Serum Hormone Testing          Do I need a new blood test?

Blood Serum Hormone Testing

• Blood Serum Hormones are carrier protein bound and must be free fractioned to be available for use by your body.

  • Not Bio-Available

  • Not Free fractionated

• Blood Serum measures “ALL” Hormones

  • Bio-Available or Not

• In order to accurately measure Bio-Available “Free-Fractioned” Hormones:

  • Free-Fractioned Test must be done

    • Free-Fractionated Blood Test

      • More expensive up to 250 times that of Saliva testing

  • Saliva Testing is Free-Fractionated

    • Enzymes in saliva cleaves carrier protein from hormone

• When evaluating hormones, it is important not to focus on individual levels of the hormone but rather on the circadian rhythm and hormone ratios

  • Cortisol / DHEA

  • Testosterone / Estrogens + Progesterone

  • Progesterone / Estrogens (E1 + E2 + E3)

 Can I use an old blood test?

Wellness Alternatives prefers to utilize blood tests less than 30 days old to determine your treatment protocol for the reasons listed below. Your old blood test can be used in a historical context to assist in explaining why you have been feeling the way you have for so long.

Toxic elements in Blood

• Toxic elements are often cleared rapidly from the blood

• Leaving a relatively brief time window in which blood levels reflect the actual body burden.

• High levels retained in the blood would indicate sluggish liver detoxification

Short term utility of blood

• The ability of the blood to counter changes in element presentation keeps nutritional and many toxic levels within a narrow range

• Unless under heavy exposure

• This homeostatic response illustrates the effective clearance mechanisms in the blood

Thus the short term utility of blood analysis

 Blood Elemental Analysis

• Provides information about what the body has recently (hours to days – in some cases weeks) absorbed

• Levels of nutrient elements in the blood and urine are tightly controlled via metabolic re-absorptive and excretory mechanisms

• Blood levels are largely independent of tissue deposition

• Blood levels vary according to the actual component analyzed (plasma, serum, RBC’s)

• Can be transient in nature, subject to the body’s homeostatic mechanisms to maintain levels within narrow ranges

 Free Cortisol in the Blood

Concentrations of free cortisol in the blood vary with clinical conditions and give misleading results due to variations in plasma cortisol-binding protein capacity caused by:

• Drugs

• Pregnancy

• Congenital alterations

• Stress during venipuncture

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