By: Dr. Michael Morsillo, H.B.Sc., N.D.

I wanted to continue our discussion about hormones – it’s such an important part of your health, so it deserves a lot of attention. In case you missed any of the previous articles, you can just click on Article #1 and Article #2 to catch right up.

Last week we mentioned that each hormone imbalance can cause a variety of symptoms. The symptoms you experience tell us a lot about which hormones may be out of balance. If we suspect that a hormone imbalance is causing your health concerns, we will then perform testing. There are many hormones that can be tested, including cortisol, progesterone, estrogen, testosterone, DHEA, thyroid hormones, and more.

When I ask my patients if their hormones have ever been tested, the answer is ‘no’ almost 100% of the time. Unfortunately, if you see your doctor with anxiety, depression, fatigue, low sex drive, hair loss, etc. – they might say “it’s just due to stress”, or “you’re just aging”, or you might be prescribed an anti-depressant.

Another issue arises if your hormones are tested for you.
1) A blood test only tells you how much hormones are circulating in the blood stream. But this is NOT where hormones do their work, so it’s a somewhat imprecise measurement.
2) Some of the tests have very wide “normal” ranges. This means that almost everyone will appear “normal”. Read this next part carefully: many people have results that are in the “normal” range, but that are also “sub-optimal”. This is like getting a 55% on your math test – you passed the test…but you’re not doing so well in the course.
3) Many doctors are often only looking at one test for your thyroid function. This is like reading the first chapter in a book and trying to guess how the rest of the story ends up.

There are a few things that make our hormone testing a little different.
1) We often use saliva hormone testing. This testing is great because it tells us about the hormones that are actually working in the tissues.
2) We obviously want to know if your results are outside of the “normal” ranges; however, we are also looking to see if your results are considered to be “sub-optimal”. Remember, sub-optimal hormone levels can produce many of the same symptoms as abnormal hormone levels.
3) When we want to evaluate your thyroid function, we perform a very thorough series of 5 or 6 lab tests. This allows us to take a more in-depth look, and we often detect issues that would have been missed had we opted for simpler testing.

Yours in health,

Dr. Michael Morsillo, H.B.Sc., N.D.
Newmarket Naturopathic Doctor
905-898-1844 ext. 135
dr.morsillo@gmail.com
www.drmorsillo.com