I'm Hormonal | PCOS, periods, gut + hormone health insights

Hormone Testing: What to Consider & What I Use with Clients | Ep. 64

• Bridget Walton, Functional Hormone Specialist & Menstrual Cycle Coach • Episode 64

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In this episode, Bridget walks through the most common questions that she gets about hormone testing and panels. If you're wondering what to do about hormone tests, which one is right for you, or when is the right time to test--this episode is for you.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to I'm Hormonal, your source of information about women's hormone health and how to support your body. Naturally, I'm your host, bridget Walton, and I'm a certified functional hormone specialist and menstrual cycle coach. I am on a mission to hold these hormone conversations with as many menstruators as possible, because you deserve easier access to accurate information about what's up with your unruly menstrual cycle and with your fertility mysteries. Don't you think it's time that we figure this out once and for all? Hey friend, welcome to this week's episode of I'm Hormonal. I'm your host, bridget Walton, and today I'm excited to bring you just this solo episode where I'm going to be talking about hormone testing. I get questions all the time about hormone tests, different panels that you can use when's the right time, and so I know this is something that a lot of my clients have on their mind and perhaps you do as well. So if you're somebody who's been thinking, okay, I want to do hormone testing, but I don't know what's the right test for me, I don't know if this is the right time, I don't know how to decide or what to maybe even talk to my doctor about, then this will be a good conversation for you. Now, if you are new to the podcast, then I want to say a quick welcome to you, and I'm so glad that you found me. Sometimes I do episodes that are just me chatting to you, like I will be today. I also will do interviews from time to time, so there is a little bit of variety here.

Speaker 1:

I'm a women's hormone coach, and I started this podcast what is it now? Anyway, over a year ago because I really care about sharing the information that I know about how our bodies work, how my body works, how maybe your body works, what you can do to interpret your body's signals and, ultimately, what you can do to feel better and feel really confident in your cycle. So that's what we're here to do at I'm Hormonal. Hey, as always, though, please, please, be reminded that the information I share with you is for educational purposes only. It shouldn't be used as a replacement for any sort of medical advice or diagnosis, and while I'm a hormone coach, I may not be your hormone coach. So there's so much more information and context than what I can just explain to you in a podcast episode. So if you ever have questions, you can always reach out to me. Right? You can schedule a free consult call through the link in the bio or just connect with me on Instagram at Bridget Walton, but I'm here for you or there's the right practitioner out there who can help make this make sense for you.

Speaker 1:

All of that being said, I want to share with you some information about this Black Friday Cyber Monday kind of bonus that I have. So if you're listening in real time, then you are in luck, because what I'm doing for this holiday time is a holiday bonus is offering you a free Dutch test along with your 10 session coaching package. So if you are somebody who you you're listening because you're trying to understand how you can better support your hormones, you're trying to understand why you have irregular cycles, painful periods, crazy PMS, whatever's going on with you. If you've been on the fence about hormone coaching and working together, then maybe this will be the signal that you need to prioritize your health and prioritize your hormone wellness for 2025. So you can check out a little bit more details in the show notes. Again, this is just a time limited offer for this Black Friday Cyber Monday time. So if you are listening to this podcast as it came out kind of in real time, then that means that today is what Tuesday the third. So go ahead and book your appointment for a free consult call before midnight tomorrow, which is Wednesday, the 4th, and then you'll be able to cash in on this deal. So one more time if you are looking for support, one-on-one, you're ready to move forward with hormone coaching and a 10-session package, then're ready to move forward with hormone coaching and attend session package, then go ahead and book your consult call. Or even if you're not sure but you want to find out, if this is a good fit for you, right, it's a free consult call. Book it before end of day tomorrow, which is Wednesday, december 4th, and we can chat and figure out what's the right option for you, and you'll get the Dutch complete panel for free, which is a $315 value.

Speaker 1:

I'm normally not salesy like this on the podcast, but that's what you've got today. Let me know on Instagram if you have any questions. So, with that being said, why don't we just jump right in? A question I get all the time is, or? You know, what somebody says to me is hey, I want to test my hormones, but I don't know like I don't know what to do. I don't even know where to start with that, and so I like to talk about the hormone panel that I use all the time with clients, and that's what I'll tell you about right now, and so that panel is the Dutch test.

Speaker 1:

Dutch stands for dried urine test, for comprehensive hormones, we'll just call her Dutch. For now. It's really convenient because it's a test kit that will get sent to you at home, and so you can just administer the test, go through all the steps on your own time in your own cozy home. You don't have to go out to the lab or to the doctor's office for it. Beyond its convenience factor, though, I find this panel to be really instrumental because it is a very comprehensive rundown of so many different markers related to your menstrual cycle, also markers related to stress, to gut health. It has some markers related to your neurotransmitters, right, like what are those hormones that help our mood? And while that is just a very short summary of what this panel will show you, all in all it's really important because it's helping to point towards what is the root cause of your symptoms, what is the root cause of a hormone imbalance, and so that's why this test is really key.

