Many of us know the Circle of Life song, but did you know that in each of our individual lives, we go through many different circles or cycles on a daily, monthly, yearly, seasonally, etc basis? On a daily basis, we go through the circadian rhythm, which helps manage the times we are awake and the times we should be sleeping. All mammals go through seasonal/yearly transitions, mainly connected to where the earth is positioned in relation to the sun (think: hibernation of some of the larger animals, animal rutting season, the cold/holiday season where many of us have a tendency to put on weight… you get the idea. Let’s walk through how to determine the optimal time to test hormones.

 

Insight into the Hormonal Cycle

Women, in particular, go through a monthly cycle that helps regulate their hormones and menstrual cycles in preparation for the fertilization of an egg, generally menstruating for 4-7 days of the month, and then having hormone changes to ready the uterus for implantation of the fertilized egg. The hormones that regulate these processes can be measured throughout the month, and we can see elevations in progesterone and estrogen, in particular, at specific times of the month. For many women, though, hormones may not be well-regulated.

If you are taking birth control pills (OCPs), for instance, hormones generally stay at the same levels all month until the week of “sugar pills” where they drop dramatically. The next week when you resume a new month’s worth of OCPs, those hormones increase back up to that steady state and the cycle repeats. There are no spikes or drops in hormones causing the changes needed for ovulation (release of the egg from the ovary, generally marked by a drastic spike in estrogen), the development of the follicle (preparing the egg within the ovary, generally coinciding with a steady increase in estrogen), or the beginning of menstruation (noted by a general drop in progesterone).

 

When is the Optimal Time to Test Hormones?

As a naturopathic practice focused on helping women regulate their hormones, there is generally a time of the month that we like testing them. Our goal is to test your hormones—check out our at-home hormone test kit for women here— when progesterone is generally at its highest.

For women who are having “normal” (28-30 days) menstrual cycles, we will recommend testing your hormones at days 19-21. This is when progesterone peaks before the corpus luteum (the spot on the ovary where the egg was released) starts to degrade (which denotes that the implantation of an egg did not occur). We understand that many women are not having regular or “normal” cycles, so we can work with you to figure out which day of the month will work well for you to test your hormones.

 

Advocating for Hormone Testing

We find that women who have had lifelong hormonal imbalances will often have hormonal imbalances even after menopause. For these women, as they are no longer menstruating, are able to test hormones at any time.

We are able to help all women, no matter where they are in their life cycle, with hormone imbalances. With proper testing of hormones and our customized wellness treatment plans, our clients find relief in many symptoms, oftentimes even those not commonly associated with hormone imbalance.

 

Get started with a Free Consultation with one of our health and hormone specialists right here.