Hormone Health Program

What hormone imbalances can look like:

  • Always feeling cold

  • Hair loss / thinning

  • Irregular menstrual cycles

  • Heavy and/or painful periods

  • PMS or PMDD

  • Low libido / sex drive

  • Anxiety / Mood changes

  • Weight gain

  • Low energy and persistent fatigue

  • Experiencing high stress

  • Acne

  • Facial hair growth

  • Difficulty trying to conceive

  • Menopausal symptoms like hot sweats and vaginal dryness

If you experience any of the above symptoms, it can be related to a hormonal imbalance such as cortisol, thyroid, estrogen, progesterone, androgen, and insulin dysregulation. While there are many supplements available to help re-balance specific hormones, many symptoms can relate to more than one hormone and each hormone connects to each other. The more you try to read Dr. Google to figure it out on your own, the more confused you will get and you may end up spending hundreds of $$$ on supplements without really knowing what you are treating. This why when it comes to navigating your hormones, it is ideal to consult with a healthcare practitioner who is knowledgeable in endocrinology. Our naturopathic doctor has a focus in endocrinology (the study of hormones).

Here are some links to blogs posts written by our naturopathic doctor on various hormones that are hot topics - cortisol, the birth control pill, and fertility.

How Our Hormone Health Program Works at the Clinic

SET UP AN INITIAL ASSESSMENT WITH OUR NATUROPATHIC DOCTOR

Your hormone health concern (menstrual-related, perimenopause, menopause, PCOS, acne, trying to conceive, hair loss, weight gain, etc ) will be discussed in great detail as well as a head-to-toe review of symptoms will be conducted because naturopathic medicine sees the entire body being connected. This helps figure out if it is a simple “one-hormone” problem or if there is something else going on and helps to identify the root cause. This is also why the initial assessment can range from 60-90 minutes. Necessary physical exam will be conducted as well like your blood pressure, assessing your thyroid, etc.

Please bring any test results with you to this appointment if you have them or your ND can have you sign a release form during the appointment and request it from your doctor.

Functional testing can be offered during this appointment if necessary at an additional cost.

Simple treatment recommendations will be provided on this visit.

TREATMENT STRATEGY VISIT

This appointment usually happens 1-2 weeks later or whenever we get the test results and we review the test findings and how you have done with the initial treatment plan. These findings will be used along with the research your ND has done from the initial intake assessment to establish a short- and long-term treatment plan with you. You will receive an overview of the entire treatment plan but rest assured, you will walk away with the first step in the treatment plan or only as much as you can handle without feeling overwhelmed because overwhelm can lead to paralysis.

PROGRESS VISITS

30 to 45-minute Follow-up appointments will be every 3-6 weeks and the duration increases based on symptom improvement.  These are check-ins to see how everything is going, if anything needs to be modified, and if you are ready to move on to the next stage of the treatment plan.

Functional and blood testing testing can be re-ordered or ordered at any point to verify improvement.

Functional Hormone Testing

DUTCH TEST

This is a dried urine comprehensive hormone test.  The sample is collected at home and mailed out to the laboratory for testing.

The DUTCH test measures your adrenal (cortisol and DHEA-s) and sex (testosterone, progesterone, and estrogen) hormones PLUS their metabolites. Showing metabolites of estrogen also helps to show how your body is detoxifying and metabolizing estrogen by showing how much 2-OH (healthy), 16-OH (bone protection but also inflammatory), and 4-OH (toxic/carcinogenic) estrogens you are producing.

The adrenal portion of the test measures your cortisol at 4 points over the course of a day rather than just in the morning which is often the blood test your MD will run (AM Cortisol).  Together with this 4-point pattern and cortisol metabolites, it gives a better assessment of your adrenal glands are producing too much cortisol or too little cortisol.  This helps with more appropriate adrenal supplement recommendations to know if we need to modulate cortisol production or add more in the tank or reduce production. Salivary cortisol will give a 4-point pattern but lacks the metabolites but can be a cheaper option (see below).

Another key feature of this test is that it measures key enzyme activity including 5-alpha-reductase.  This enzyme is involved in the formation of testosterone to DHT.  Elevated levels of DHT can promote BPH (Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy) and contribute to the hair loss seen in PCOS, acne, or hirsutism. 

There is an additional option with the DUTCH test to measure your cortisol awakening response in the morning. This can be great for those that are too tired on waking and cannot get their day started or at least 1-2 hours after or who are always waking up ready to fight a tiger and on edge.

MONTH-LONG HORMONE ASSESSMENT

Dried urine cycle mapping tests for females are also available to see the pattern of your estrogen and progesterone throughout one cycle. Cycle mapping can be added on to the DUTCH complete tests above.

This option is great for any female looking to get pregnant, has cycle-specific symptoms (mood swings, bloating, water retention, breast tenderness), and, PMS symptoms. It can also be a good test for women in peri-menopause to see loop cycles which may explain the heavy bleeding that occasionally can happen in peri-menopause.

SALIVA CORTISOL ASSESSMENT

Saliva tests are offered to obtain your cortisol awakening response which can be very beneficial if you suffer from morning fatigue and it takes you about 3 hours to get going in the morning and have tons of flu-like symptoms, pain and stiffness in the mornings.  This evaluates your cortisol level in the morning which should be the highest but can often be found low in cases of chronic fatigue.

This can be paired with the cycle mapping and the DUTCH complete or done on its own.