Speaker 1:

It's good for if you have PMS that you can't shake, if you're going through perimenopause and you kind of want to see where things are at, or you want to. Maybe you're just a data person and you're like give me the numbers, give me the numbers, but this is also a good panel if you want to make sure that you're ovulating. So maybe you're somebody who wants to conceive but you have irregular cycles or something else is going on, and so the test will be able to really clearly show you are you ovulating, by way of what your progesterone levels look like and also demonstrate for you then okay. Well, what's going on with estrogen? Now a couple of final honorable mentions here.

Speaker 1:

If you have really heavy bleeding, breast tenderness, also when it comes to stress I mentioned stress a second ago the Dutch test can also measure your cortisol levels, which is your stress hormone, and so, while, of course, you might know that you feel stressed, you might know that you feel tired, which is correlated with your stress hormone, but actually seeing what's going on there can really help you get to again the root cause. Seeing what's going on there can really help you get to again the root cause. Do you need to focus on giving a little bit more love to your liver? Do you need to work on that stress and inflammation piece. I'm hopefully not saying just a bunch of random words or symptoms or topics that you're like okay, bridget, slow down. But the reason why I'm mentioning all these things is because it can help to kind of be the constellation that you see in the stars and make sense of what your symptoms look like. Plus, if any of those, if anything I just said, resonates with you, just know that the Dutch test can really outline what's going on there. Now one quick note too I'm not like a salesperson for the manufacturer or for the lab that makes the Dutch test, but this is the test that I'm trained on and that I find to be really comprehensive, and so that's why I'm talking about it right now, I guess.

Speaker 1:

Coming back to the original question, though, somebody says I want to test my hormones, I would say, okay, well, what do you want to actually know? What do you want to actually learn about? And so now it's hard for me to ask you that while you're just in listen only mode. But that is a really important question to ask yourself too, because while it's good to make sure you know if you're somebody who you're like, hey, I want to spend some money on this test because I just want to make sure that everything's balanced. I love that for you, I feel you.

Speaker 1:

I also want to point out that if you are somebody who has, or maybe you want to prepare to conceive and you're like, okay, I just want to make sure I'm ovulating, well, it's maybe helpful for me to clarify that there are other ways you can know that you're ovulating without paying a couple hundred dollars for a test. So testing can be a really helpful tool. It shouldn't be the first step, but I'll get into that more in a minute of what is the right time to test, or actually might not get into that right now. So that's a question I get too when is the right time to test? Or somebody will say, hey, I am on birth control now, but I want to have a kid in the next two years. Can I do hormone testing now?

Speaker 1:

In order to answer that, you would definitely have to understand and think about what type of birth control you're using. But, for example, if you're using a form of birth control that prevents you from ovulating, you would want to wait until after you come off of that birth control, after you ideally begin ovulating again, in order to test, because for many forms of birth control the way that it works is by preventing you from ovulating, and if you're not ovulating, then you're not producing those hormones that you would have tested. Or let me say that in a different way If you were to get your hormones tested while you were still on birth control, it would show, it would likely show super low for estrogens, super low for progesterone, which could cause, you know, potentially unnecessary stress because you're like, oh my God, oh my gosh, why are these levels so low? But the answer is because you're using birth control. But that's why you're using the birth control right so that you don't produce those hormones, so that you don't ovulate and procreate. Or maybe you're using it for a different reason, but anyway, that's how most birth control works by preventing you from ovulating. If you are one of those gals who is taking a form of birth control where you still do ovulate so sometimes with progestin only forms of birth control then you can still ovulate. And that would be one to have a little bit more conversation with your doctor or with your provider, with your whoever's, your practitioner, to understand if hormone testing would be the right thing for you at that time.

Speaker 1:

Now another question that I get pretty often is aside from what panel? You know what panel should they run? But like, okay, I'm going to my doctor, I have my annual checkup coming up, what should I ask them to run? And normally your doctor will have the standard panels that like your insurance covers and so or maybe they just have their own normal I'm doing air quotes over here normal hormones that they will run on a panel that they feel comfortable with. Some of those hormones probably include our friend estrogen. Oftentimes on tests it will present as estradiol. Maybe you've heard this here before if you've been with the pod for a little while, but we actually have multiple. We have three different kinds of estrogens and so during your reproductive years, while you're cycling, estradiol is the specific kind of estrogen that is predominant. So that's why you might see estradiol on your test. You can also see progesterone, fsh, which is follicle stimulating hormone, or LH, luteinizing hormone. Those are other common ones. If you are somebody who has, or think you have, pcos you're chatting with your doctor on that then they will likely run FSH and LH. They also might run testosterone and DHEAS.

