The adrenal glands are responsible for the secretion of stress hormones, such as cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine. The adrenals are also responsible for secreting DHEA, an important precursor to sex hormones and potent “anti-aging” hormone.
Did you know that
– The sex hormones include Testosterone, DHEA, the Estrogens and Progesterone. Sex hormones can be tested in blood, urine or saliva.
– Blood testing measures the total amount of hormone available. Most of the hormones in the blood will be tightly bound to carrier proteins and so serum testing does not always give an accurate depiction of the ‘free’ hormone available to be used by your tissues.
– Salivary testing is a better measure of unbound or ‘free’ hormone levels and can give a better indication of what is available for use by the tissues.
– Urinary hormone testing is beneficial because it allows the measurement of hormone production over a 24-hour period, rather than at one point in time. Urine testing also makes it easy to measure the break-down products of sex hormones to see how they are beingmetabolized in the body.
Sheila Jiwan, Vancouver Pharmacist and Bioidentical Hormone Restoration Therapy (BHRT) expert in conversation about her personal journey with BHRT for menopause.