HOW DO I CHECK MY PROGESTERONE LEVELS?

There has been a debate amongst the medical circles in how to accurately measure progesterone levels.

A blood test does not provide an accurate picture of available hormones, as most of the hormones in your body are unusable-tightly bound to proteins in the bloodstream.

Only 1 to 2 per cent escape the bindings and are free bioavailable to enter tissues throughout the body.

Conventional blood tests measure only the total level of hormones in the blood stream.

One of the tissues that  bioavailable hormones enter is the saliva gland, which passes freely into the saliva.

During your pre menopausal phase your hormones will be in a constantly changing, they could read very low one day, then very high the next.

My advice to woman on the cream and who do the saliva testing is to gauge for themselves how they are feeling by keeping a daily diary, or simly monitoring your symtoms.

If for example saliva levels are reading consistanly high and your symtoms seem to have reduced or gone away then stopping the cream for a few months and re checking your saliva tests may be an option.

Saliva testing is easy, no pricking involved.

We have a ready supply of saliva test kits with instructions, we simply post you the tests, you send it to the lab in a courier bag for $28.12, your results will be send to me.

My role as a Registered Nurse is to then go over the results and do a comprehensive assessment and work out what  will work for you as an individual.

It is not just about whacking on the cream, we go through a full one hours assessment with a questionare and  look at any underlying issues such as diet, exercise,  minerals. vitamins, stress , previous medical history.

In some cases you may not even need the progesterone cream and there may be a need for further tests carried out on your other hormones such as estrogens or testosterone, DHEA or you simply require some life style changes/counselling or looking into any other underlying medical conditions.

Maintaining hormonal harmony will occur over the rest of your life and our relationship with you will be ongoing.
Maintain your own  diary on what your symptoms are and monitor how they improve, based on the initial questionnaire.