Female Sex Hormones

Though it doesn’t happen to all females, some see their sex hormones go wacky from their thyroid issues. Here’s the Summary–take notes as to what applies to you:

The Cannots

Sex hormones CANNOT be tested or balanced while pregnant or breastfeeding. Please wait 2 complete ovulatory cycles after giving birth and/or weaning before testing, says certain literature.

Sex hormones CANNOT be tested or balanced while on birth control pills or implants. Sex hormones CAN be tested and balanced while an IUD is inserted but it can be very difficult.

For Ovulating Women Only

1) If you have had an ablation or a partial hysterectomy, you will probably need to track via basal temps since you don’t bleed to restart your cycles.

2) If you are not currently bleeding regularly, it could be due to PCOS, elevated prolactin, elevated testosterone, and/or very low estradiol (oestradiol). There are tests that will assist us in figuring out what is preventing your bleeding.

Estradiol (oestradiol) and progesterone must be tested 7 days after confirming ovulation by LH urine testing strips or basal body temperatures.

FSH and LH should be tested on days 2, 3, or 4. Day 3 is ideal

Testosterone (free and total), DHEAs, and SHBG can be tested with either FSH/LH, with estradiol/progesterone or by themselves.

For Menopausal Women

Estrone, estradiol (oestradiol), estriol, progesterone, testosterone (free and total), DHEAs, and SHBG can be tested anytime. The estrogens must be tested with progesterone.

Many menopausal women just use estriol.

Might also be wise to test pregnenolone— the precursor to sex hormones. It can fall as you age, thus supplementation is often recommended by forward thinking doctors.

Testing:

Whether meno or not, if you are taking hormones, you need to schedule your lab test after your hormone dose. Hormones can be combined for 3 days prior to testing if needed. Saliva cortisol testing for sex hormones often presents strange results–for that reason, we lean towards blood testing for sex hormones.

When doing a saliva cortisol test, it might be better to wait until after a period and before ovulation, even though some facilities aren’t saying that. High or rising progesterone can influence cortisol and prevent you from seeing where your cortisol levels are without influence, which is what you want with saliva testing.

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