Hormone Testing

Measuring Hormone Levels in Men and Women

Hormone testing through saliva and blood spot (capillary blood) provides you with many of the answers that you have been looking for.

In the privacy of your own home, you can accurately test important and vital hormone levels to see how those levels correspond to your current symptoms. These levels can then be used to determine a therapy that would work best for you.

The testing also comes with an explanation which allows you to better understand exactly where you stand.

You are now able to affordably take charge of your health. ZRT Laboratory saliva-and-blood-spot testing helps to uncover the reasons for disruptive symptoms and chronic health problems that may have kept you from a life you love.

The hormones tested are based upon profiles or panels created by experts to provide the most consistent and complete look at hormone levels.

When hormones are unbalanced, they are often the source of undesirable symptoms found during menses, peri-menopause, menopause, andropause (male menopause), and similar conditions.

The quick and easy hormone testing for men and women offered by the DCFM provides reliable results, as well as a solid foundation on which to start bio-identical hormone therapy paired with customized nutrition supplementation, fitness programs, and personalized lifestyle modifications.

percent of women suffer from hormonal imbalance.

serum testosterone (T) levels decline progressively with aging in men 

What’s the best testing method? Vein Blood or Capillary Blood.

Hormones are typically tested through vein blood. This requires a phlebotomist, special preparation such as centrifugation of that blood, and special packaging and shipment required to get the collected blood to a lab for analysis. 

Saliva and blood spot testing have multiple benefits: 

  • No phlebotomist, special preparation such as centrifugation of the blood, or special packaging and shipment required, therefore less expensive and more convenient than conventional blood draws
  • Simple and convenient collection of blood at home allows for flexibility of testing at the right time of day or month or following hormone therapy 
  • Hormones and other analytes stable in dried blood spot at room temperature for weeks, allowing for greater latitude in collection and shipping

This is important. Blood spot tests blood in the capillary beds from the finger, and thus better reflects tissue hormone levels. 

Blood spot is ideal for measuring hormones and other analytes such as insulin, blood lipids, Vitamin D, thyroid hormones, and elements like lead and magnesium.

It offers distinct advantages over serum because it again, eliminates the need for a blood draw – saving patients time and money.

Dried blood spot is a form of collection where patients place blood drops on a filter card after a finger prick with a lancet.

Once dry, blood spot cards are extremely stable for shipment and storage, and the dried blood format offers excellent correlation with serum tests.

Blood spot tests blood in the capillary beds from the finger, and thus better reflects tissue hormone levels. 

Which hormones do we test?

  • Estrogen
  • Progesterone
  • Testosterone
  • Cortisol – the stress hormone measured four times in one day
  • DHEA
  • Thyroid Hormones – freeT4, freeT3
  • TSH – Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone
  • Vitamin D
  • IGF-1
  • Other Hormones – Based on your symptoms, the doctor may suggest other tests.
  • SHBG

Saliva and/or blood-spot hormone tests are used to:

  • Detect hormone imbalances prior to the appearance of patient signs or symptoms
  • Identify hormone imbalances associated with symptoms
  • Establish hormone baselines prior to beginning therapy
  • Monitor hormone levels while supplementing
  • Track treatment progress with follow-up reports
Hormones are complex

They’re produced throughout your body by nearly a dozen glands and organs, and are collectively known as the endocrine system.

When in balance they interact in an elegantly intricate formula — a mix that determines growth, development, mental function and physical function at every age. When they’re out of balance, growing evidence shows that it can cause anything from fatigue to infertility, headaches to depression, weight gain to loss of libido

How are hormones balanced naturally?

Vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals play a major role in supporting and balancing healthy hormone production in your body.

The food and nutrients you consume, alongside the lifestyle you choose are major players in creating hormone abnormalities and/or improvements. For example, selenium can improve free T3 levels. Zinc, and Eurycoma Longifolia can improve testosterone levels. Women with polycystic ovarian syndrome can normalize the overproduction of testosterone with the b vitamin inositol.

Whilst there are synthetic laboratory made hormones—as in hormone replacement therapy (HRT),—there are non-drug therapies to support and improve hormone levels and function in the body. Targeted nutrients work very well once the imbalance has been found. HRT has been proven to be dangerous and increase risk for developing disease like cancer. Now, there are laboratory made hormones that look and act like your own hormones without the danger. These are bio-identical hormones that are typically created from plants in a compounding pharmacy.

However, it is important to consult with Dr. Z if you have lots of symptoms or a condition that needs further support to ensure that any supplements you take are suited to you and are not interfering with any medication that you may be taking.

If you do suffer from physical or emotional struggles caused by hormonal imbalance, you may want to consider getting proper testing done and then work to normalize your hormones without potentially dangerous synthetic hormones.

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Targeted nutrients work very well once the imbalance has been found.

Please contact us for more information on testing your hormone imbalances

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Dr. Z is fired up, ready to ignite the persistence and grit of those who are fed up, pissed off, and determined to reclaim their health and their bodies. 

We look forward to being a part of your personal rebuild

“A diagnosis is not your destiny”

© 2020 Dr. Robert Zembroski

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