Hormone question

[Guest guest]

Was it in this group which I read of using hormonal creams? My dd changed from estrogen patch/progesterone pills to prog cream and estrogen cream and troche. Her last lab levels of estrogen were very high, and the dr forgot to run the progesterone levels. I vaguely remember reading that when one uses creams (transdermals), the blood levels are not accurate from then on. Is this true? Am I remembering this accurately?

[Guest guest]

Unfortunately serum testing does not give an accurate picture of bioavailable hormones, but it’s not because one is using a transdermal cream. I do a lot of hormone balancing for women and serum testing almost never matches symptoms. According to Dr. Lee: “…plasma progesterone levels are not indicative of the true level of bioavailable progesterone such as is obtained from topical application. Saliva levels are far more appropriate for this purpose.” I know there is some argument among practitioners about this but I see women all the time who have serum tested and their levels showed their hormones “balanced” even though their symptoms are text book for hormone imbalance. Doctor gives them a script for Prozac, pats them on the back and says everything will be ok. They come in almost in tears because they have been made to think their symptoms are not real. When we saliva test, the outcome of the test matches the symptoms.Good article at: http://www.johnleemd.com/store/saliva_serum.html " Blood " tests for progesterone refer to the serum or plasma concentration of progesterone. Plasma is the watery, non-cellular portion of the blood from which cellular components such as red blood cells and white blood cells, are excluded. Serum is essentially the same as plasma except that fibrinogen has been removed. Serum and plasma, being watery, contain water-soluble (hydrophilic) substances such as water-soluble vitamins, carbohydrates, and proteins. Serum and plasma do not contain fat-soluble (lipophilic) substances. Sex hormones such as progesterone, estrogen and testosterone are fat-soluble steroids similar to cholesterol. When you have a serum cholesterol measurement, you are measuring cholesterol bound to protein, which makes it water-soluble. (Recall that serum cholesterol is described as HDL or LDL cholesterol, referring to the proteins to which it is bound.) Progesterone is a highly lipophilic (fat loving) molecule that is well absorbed through skin into the underlying fat layer. In fact, it is among the most lipophilic of the steroid hormones. From the fat layer, the progesterone is taken up gradually by red blood cell membranes in capillaries passing through the fat. The progesterone transported by red blood cell membranes is readily available to all target tissues and to saliva. This progesterone is completely bioavailable and readily measured by saliva testing. Only a small fraction of it is carried by the watery serum. Obviously, serum testing is not a good way to measure transdermal progesterone absorption.” Dr. LeeBe WellDr.L Hormone question Was it in this group which I read of using hormonal creams? My dd changed from estrogen patch/progesterone pills to prog cream and estrogen cream and troche. Her last lab levels of estrogen were very high, and the dr forgot to run the progesterone levels. I vaguely remember reading that when one uses creams (transdermals), the blood levels are not accurate from then on. Is this true? Am I remembering this accurately?