Are you Experiencing Hormonal Imbalance?
Irregular Cycles? PMS or Mood swings? Hot flashes? Night Sweats?
Sleep Disturbance? Fatigue? Anxiety?
Depression? Weight Gain? Low Libido?
Then This Program is Right for You!
Let's learn more about your hormone levels!
Serum blood levels, although helpful, can sometimes have the disadvantage of not capturing the whole story of someone’s hormone picture. A blood draw captures one spot in time, but our hormones are actually secreted in a pulsatile fashion and because of this a blood collection could be collecting levels in a natural peak or trough for that day and not giving you an accurate representation of what your daily level looks like. Depending on the situation, I often prefer to also test urinary hormone levels that are collected at different times over a 24-hour period. This involves urinating on an absorbable piece of paper a few times throughout the day at a specific time in your menstrual cycle to generate a pooled hormone level which measures your daily average levels of each hormone for a more representative picture.
This also allows us to collect additional biomarkers that show not only additional hormone levels but also hormone metabolites that show, based on your individual genetics and nutrition status, how you enzymatically break down your hormones and how efficiently or not you clear them from your body. We can measure, not only estradiol but, your 3 different estrogen (E1: estrone; E2: Estridiol and E3: Estriol) levels to make sure they are within range and balance on another. We also measure your progesterone level to make sure that your progesterone balances your estrogen level in a healthy ratio. Additionally we look at testosterone, DHEA and cortisol. Looking at your multipoint cortisol curve over the day we can address any HPA-Axis (hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal-axis) dysfunction that could be at play due to chronic stress. This is an important part of our workup when there is fatigue or sleep issues and a foundational treatment focus area when any hormonal or thyroid issues are manifesting. This urine test also has the benefit of measuring melatonin, overall antioxidant status and organic acids that can give us a window in to the health of your brain, gut and neurotransmitter health as well as your levels of Vitamin B6, B12 and glutathione which are important in hormone production and elimination along with many other aspects of your health.
What Treatment Looks Like:
Our treatment strategy will not only investigate and support your sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone) but your adrenal hormones (cortisol and DHEA) as well as make sure your thyroid, liver, digestion, and other systems and blood markers (blood sugar, cholesterol, vitamin D, etc) are all optimized. Your body is a unit and relies on all of it's organ systems to be functioning optimally. We need to remember this when formulating the right individualized treatment plan for you.
When working with an individual to balance their hormones I like to use a wholistic approach that addresses diet and and implements lifestyle modifications, nutrient therapies, herbal and homeopathic medicine and when needed or desired, the safest and lowest dose bio-identical hormone therapy that is clinically beneficial for each individual.
What Follow Up Looks Like:
The frequency of visits depends on how someone responds and how much support they desire in the early stages. Especially with diet and lifestyle modification or if someone is feeling very imbalanced I like to provide as much support as needed initially until they feel the momentum of a successful supportive plan. This can often mean we meet 2 weeks after the initial visit and then monthly for a minimum of 3 months.
When bio-identical hormones are used, follow up testing and checking in on a regular basis helps to ensure that the bio-identical hormone form and dose is the right one for you!