The ZRT Laboratory Blog

It’s an everyday occurrence when someone calls the doc line at the lab and wants to know how they can change the labs to improve their patients’ symptoms. However, it’s important to take a step back and look at what labs can tell us. While it’s true that abnormal lab findings can contribute to symptoms – high thyroid-stimulating hormone reflects hypothyroidism, high testosterone reflects polycystic ovary syndrome, and hyperandrogenism or low cortisol may contribute to fatigue. Yet, in many other conditions, labs reflect the medical condition happening in that patient’s body and not a cause of the problems. Let’s look at a couple of examples of this chicken-and-egg discussion.…

Tags: Cortisol, Estrogen, Testosterone, Menopause

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The Compounding Pharmacy industry has certainly taken huge strides in providing devices that allow for easy and accurate delivery of creams, gels and ointments. This has been especially appreciated in the field of hormone replacement, where accurate dosing is critical. Over the years we have gone from jars and measuring spoons to syringes for hormone cream dispensing. Fortunately, now there are…

Tags: Hormone Replacement Therapy, Estrogen, Testosterone, Hormone Balance, Saliva Testing

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Growing up, I never thought of myself as a runner, or really a good athlete in general. I played every sport possible as a kid growing up in Minnesota, but I was never great, which is why I never played high school sports (other than trying cross country skiing the one year we didn’t end up having any snow…). As an adult, I started playing team sports again and eventually was convinced to run a…

Tags: Athletes, Testosterone, Estrogen, Progesterone, Thyroid Health, Vitamin D, Neurotransmitters

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Sometimes you look back and wonder where all the time went.Let’s see - in my twenties, the younger, sexier me had been to University and embarked on a career in medical research, and I’d been very active in my leisure time – including hiking and skiing every year in the Alps. I was too invested in my career and hobbies to have children and wanted to put that off until the right time.In my…

Tags: Menopause, Estrogen, Testosterone, Androgen, Hormone Replacement Therapy, Sleep, Stress

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Delivery of the bioidentical hormones estradiol (E2), progesterone (Pg), and testosterone (T) through the skin as a cream or gel (topically) has become a mainstay of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) for women and men. A plethora of FDA-approved pharmaceuticals, compounded, and even over-the-counter topical BHRT products are available. The popularity of these products lies not only…

Tags: Bioidentical Hormones, Estrogen, Progesterone, Testosterone, Dried Urine Testing, Blood Spot Testing, Serum Testing, Saliva Testing

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Low testosterone in older men, often referred to as “male menopause” or even “andropause” is fairly well known — and testosterone replacement therapy in this age group has not been without its share of controversy [...] But what about the alarming suggestion that low testosterone is now becoming more prevalent in younger men? An article published last year has brought some attention to a link between poor health and low testosterone levels in younger men.…

Tags: Testosterone, Andropause, Obesity, SHBG

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We step into 2019 with open minds ready to make new discoveries to improve our overall health and wellness. But first, we would like to take a moment to look back at our most popular blogs of 2018 for patients. Vitamin D: What Level is Normal vs Optimal? If you have ever had your level of Vitamin D tested, depending on which lab you used, your report showing whether your level is low, normal, or…

Tags: Vitamin D, Sleep, PTSD, Testosterone

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Testosterone, so meaningful to a man’s behavior, is the evolutionary force behind everything intrinsically “male.” Historical stereotypes peg testosterone as the macho elixir of legendary magnitude – the “chest-thumping hormone of aggression.” New research, however, is beginning to tease out previously unknown subtleties of testosterone’s effects on behavior. Testosterone is non-trivial for…

Tags: Testosterone, Research

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I wanted to share a few of the studies using saliva testing that were published in the literature in 2016. Just a hint, if you want to search for articles on saliva testing, use pubmed.gov and search saliva estradiol (or progesterone, testosterone etc.). Be aware that saliva hormone testing is so standard in the research world that rarely is it mentioned in the titles of the papers. Over 310…

Tags: Saliva Testing, Research, Estrogen, Testosterone, Progesterone, DHEA, Adrenal and Cortisol

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Testosterone replacement therapy has the potential to drastically improve quality of life of those who need it. However, many men who begin topical testosterone are given too much of the hormone. Explanations for this erroneous tendency are rooted in incorrect dosing principles that have been established on false assumptions, misconceptions, invalid conclusions and aggressive marketing instead of…

Tags: Testosterone, Dosing, BHRT, Andropause

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