Isn't It Time You Got More From Your Healthcare Provider?

Kriscinda Morgan, ND

Saliva Hormone Testing

The Basic Hormone Panel we use provides a basic evaluation of the sex hormones and a brief glimpse at adrenal function with the AM cortisol level. This panel is useful when testing and retesting patients who have begun hormone therapy, but we encourage use of the Comprehensive Panel for initial evaluation- which is more indepth. This basic test runs between $175-$195, depending on location. This is the minimal test recommended for symptoms that include:

Men Experiencing:

•Decreased libido

•Erectile dysfunction

•Loss of stamina

•Decrease in mental sharpness

•Reduced muscle size

•Increased moodiness

•Metabolic syndrome

•Prostate enlargement

•Hot flashes

•Irritability

Why test saliva rather than blood?

Saliva testing is an easy and noninvasive way of assessing your hormone status and balancing needs, and is proving to be the most reliable medium for measuring hormone levels.

Appreciating the reliability of saliva testing is based on understanding the difference between steroid hormones in saliva and in serum (blood). This difference is based on whether or not the hormones are bound to proteins in the medium used for testing. The majority of hormones exist in one of two forms: free (5%) or protein bound (95%). It is only the free hormones that are biologically active, or bio-available, and available for delivery to receptors in the body. Those which are protein bound do not fit the receptors and are considered non-bioavailable. When blood is filtered through the salivary glands, the bound hormone components are too large to pass through the cell membranes. Only the unbound hormones pass through and into the saliva. What is measured in the saliva is the bioavailable hormone, the clinically relevant portion which will be delivered to the receptors in the tissues of the body.

Salivary hormone levels are expected to be much lower than serum levels, as only the unbound hormones are being measured. When healthcare providers measure serum hormone levels and prescribe hormone replacement therapy based on those results, patients are often overdosed. If the patients are then tested using saliva, the results are extraordinarily high, and confusion results from a lack of correlation between the two methods.

This discrepancy becomes especially important when monitoring topical, or transdermal, hormone therapy. Studies show that this method of delivery results in increased tissue hormone levels (thus measurable in saliva), but no parallel increase in serum levels. Therefore, serum testing cannot be used to monitor topical hormone therapy.

Only Saliva Testing Measures Topically Dosed Hormones:

The discrepancy between free and protein bound hormones becomes especially important when monitoring topical, or transdermal, hormone therapy. Studies show that this method of delivery results in increased tissue hormone levels (thus measurable in saliva), but no parallel increase in serum levels. Therefore, serum testing cannot be used to monitor topical hormone therapy.

Women Experiencing:

•Hot flashes

•Anxiety/Depression

•Night sweats

•Breast tenderness

•Irritability

•Forgetfulness

•Irregular menstrual cycles

•Vaginal dryness

•Urinary incontinence

•Uterine fibroids

•Increased facial / body hair

•Acne

Why Test Hormone Levels?

Hormones are powerful molecules essential for maintaining physical and mental health. We frequently think of estrogen as being a female hormone, and testosterone as being a male hormone. But men AND women make both, plus several more that need to be in balance for optimum health. An imbalance of any one hormone can throw your physical and mental health out of balance, causing aggravating and even serious health problems.

One size does not fit all when it comes to hormones! For decades western medicine has prescribed Hormone Replacement Therapy as if everyone needed the same thing and the same amount. Nothing could be further from the truth. Your hormones are like your fingerprints and in order to achieve optimal health, you need to know what your specific imbalances are.

There are several ways to test for hormones(saliva, serum and urine), but the state-of-the-art method is through saliva. This is because only the active portions of hormones are measured and it is these portions that determine how individuals feel. So if your patient is seeking bio-identical hormone replacement (BHRT), you'll need to know active hormone levels. In addition, if using a topical (transdermal) hormone preparation for treatment, saliva testing is the most accurate tool to measure and monitor hormone status.

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