SOLUTIONS FOR DISEASES OF MODERN CIVILIZATION
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Female Hormone Panel
Pain, cramping, clotting, and mood swings.
When a patient has symptoms associated with the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new one, I always expect an abnormal shape to the progesterone curve during the luteal phase of her cycle. Sometimes it is just the fact that her progesterone does not get high enough. Either way, the Female Hormone Panel (FHP) is the test to give us the information we need to help her. That is what the doctor ordered and what we went over together.
I fully expected one or more of the three types of luteal phase defects. Type I is too few days between ovulation and the next period. Type II is too little progesterone above baseline, i.e. a small ruptured follicle releasing a small egg and becoming a small corpus luteum. Type III is represented by poor distribution of progesterone over the luteal phase. It usually means the progesterone dropped off too fast before the end of the cycle. Type III is often the real problem maker.
Anyway, we found that her estradiol was normal, her DHEA was borderline low, and her testosterone a little elevated. Her progesterone curve showed us that her luteal phase length was long enough, it went high enough, but it dropped off too quickly: a Type III luteal phase deficit.
So the first step in her therapy might be to keep her progesterone a little higher for a little longer at the end of the cycle. In the long run, the doctor could help retrain her brain by giving her a low, graduated dose of sublingual progesterone over most of the luteal phase.
Warm regards,
Dr. Mark Rhodes, Ph.D.
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