Saliva Testing

What can you do about hormone imbalances?

There are several therapeutic options which may minimize or even eliminate many of the symptoms that occur with hormone imbalances:

  1. Treat symptoms using synthetic hormones without hormone level testing.
  2. Treat symptoms using natural hormones without any testing.
  3. Treat and correct symptoms using natural hormones with testing for hormone levels before & after treatment.

Why should you test?
Hormones are powerful substances that control multiple functions throughout the body. Hormone levels should be sufficient and balanced. Too much or too little of them is not conducive to long-term emotional, mental and bodily health.

By not measuring the hormones before and after treatment your hormone picture is, at best, an educated guess, since hormone levels from a woman/man to woman/man can vary 200 – 1,500%. In fact many people may need only one hormone, while others require 3 or 4 different kinds.

Just as you cannot balance your bank account without numbers on your bank statements, hormone testing provides both a basis for treatment and proximity to your goal.

One can then:

  • Customize natural hormone dosing to meet individual needs.
  • Optimize hormone levels for minimum dose to relieve symptoms. Avoid overdosing.
  • Achieve appropriate and compatible physiologic levels of several hormones.
  • Increase sense of “well being” by removing underlying hormone deficit and imbalances.

What is tested and what does it tell you?
We test for male and female natural hormones. We utilize your saliva as a sample for measuring hormones, such as Testosterone, DHEA, Progesterone, Estriol, Estrone, Estradiol, Dihydrotestosterone, Androstenedione, and cortisol levels. The brain derived regulating hormones, FSH and LH, are also measured to help assess efficacy of control and feedback between the brain and ovaries.

Why saliva and not blood work?
Saliva hormone values reflect the tissue concentration of your hormones. Blood and serum contains the total hormone, but your tissues are only bathed with the active or effective fraction as found in saliva. Active fraction measurements are superior to blood and urine measurements both in diagnosis and treatment.

How can we help you?
Let us take a common example:
A woman suffers from several symptoms-migraines, hot flashes and emotional fragility. She is having irregular periods, one every 6-8 months. Her doctor treats her with natural estrogens, but he does not do any testing to determine quantities or types of hormones that will meet her specific needs. The symptoms are under control, but her risks are the following:

  • Increased blood pressure
  • Endometrial cancer (uterine cancer)
  • Fibroid growth
  • Gallbladder disease
  • Over 15 years, at least twice the risk of breast cancer

What could we have found out if we had tested her saliva hormone levels? We would have known that she has too much estrogen, not enough progesterone to balance the estrogen, low DHEA, and marginal testosterone.

But, she felt good on the estrogen, many will say. Yes, however, the silent killers (cancer, blood pressure, heart disease) rarely make anyone feel bad at the start. Her best course is a new treatment plan, designed around the objective saliva hormone measurements.

How do you benefit?
There are five distinct areas that you will benefit from using the saliva tests.

  1. They are affordable and less expensive than blood or urine tests. Blood testing for 6 hormones costs $250-$300 more than saliva testing.
  2. Collection procedure spares you the pain of venipunctures with a needle.
  3. Results are more clinically reflective of your hormone status and needs.
  4. Results can lead to an individualized and customized treatment plan using natural hormones.

You will minimize overdosing and under dosing. This will insure that you use only the proper hormones in the appropriate amounts.