Things to consider when reading your labs

June 13th, 2016 by

Great info from our sister company, Curls & Whey Training:

One thing that you may run into being a CWT (or LBC) client is that we will request you run labs with your doctor. Many clients come to us because they have tried everything and have been unsuccessful on their own. If we find they don’t respond, we request that you look into health and hormones as a reason for lack of success. Unfortunately many doctors look at the lab sheet and refuse to order all the labs, or look at the numbers and say it is all normal even when it isn’t.

A few things to keep in mind when reading your labs..

If several of these hormones are not functioning properly, a pituitary test may prove to be beneficial as it controls many of your hormones and the way they function.

It isn’t enough to have adequate levels of hormones, some of them require a balancing act. Estrogen and progesterone may not flag out of range, but if estrogen is at the higher end and progesterone is at the lower end, you will likely experience estrogen dominance symptoms even if the labs look “normal” at first glance.

Thyroid relies on conversion, so the ratio of T4 to FT4, FT4 to FT3, T3 to FT3, and FT3 to RT3 are all things to watch for.

Hormone function often has a cascading effect and it is tricky to try and balance them. Be patient with your body and often you can expect to get worse before getting better if dysfunction is present.
Sometimes treating one will significantly impact the others bringing everything back into balance. Other times lifestyle changes are all that is needed to rectify your issues.

When you’re having your labs tested and read, it is important not only to look for things that are out of range but also ratios that could be off. Things at first glance may seem to be fine, but take estrogen and progesterone for example. Even if you have a high progesterone level, you can still have symptoms of low progesterone if estrogen is relatively higher than progesterone. It is a delicate balance and estrogen dominance can slow your fat loss, and make your feel a host of unpleasant symptoms.

Your thyroid gland also relies on a healthy progesterone level to function well.

My point is that things can really be a mess even if there are no obvious red flags and everything is “in range”. So if you feel like something is wrong, then dig a little deeper.