Blood Hormone Test Results

Day 8.

As can be seen in my previous entries, I've had my hormones tested through blood as well as through saliva. My saliva test results came back basically saying that I'm estrogen dominant, but I decided to go to my doctor and get all my hormones checked by a professional.

I've mentioned that my blood hormone tests came back as normal, but just to be more detailed, I'll post the exact results here:

So everything was normal, except for my DHEA level. DHEA is a hormone made by the adrenal gland. My doctor thinks that the lab which tested this has a faulty method for measuring this hormone, because a lot of her patients are getting higher than normal results as well, and yet none of them have any symptoms of adrenal gland issues.

I don't know whether or not to trust her judgment on that. In my saliva hormone test (which she claims is untrustworthy) I also came out with "symptoms of adrenal gland dysfunction." Is it just a coincidence? Or is it actually true?

My doctor told me that if I was really worried about this she could prescribe me some birth control pills to take care of the problem, but I turned down the offer because she had already convinced me that I didn't have a big problem.

Apparently an overactive adrenal gland can end up producing more estrogen than needed, but since my estrogen level is normal, I'm not concerned. And besides, my result isn't THAT much higher than the expected range. There's only a 1.2 ng/mL difference. Mind you, that might be a lot in terms of that hormone, but I guess I'm choosing to believe it's not.

Oh yes, I should also mention that I took these tests on the second day of my period, so all these results were compared to expected ranges for the follicular phase.

Updates

I went to an endocrinologist this morning, and I'm feeling a lot more relieved. The doctor told me that I shouldn't think too much of the results from my hormone test, because according to her, saliva tests aren't considered all that trustworthy by the medical community. She called it "nonsense." And even if they were trustworthy, she says that the numbers in the results don't signal anything major. She says that depending on what was going on with my cycle during that time, me not ovulating could be perfectly normal, as well as my progesterone level being lower than my estrogen level.

Nevertheless, in order for me to feel more sure about my hormone levels, she gave me an order to take blood tests to check more hormones. The list on the slip she handed to me says that I'm going to test my estradiol, progesterone, FSH, LH, prolactin, TSH, T3____ (I can't read what it says), cortisol, testosterone, DHEAS, and two others that are written too sloppily for me to read. I guess I'll have to find a lab to perform them, set up an appointment, and then wait for my results.

I'm feeling better about all this though, and I'm back to hoping that my hormones are balanced after all.

Saliva Hormone Test Results

Well, it looks like this isn't going to be as simple for me as I wanted it to be. I got the results for my hormone test yesterday, and this is how they turned out (click on image).

I'm not sure what to do for estrogen dominance. There's a topic about it over at the BE Board but I'm still a little confused.

I told my mom about my imbalance, because I don't really trust myself to fix this on my own, and I really want to start NBE with balanced hormones. I think she's going to set up an appointment with a gynecologist so that they can test me and maybe tell me a little more about my body.

I hope that this is something I can fix easily, but I know that I'm going to have to make an effort to improve my diet. I'm simply not nourishing myself properly, and it's obviously taking a toll on my body in more ways than one. I'd like to gain a little weight anyhow.