As a woman, testing your reproductive hormones can give quite a lot of insight into what is happening in your body & help make sure your reproductive & fertility concerns are treated as accurately & effectively as possible. Unfortunately there is a lot of misunderstanding about when is the best time to test for these hormones in your menstrual cycle.
Why should we test certain hormones at specific times in our cycle?
Our sex hormones are constantly in flux throughout our cycles, creating an (ideally) harmonious dance with each other every month. This means that hormones such as oestrogen, progesterone, FSH & LH don't stay at a stable level through the cycle and levels can vary substantially even within one week! Getting tested for the right hormones at the right time in your cycles can significantly improve the functional understanding & application of these hormones & how they are impacting your health. This in turn improves treatment and overall outcomes - giving you better results, quicker!
So when should I test?
If you are testing these hormones via blood test, it is generally best to test along the dates below. Day 1 of your cycle is the first day of your period and the cycle starts again on the first day of your next cycle.
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Oestrogen, FSH, LH - Day 2-3 of Cycle
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Progesterone - Day 21 of Cycle (assuming a 28 day cycle)
Day 2-3:
Oestrogen, FSH & LH hormones are usually at their lowest stable level at the start of your cycle & can give good information about how much or little your body can produce at its baseline levels
Day 21:
Progesterone only really gets produced decently after ovulation & can take around a week to hit its peak levels - this peak is what we want to see. Contrary to popular belief, there is not much point in testing progesterone in the first half of the cycle with the other hormones as there's not much going on with progesterone then!
Day 21 of your cycle is a guideline, assuming a regular 28 day cycle. However, if your cycle length is usually much longer or shorter than 28 days, it would be worthwhile talking to your health care practitioner to confirm when the best day to test progesterone is, as the ideal testing date can vary.
Other markers such as testosterone & SHBG can be tested at any time of the cycle
For men, hormones don’t vary throughout the month so it is a lot more straightforward getting the relevant hormonal tests. There are also other methods of testing our sex hormones aside from blood, such as saliva and even urine testing both of which can yield even further information depending on what is needed.
If you have concerns about your reproductive hormones, book an appointment with one of our naturopaths so we can delve into things properly & finally get you those answers!
