hormone-testing facilities claim that the tests can be used to determine the «right» dose of hormones for a patient, and that supplementing to achieve specific ratios of one hormone level to another is ideal. Unfortunately, there is no test—blood, saliva, or urine—that tells a doctor exactly how much hormone to give or what dose is right for you. The tests can help guide the doctor in choosing the dose (and in choosing which hormones to supplement with), but you still need to work with a doctor who understands hormone balance and hormone testing. Saliva testing is still the best choice to help uncover the cause of hormone symptoms. You are best to choose an accredited laboratory that includes symptom information in its analysis of your saliva specimen.
Hormone imbalance contributes to many common health conditions. For example, PMS is often due to estrogen dominance (or a lack of progesterone) in the last half of the menstrual cycle. Endometriosis, fibrocystic breast disease, and uterine fibroids have also been associated with estrogen dominance. And even bone loss can arise from hormone imbalance, specifically a lack of testosterone or lack of estrogens or both. In other words, keeping your hormones in balance is an important part of good health, and saliva hormone testing is a great way to find out if you’re in balance.
Urine testing is less common because a 24-hour specimen is needed, which makes collection more challenging. Urine testing may be particularly helpful for determining thyroid status. Low thyroid (hypothyroidism) is very common and also commonly undiagnosed. This is because it is possible to have blood results within the normal range, yet have inadequate thyroid function. Symptoms of low thyroid include weight gain, depression, dry skin, feeling cold all the time, low libido, and hair loss.
Typical blood tests for thyroid include measuring levels of the thyroid hormones T3, T4, and TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone). Urinary thyroid assessments may be helpful for people who have normal serum TSH levels, but who still have symptoms of low thyroid function. Research from Europe has shown that the urinary thyroid test results match patient symptoms better than the serum TSH. What this means is that many people who have normal TSH results register low on a urinary thyroid assessment and this matches their symptoms.
The urinary thyroid assessment involves collecting all your urine for a full 24 hours. The sample is sent away to the laboratory and is analyzed for T3, T4, and selenium, which is a very important mineral for proper thyroid function. The results are reported to your doctor along with an interpretation based on your results and the symptoms you reported.
In Canada, Rocky Mountain Analytical is an accredited laboratory that collects symptom information and provides a complete interpretation of results. Located in Calgary, Alberta, they specialize in saliva hormone testing and other prevention-focused tests, including: urinary thyroid assessment, food allergy testing, omega-3 fatty acid testing, testing for insulin resistance, and many others. Rocky Mountain Analytical is unique in that they collect symptom information prior to testing, and they use the symptoms along with the test results to provide an interpretation to your doctor. They do this because it is important to look at test results as being part of, not separate from, the person. And symptoms provide information about how a person is doing, so even if the results look fairly normal, if the symptoms are severe, the interpretation gives some suggestions as to why those symptoms might be prominent.
