Testing Your Balance With a Hormone Imbalance Test
If you feel as though your mood is topsy-turvy and unpredictable or your energy is in a slump, you might be experiencing one of the signs of hormone imbalance; and a hormone imbalance test may be in your best interest. Testing for a hormone imbalance is one of the most effective ways of properly diagnosing both hormone imbalances in women as well as hormone imbalances in men so that you can get your life, your mood, and your way of functioning back in balance.
The most common hormone imbalances include:
- Estrogen deficiency or excess
- Excessive production of testosterone
- Low testosterone production
- Progesterone deficiencies or excess
- DHEA deficiency or excess
- Hydrocortisone excess or deficiency
Your symptoms will actually help determine the type of hormone imbalance test that will be most effective and accurate. Believe it or not, there are several methods of conducting a hormone imbalance test. Some test the saliva, while others require urine or blood samples. Age, gender, race, symptoms, and even the state of your general health factor into which type of testing may be right for you, so it’s important to get professional guidance before you make the call on your own.
Urine and Kidney Testing
The oldest method, urine testing, is easily performed and can be more accurate because urine contains larger amounts of hormone than blood or saliva. Unfortunately, however, it can be tedious and inconvenient, as it requires the collection of all urine over a period of 24 hours. Anything less will have bearing on the accuracy of the results, as will any type of kidney malfunction. Kidney function tests are often conducted at the same time as urine hormone testing so that more accurate results can be achieved.
Hormones in the urine are generally identified using mass spectroscopy and identifies each of the individual hormones as they are available, though it is not precise enough to identify highs and lows of daily fluctuations.
Blood Testing
Unlike urine-based testing, blood testing using several vials of blood requires a lab appointment to collect samples of blood and is often considered more invasive and less accurate than other methods of hormone testing. This method separates out serum to measure hormone levels and accounts for bound and unbound hormones that are available to the body for use at that very moment in time, which is one reason it can be considered unreliable.
Blood spot testing, on the other hand, can provide readings of hormone fluctuations because it can be conducted at specific times and days of the month. It is also far more convenient, as an individual can collect drops of blood for testing using a finger prick and collection card to be taken to a lab for analysis.
Unfortunately, the use of steroidal hormones can alter the reading of any type of blood testing for hormone imbalances; so this must be taken into account when the method of screening is chosen.
Saliva Testing
The easiest and most convenient is saliva testing for hormone imbalances. It is important to realize, however, that saliva samples can be contaminated by such factors as gum disease or trace amounts of blood in the saliva. Younger individuals generally have higher hormone levels available in their saliva than older individuals, and saliva is very specific to the levels of available hormones at the moment of collection. For that reason, multiple samples collected at various points throughout the day are considered necessary to achieve accurate results.
Ask Everwell Today!
At Everwell Specialty Pharmacy, we offer personalized complimentary Ask Everwell consultations that can guide you through the process of knowing if a hormone imbalance test may be necessary. We offer a saliva testing kit that can be purchased on-site and taken home for convenient sample collection and mailing to the testing facility. Once your results have come back, our experts can go over those results and offer you solutions that will be effective for you.
Get your life balanced! Come into Everwell Specialty Pharmacy today to take advantage of your complimentary Ask Everwell consultation with our team of experts and learn more about how to live your best!
