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If you are experiencing infertility issues this blog is for you. The purpose of this blog is to explain what hormones are tested in Fertility Profile and why each one is important. LH & FSH are pituitary hormones, which means they affect the brain. Their communication with growing egg follicles in the ovaries is one of the only positive feedback loops in the body. On day three or four of the menstrual cycle (day one is the first day of the period) LH & FSH are at their lowest level. This relationship is normally a 1 to 1 function, but some women...

What is Cortisol? Cortisol is a steroid and a stress hormone. Production of cortisol is stimulated when stress is triggered.  Cortisol plays an important role in the different metabolic processes in the body. Through its increased distribution in stress situations, it is able to provide energy by consuming sugar, fat and protein reserves. By immune processes cortisol also helps with its anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effect, and has an important function in maintaining the health of the body. Excessively low cortisol levels It is well known that chronic stress is unhealthy – and stress is in turn the most important impulse that...

Part 2 By Margaret Groves As more health care practitioners have understood the need to assess thyroid function based on what is going on at the cellular level, there has been an increasing demand for testing of reverse T3 (rT3), a hormone sometimes referred to as the “hibernation hormone.” However, there is also much confusion about how it fits into the picture of thyroid function, and controversy regarding whether or not there is a clinical utility for this test in patients suffering from thyroid imbalance symptoms. The “hibernation hormone” that isn’t Technically, the term “hibernation hormone” is inappropriate to describe reverse T3.  Reverse...

Part 1 By Margaret Groves, ZRT Laboratory Thyroid hormones are essential for the normal metabolic functioning of all tissues in the body, and a wide array of symptoms are therefore associated with abnormalities in thyroid hormone production and activation. Even when apparently adequate amounts of thyroxine are produced by the thyroid gland, thyroid function is profoundly affected by anything that disrupts conversion of thyroxine (T4) to the active thyroid hormone, triiodothyronine (T3). This conversion takes place primarily at the cellular level within tissues; only 20% of circulating T3 is generated by conversion of T4 within the thyroid gland itself. The deiodinases...

Environmental pollutants are in food we eat, in the air we breathe and water we drink and bathe in. In excess, they can have profound negative effects on the basic mechanisms of body chemistry and affect the synthesis and actions of hormones essential for maintaining our health. The thyroid, which is primarily responsible for regulating metabolism, is profoundly affected by natural and environmental pollutants. Iodine & Selenium Deficiencies Affect Thyroid Function Iodine and selenium are supplied in the food, water and nutrients we consume. Low levels in these sources can directly impact thyroid hormone synthesis and action. This may impact...