Hormones play a significant role in our body. When they fluctuate, we feel the impacts — literally. Fatigue, weight gain, and mood changes can all be symptoms of a hormone imbalance.
To make matters more complex, our hormone levels naturally decline with age. If you don’t feel like yourself as you’ve gotten older, a hormone imbalance could be behind it.
Fortunately, we can help you figure out if you’re being impacted by a hormone imbalance — even if you’ve been tested before and didn’t find anything.
With a broad spectrum of blood tests and regular retesting, Dr. Jonathan Singer and Jacqueline Woodrum, DO, help to overcome some of the hurdles with this kind of diagnosis. This allows them to create a customized hormone replacement therapy plan that best aligns with your body’s unique needs.
If you think you might be living with a hormone imbalance, talk with our team at either of our HealthFirst offices in Greenwood Village, Colorado, or Cheyenne, Wyoming. We work with you to get more accurate results from your blood tests, and we have a few tips to help there.
Your hormone levels aren’t static. Instead, they can change dramatically throughout the day. Some hormones, such as cortisol and testosterone, typically reach their highest levels in the morning and then gradually decline throughout the day.
Additionally, the body undergoes natural, longer-term hormone cycles. This is particularly true for women before menopause.
We time your test based on what we’re trying to learn about your body. For women, that might mean scheduling the test at a certain point in their menstrual cycle. For men, that usually means booking the test early in the morning so we can see where your testosterone levels peak.
Also, to offset some of the fluctuations that come with hormones, our team doesn’t just test for one or two things. Instead, your testing will evaluate over 30 hormones and metabolite markers.
To get accurate results, it’s important that you follow our instructions leading up to your test. Usually, that means not eating or drinking for 12 hours beforehand. We can often schedule your testing early in the morning so you can wake up, get the testing done, and go enjoy breakfast or coffee afterward.
Also, if we tell you to make any other longer-term changes beforehand, make sure you do so. If you’re taking biotin (vitamin B7), for example, we’ll tell you to stop. Biotin is known to interfere with lab testing, so following this guidance helps you get more accurate results.
Your hormone levels will continue to fluctuate, even with hormone replacement therapy. As part of our program, we perform occasional repeat blood testing. This allows us to see how your body is responding. It also validates the results from your previous testing or tells us that we need to take a closer look at certain areas.
Hormones are difficult to measure because of their fluctuating nature. But with proper preparation, strategic timing, and periodic retesting, we can move toward accuracy.
To explore getting this kind of testing for a hormone imbalance, contact the HealthFirst office nearest you to schedule an appointment with our team.