Speaker 1:

Just a final kind of honorable mention here, not sex hormones, but closely related to our reproductive system is what's going on with our blood sugar. So if they're checking your glucose, maybe your hemoglobin A1c or my favorite, or a marker that can help and be indicative of what's going on at a more root cause level with your blood sugar is fasting insulin. So I don't know why I made that such a drama, but fasting insulin is one that you will probably have to ask your doctor for, unless you're seeing a functional medicine practitioner or a naturopath, because that's just not part of the standard panel that doctors will order, unless you maybe have diabetes or another blood sugar, you know, or on the cusp of diabetes. I guess that's called pre-diabetic. Make sure that if you are having some hormones tested, you ask your provider which day of your cycle you should be on, or just know that your hormones will naturally fluctuate throughout the month. So if you have your estrogen tested and it happens to be the first day of your cycle, then your estrogen levels are going to be super low, and so is progesterone. And if you get them tested just after ovulation so maybe like seven days after you ovulate or if you're not sure if you're ovulating then you'll take the middle of your cycle, so maybe that cycle, day 14, and then add seven onto there, then oftentimes that's like can be the right range to test them in With the Dutch test. This is the case too. We want to take it on a really specific day, but I would work with you, or your practitioner would work with you, to pick that specific day so that the data you get is the most helpful for you. One final thing I want to mention when we're thinking about what might you want to ask your primary care provider about, would be a thyroid panel. This is another one that can be standard and oftentimes covered by insurance. If you have insurance or you know, at least here in the US, when everybody has something different, love this system, then that's something that you could have access to or just, you know, pay some extra for. So thyroid panel is really helpful because our thyroid hormone significantly impacts our cycle, just like blood sugar. If you listened a couple episodes ago to my conversation with Nicole Cefet, we talked all about thyroid and a little bit more in-depth on those specific markers, if you want to go back and check that out.

Speaker 1:

Another question and this is the fourth and final question that I'll run through is when is the right time to test. So the first thing I think about is have you dialed in the foundations? Have you focused on supporting your sleep, lowering your stress, making sure that you're getting in the right nutrients, making sure that you're eating enough? Are you exercising? All of those things that you know are good for you, but just need to dial in and implement and make those things a habit. That's what I think of first. So I would encourage you or well, no, I would encourage you to focus on some of those foundational items first, before you go to testing.

Speaker 1:

Now, that being said, if you are somebody like I think I mentioned earlier, you just love data. You want to see exactly what the numbers are. You want to understand where you're at now so you know where to go. I feel you and I'm the same way. That's how my brain works. I'm like let's understand where I'm at now, just so I can see what change I make. Then you know, I think that's a certain, certainly a factor to consider, especially if that motivates you right. Hopefully, hopefully you don't get a test result back that has something wild and crazy, but if you do, then maybe that's a good source of motivation for you to again dial in these foundations and do some things that you know that you should be doing but that you need to really, I guess, guess, incentivize yourself to do.

Speaker 1:

Another situation that can be good for testing is if you and specifically I'm talking about Dutch testing in this case maybe I should specify that, if you want to test your hormones, like estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol those ones it can be good to test if you have symptoms that are conflicting right, if you have symptoms, seemingly, of high estrogen but also low estrogen, or symptoms of high androgens but also low androgens, or you have symptoms of I don't know, you have heavy bleeding, but despite trying ABC and XYZ things, you see no change, then that could be a time to test. So every single person's situation will be different, or your preferences, or your budget, or your time, or your access. Those are a couple of guidelines, though, that I would well that I would point you towards. Now I'll just wrap it up with a reminder that getting to the root cause is the goal of testing. It's not so that you can say, okay, sick testosterone is high, we will treat high testosterone. That will be important to know, but what's more important is the overall picture of understanding what is causing the imbalance and how you can support that organ, how you can change your lifestyle, your diet, to better support your overall wellness. And so I just want to, I just want to remind you of that so you keep that at the forefront of your mind.

Speaker 1:

All right, team, I think that's it for today. If you have any questions from anything I talked about, you can always connect with me on Instagram, send me a DM with whatever's on your mind You'll find me at Bridget Walton and otherwise send this to a friend. If you have somebody in your life who has been, maybe you've been talking to them about hormone testing and you're like, oh okay, I know my girl is going to benefit from listening to this episode. Otherwise, guys, just thanks so much. I can't honestly say thank you enough for listening to the podcast week after week, especially for those of you who made it all the way to the end here. So we will see you on the next one. No-transcript.