Why It's So Important for You to Check Your Hormone Levels.
You May Be Experiencing Health Problems As A Result of Low Hormones!
Gaining an understanding of how your hormones work, and discovering an imbalance in one or more of your hormones can help you discover the cause of many of the health problems you may be having. As a result, you'll have a strong basis for correcting the imbalance through the use of diet, exercise or supplementing your progesterone, estrogen or testosterone hormones as well as supporting your thyroid, adrenals, heart, skin and more.
Saliva Collection Versus Blood Spot?
Many scientific studies have shown that there is a strong correlation between the levels of of steroid hormones in your saliva and the bio-available, or free levels of steroids in your bloodstream. The amount of steroid hormone that enters your salivary ducts and from there, your saliva, reflects the amount of steroid hormones that are available through your bloodstream for other tissues in your body.
We currently offer both saliva and blood spot testing collection. Our hormone level testing is easy and painless. It can be done anywhere, any time and at a lower cost than blood testing done by a physician's visit. Hormones in saliva and in blood spot are exceptionally stable, which means that your samples can be stored and shipped within a week while maintaining the information that is vital to determining your hormone levels.
For those who have trouble creating enough saliva for the test or would prefer blood spot collection, we offer the simple blood prick collection for many tests.
How Can Hormone Tests Help You?
There are a number of ways that hormone tests can help you optimize your health. Depending upon which hormones are involved, there are usually certain symptoms present when your body has a hormonal imbalance. A hormone level test can help you determine if the estrogens in your body are balanced with your progesterone levels. After you have begun a program of hormone supplementation, a hormone test can help you determine how effective your efforts have been in creating hormonal balance. Too much estrogen, relative to the amount of progesterone, leads to excessive tissue proliferation, and, at the same time, if you have too much progesterone and not enough estrogen, you will experience problems related to estrogen deficiency. Supplementing your hormones is a vital part of anti-aging medicine that can help you extend your span of healthy, productive years.
More About Hormones... What Hormones Are
Hormones, simply put, are the messengers that move through your bloodstream and enter tissues where they turn on your body's switches that regulate everything from reproduction to your emotions, as well as your general health and overall well being. You could look at hormones as the force in your physical body that animates you physically, mentally and emotionally.
How Hormones Are Produced
Hormones are made by different glands and organs throughout your body. As an example, your ovaries ARE responsible for the production of your estrogen and progesterone hormones.
Definitions of Steroid Hormones and Estrogens
Estriol, estrone and estradiol are all estrogens and predominantly female hormones. As an adult, they are important in maintaining healthy reproductive tissues, breasts, skin, even your brain. Excessive amounts of estrogen can be the cause of fluid retention, weight gain, migraines and over stimulation of your breasts, ovaries and uterus, leading to cancer. On the other hand, insufficient levels of estrogen can lead to hot flashes, vaginal dryness, rapid aging of your skin, urinary problems and excessive bone loss.
For men, excessive levels of estrone relative to testosterone levels, are thought to be a part of the creation of prostate problems. Most scientists now agree that the by products of estrogen dominance are the cause of both prostate and breast cancers.
Progesterone
Progesterone is often described as "the hormone balancer", particularly of the estrogens in your body. It helps to enhance the known benefits of estrogen, while preventing the problems associated with having too much estrogen.
Androgens
Androgens, such as DHEA, testosterone and androstenedione, play an important role in the regeneration of your body's tissue, especially in the skin, bones and muscles. As you age, DHEA levels begin to decline, and in some cases, supplementation can restore your energy,and improve your mental function. Testosterone plays a role in the maintenance of your lean body mass, bone density, skin elasticity, sex drive and cardiovascular health for both men and women.
Glucocorticoids
These hormones, primarily cortisol, are produced by the adrenal glands, to help your body deal with situations such as emotional distress, exercise, surgery, illness or starvation. Cortisol plays a vital role in immune function, to mobilize your defenses against a bacterial or viral infection. However, ongoing excessive levels of cortisol suppress your immune system which can lead to frequent infections.
©Alternative Medicine Network 2009
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