Have you ever thought about investigating your hormone health,
but have not been certain exactly what you might find out?
Here are five common results I see regularly on saliva hormone
tests, and a brief description of what they might mean.
men. Yes that’s right, men have oestrogen! Usually in men, we see
high oestrogen situations which are related to excess body fat
(especially the fat around the middle), poor detoxification and
elimination of excess oestrogens thorough the liver, and imbalanced gut bacteria which can cause oestrogen to be recycled into the body instead of eliminated. In women, we often see high levels of ‘bad’ oestrogen and low levels of ‘good’ oestrogen. We actually have 3 types of oestrogen! The reasons behind these imbalances in women can be the same as in men, with the addition of the use of the oral contraceptive pill in the past, or HRT. Coffee can also increase oestrogen levels and contribute to high readings.
of the tests I see, progesterone is low. If it is slightly low,
it can just indicate that the lady did not ovulate on day 14 of
her cycle. If it is very low it could indicate that she isn’t
ovulating at all. This is what we would expect after menopause,
but many young women display this result. If you take or have
taken the oral contraceptive pill, your body does not ovulate,
so that may be one explanation. Another could be stress. We
investigate this in the cortisol section of the saliva test.
the men, but more likely for the women. In women, high testosterone levels often indicate the body searching for energy. This can mean that the adrenal glands are not keeping up with the energy demands placed on the body. Testosterone raises as a result. It can also indicate a sluggish liver, with hormones in general not being adequately excreted. This can be the likely explanation for men with high readings. High testosterone in men is not something I see regularly, it is more common to see low testosterone.
testosterone is commonly seen hand in hand with high oestrogen
levels in males, and therein lies the problem. The ‘mother’
hormone may be converted to oestrogen, and not testosterone.
It is also seen in situations of low energy. If the ‘mother’
hormone is required in excess to fuel energy, cortisol can raise
and testosterone can decrease as a result. As you can see, all
these hormones work hand in hand.
cortisol, when your body can no longer meet the energy demands
placed on it, and struggles to keep cortisol levels healthy.
Exhaustion is common in this scenario. Or it could be a combination of the two, with low cortisol of a morning and high levels at night, resulting in exhaustion during the day, and insomnia or poor sleep at night, or even high levels of a morning and low levels during the day. The combinations vary person to person, which is why saliva testing can be the best way to identify and treat your personal hormonal situation.
