People get confused concerning hormones and ask when is the best time to test for hormone imbalance? You might not easily be able to fathom the reason why you always get cheesy every month. The crappy experience can get you frustrated, especially when you couldn’t get to the root of the cause. 

Don’t you see how frustrating it can be when you are experiencing terrible symptoms, and you do not have any reasonable diagnosis? This could happen in a situation if where your bloodwork gets to come back “normal.” 

One of the major challenges you are facing is your inability to tell the right time you need to test for the levels of your hormone. 

Among other things, you should try as much as possible to learn about your liver and gut. This is because the liver and gut play significant roles in maintaining hormone levels as well as actively breaking down hormones. 

Before we go into when is the best time to test for hormone imbalance, let us consider some vital things you should know about hormones. 

What is Hormone Imbalance?

To start with, hormones are vital body messengers. However, they are specific in function because they only perform tasks that are related to chemicals. 

Hormones are produced in the body’s glands called endocrine glands. The essence of the chemicals they carry around your body is to inform your body tissues and organs what to do as they get transported in your bloodstream. 

Hormones are useful and needed for body metabolism as well as in reproduction. To simplify hormone imbalance, it is the situation where you have more or fewer hormones than needed by your body. 

Hormone imbalance is not a good situation to get yourself into because a slight change in hormones will affect the entire body system. Ageing can be one of the reasons for hormone imbalance in your body. There are other factors that could cause it as well. 

Signs of Hormone Imbalance

It is good for you to know the signs of hormone imbalance so as to clearly be sure of when is the best time to test for hormone imbalance.

Hormone imbalance does not have collective signs. This is because several hormones are produced in the body, and as a result, there are specific signs for each hormone imbalance. 

Some common signs of hormone imbalance include:

• Fatigue
• Sweating
• Frequent urination
• Having an increased sensitivity to temperature changes.
• Inconsistent heart rate
• Muscle weakness
• Hump of fat growing on the shoulders

Note that the above signs are not typical to females only. They are symptoms that show when a person is suffering from hormone imbalance irrespective of the person’s sex. 

Also, you should not be afraid of seeing any of the signs listed above in your body. Having any of the above signs does not infer you have a hormonal disorder or imbalance. You should be rightly guided. 

Female Hormone Imbalance Signs

Next, we shall consider some signs that are typical to females so as to know when is the best time to test for hormone imbalance.

First, you should realize that your hormonal cycle normally changes at some stages of your development. The changes occur naturally, and they include:

• Menopause
• Pregnancy
• Puberty 
• Breastfeeding

Hence, the following are some symptoms of hormonal imbalance that are typical of females. 

• You might start experiencing irregular or heavy periods. Not only that, your period could stop suddenly or become frequent. Another thing to observe is that your period could stop. 
• Also, you might begin to notice hair growing on your face excessively. The excessive growth of hair might not be limited to your face only but also on your chins and some other body parts. This condition is called hirsutism.
• Another sign of hormonal imbalance in women is acne covering the body, most especially on the face, upper back, or chest. 
• Your vagina excessive dryness could also be a symptom of hormonal disorder. 
• Are you experiencing vagina atrophy? Vagina atrophy is another sign of hormone imbalance. 
• If you are no longer enjoying sexual intercourse with your partner because of pains, it could be a sign of hormone imbalance.

Male Hormone Imbalance Signs

How do you know when is the best time to test for hormone imbalance as a male? The major cause of the hormone imbalance in males is when testosterone is not produced in sufficient amounts.

We shall now discourse some signs you should look out for as a male for hormonal imbalance:

• Breast development is typical to women. If you start noticing breast tissue as a man, something is no longer going well. The condition of males developing breast tissue is called gynecomastia. 
• Are you having erectile dysfunction (ED)? Watch out for hormone imbalance. 
• Slow growth or marked decrease in the growth of hair is another sign. Also, beard growth could be decreased. 
• Are you experiencing osteoporosis? In other words, are you noticing a loss in your bone mass? 
• And so on. 

Children Hormone Imbalance Signs

You should know that children are not left out in the hormonal imbalance saga. Now, let us consider some signs to look out for to know when is the best time to test for hormone imbalance for your child. 

At puberty, either male or female starts producing sex hormones. Some children might have their puberty delayed. When that happens, they continue growing with the experience of normal puberty. Another condition known as hypogonadism could occur for some children. 

Hypogonadism in Males

The following are signs of hypogonadism in a male:

• There will be a marked decrease in muscle mass. 
• The child might grow body hair sparsely.
• The boy’s arms might grow excessively as compared to the trunk. The same thing is applicable to the legs. 
• Poor penis growth might also be observed or a condition known as testiculardevelopment observed. 
• The child can start developing breast tissue as well. This is known as gynecomastia. 
• And so on. 

Hypogonadism in Females

Some female children also have hypogonadism, and the signs are listed below:

• Delayed menstrual period
• The child’s breast tissue might fail to develop.
• The child has a very slow growth rate. 

Having seen all the signs above, you should know it is the best time to go for a hormone imbalance test. 

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