Hormone Testing Results
This has probably never before appeared on the Internet on any site, but what we decided to publish here and define is an example of a hormone testing results of a woman, age 51.
A few details about this woman are necessary. She is currently taking bioidentical hormones cyclically, and is still suffering from some of the symptoms of menopause. Her symptoms include a few hot flashes per day, weight gain around the waist, fatigue, lowered metabolism, extremely dry eyes and slight memory loss. Her bioidentical doctor has prescribed her Bi-est – 3 mg. per day, 1.5 mg taken in the morning and 1.5 mg in the evening. Bi-est is a combination of two estrogens – 20% estradiol and 80% estriol in the form of troches because her skin does not seem to absorb the Bi-est cream. She uses progesterone cream – 100 mg of cream twice a day, and testosterone 2 mg twice a day from day 14 to day 28. She was also taking, at the time of this hormone testing, a natural DHEA supplement – 12 mg per day.
Since this patient had encountered sleep problems, she was also taking Melatonin at 3 mg. per day which enabled her to sleep much better. In addition, this patient also suffers from hypothyroidism for which her physician prescribed both Synthroid and desiccated natural thyroid medication. She still experiences difficulty losing and maintaining her weight. She also states that she suffers from lowered libido and chronic stress from her job.
The patient states she maintains a “mostly very healthy” diet, smokes and drinks red or white wine occasionally. The patient is attempting to quit smoking.
This hormone testing was done in Canada and the results are shown in the metric measurements. To view a larger image of the hormone test results, it will be necessary for you to click on the image.
What follows is a description and explanation of the hormone testing results which may help clarify some of your own hormone test results for you. We welcome any comments on these hormone test results, whether they are comments from our readers or from doctors.
This first hormone test shows TSH, T3 and cortisol testing done in the morning and evening. Cortisol levels are tested either two or three times a day. Cortisol levels will start at a high level in the morning and should decrease during the day. The patient’s cortisol levels do just this.
Hormone Test Shows Cortisol and TSH Levels
The normal range for cortisol in the morning should be between 170 – 540 nmol/L. The patient’s hormone test for the morning shows a level of 473 nmol/L, so this shows a normal range of cortisol levels for the morning and the decline of cortisol over the day.
In the evening test for cortisol levels – the normal range for cortisol is between 65 – 340 nmol/L. The patient’s test results show that cortisol has decreased to a level of 174 nmol/L.
TSH levels tested results showed 3.55 mIU/L. The normal range for sTSH should be between 0.35 – 5.00 mIU/L. The patient’s T3 in her system shows 1.8 nmol/L. The normal range for T3, as seen in the right hand column is from 0.9 to 2.4 nmol/L. Is this enough for our patient? She is still reporting symptoms of fatigue, weight gain around the stomach/waistline and puffiness around the eyes and difficulty losing weight. The sTSH hormone test for thyroid hormone reports on the levels of T4 in her body.
The next hormone test below reports the levels of free testosterone in her body. The free testosterone hormone in her body is found to be 1.1 pmol/L. The normal range for free testosterone in a woman’s body reference range is between 0 to 7.0 pmol/L for women. Note that although her testosterone blood test is normal for a woman, it is in the lower range. She has reported that she is experiencing symptoms of lowered libido.
The Hormone Test for Patient's Testosterone
Estradiol, progesterone, FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) and DHEA hormone testing results are displayed in this next image.
Hormone Testing
These hormone tests were all completed on the 21st day of her menstrual cycle. She is still menstruating because she is taking bioidentical hormones in a cyclical manner. On day 14, she begins her progesterone and testosterone bioidentical hormones which she continues to take until day 28 when her period begins. The patient has been in menopause for a period of three years.
It is noted by the doctor that the patient’s DHEA levels are slightly elevated at 9.5 umol/L and questioned whether the patient is taking androgens because the normal range for DHEA levels should be between 0.96 to 6.95 umol/L. If you may recall, earlier in this article the patient reported that she was taking natural DHEA supplements at 12 mg. per day. The patient has since reduced her intake of DHEA natural supplements to 5 mg per day.
Since the hormone tests were done on the 21st day of the menstrual cycle, which is the Luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, the normal hormone levels for progesterone for the luteal phase should be from 3.8 to 50.6 nmol/L. The patient’s hormone test level for estradiol is 8.0 nmol/L. Since the patient is still experiencing menopause symptoms of hot flashes, weight problems and fatigue, we suggest that this patient’s levels of the hormone progesterone are still low and the Progesterone prescription should be increased to eradicate the hot flashes and possibly related weight gain.
The FSH hormone level of 21 shows that the patient is close to the normal range of a menopausal female.
The hormone testing for levels of Estradiol in the system resulted with 161 pmol/L for this patient. The normal levels of estradiol during the Luteal phase should range from 77 – 1145 pmol/L. Since the patient is still suffering from hot flashes and weight gain with a hormone test result for estradiol of 161 pmol/L, this indicates the need for a higher dosage of the Bi-est bioidentical troches to alleviate these symptoms.
Hopefully this has helped our readers to understand a little more clearly your own hormone testing results and the bioidentical cream and troche prescriptions you receive from your bioidentical doctor, naturopath or endocrinologist. We will follow up, at a later date in about three month’s time with the changes in hormone levels after the patient starts a new prescription for bioidentical hormones to improve and eradicate her symptoms.
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Filed Under DHEA, Estrogen, Hormone Testing, Menopause, Progesterone, Testosterone | Comments Off
Tagged With DHEA, estradiol, hormone test results, hormone testing, hormone tests, hypothyroidism, melatonin, Progesterone, symptoms of menopause, testosterone, thyroid test results
