As I was writing your Adrenal Plan, I noted the massive link between brain neurotransmitters, adrenals and hormones. You can measure all of those separately, but I have found a way of doing them all together for you.
The test will assess your hormonal status, adrenal function and neurotransmitter balance.
The difference with this test that I haven’t seen before is the addition of the neurotransmitters to the usual hormone-only panels. It enables you to assess how the HPA axis function may be contributing to symptoms such as mood swings, fatigue, and pain. [HPA = hypothalamus – pituitary – adrenal axis.]
It is for both men and women and is especially useful if you have any of these symptoms:
- Mood disorders, depression, anxiety
- Addiction, dependency
- Fatigue, lack of stamina, insomnia
- Chronic illness, immune deficiency
- Cognitive confusion, learning challenges, declining memory
- Weight issues, appetite control
- Low libido, sexual dysfunction
- PMS, menopause, andropause
- Fibromyalgia, chronic pain
So, there are two tests, one for both men and women, and a second with more women-only info:
This measures the six main neurotransmitters (urine):
Serotonin, GABA, Dopamine, Epinephrine (Adrenaline), Norepinephrine (Noradrenaline) and Glutamate
the main sex hormones (one day sample, saliva):
Oestradiol (E2)
Progesterone
Testosterone
and the usual Adrenal Hormones (saliva):
DHEA
4 Cortisols
NeuroHormone Complete Test (for women only)
This measures all of that but also includes much more oestrogen info for women since it gives us three different oestrogens and the ratios between those and progesterone. This is especially useful to assess oestrogen dominance and consequent risk of oestrogen-sensitive disorders like breast cancer or endometriosis etc.
Click on each test to read more. These are brand new to the UK and will make life easier for those wanting to get a really good look at their neurotransmitter, adrenal and hormone status.
As you can probably tell, hormone testing is a veritable minefield and you can do tons of different combinations. I have listed those new ones because they do the main bits of most systems – if we could get thyroid in, we’d have it pretty much covered!
Hormone Test List
To help, here are the key hormone tests for you in an easy list. As always, ask me and I will advise what would be best for you, depending on what you want to know:
Neurotransmitter Tests
You can do more neurotransmitters here,
Adrenal Tests
The usual adrenal status here and the comprehensive one that includes SIgA here. Neither of these are suitable for under 14s, but I now have a lab who will do children as they have the correct reference ranges. I haven’t listed it to save any confusion, but do ask if you need that.
If you need single cortisol tests (ie. you want to see if your cortisol is high or low at a certain time of day/night/when symptoms occur/not when the normal test samples are done), I have convinced a lab to help us and you can now do that too.
Female Hormone Tests
a full month female hormone status test here and there is also a female hormone full month including adrenals here and an assessment of oestrogen dominance on its own here.
If all you need is a snapshot of your hormones, there is a one day oestrogen/progesterone test here.
If you are menopausal, here is one of my favourite tests because it checks normal hormone levels but also oestrogen dominance for future cancer risk and bone markers for osteoporosis risk. I can check FSH and LH status if you need to confirm your menopausal status so do ask, but I haven’t listed it as this is easily done by your doctors.
Male Hormone Tests
For men, I have just listed single saliva testosterone and you can also have a male hormone panel which includes adrenal status and testosterone.
Thyroid Tests
For thyroid, you can do the full thyroid screen here. I usually do the blood rather than urine because I often find antibodies and reverse T3 come up, which just don’t show in urine tests. However, there is a useful combined urine thyroid and adrenal test here.
Don’t even get me started on fertility testing; I’ll cover that one another time!
Hope that helps – it will certainly help me when I am asked ‘Do you do hormone testing?’. I can just point you to this blog post and say ‘which hormones??!’
Hello Micki Thanks for the chat this morning please can you send me the link to download the barrier plan. thanks Val
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Pleasure Val. Here is the Barrier Plan link for you. Get a cuppa and sit down; it’s quite large so start easy!