Nurse Niki

The library

What does a full hormone panel include?

A comprehensive panel looks at the hormone system as a system: estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, thyroid, cortisol and DHEA, alongside the metabolic and nutritional markers that influence them. The point is the relationships between them. Any one value in isolation is a fact; the pattern across them is the finding.

Hormones regulate each other. Thyroid affects cycle. Cortisol affects thyroid. Estrogen and progesterone are only interpretable in relation to one another and to where you are in a cycle. Measuring one and calling it an assessment is like checking a single instrument and declaring the aircraft fine.

Timing matters too. For someone still cycling, when in the cycle a sample is drawn changes what the numbers mean, so we plan the draw rather than take it whenever is convenient.

And the results come back to you in plain language. You should leave understanding what was measured, what it showed, and what we are going to do about it — not holding a printout with some numbers highlighted.

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