If you’ve suspected that hormones are driving your skin rashes, you’ll be pleased to know that they absolutely can.
But only looking at hormones as a root cause might not be the best approach.
This is a common mistake that can cost you money and time.
Today, I’m answering a listener’s question about whether I believe that hormone testing is worthwhile if you’ve got skin rashes.
To help you better understand my own rationale, I’m sharing a client story that will explain my attitude on hormone testing.
Before you spend a dime on any hormone panels, take a moment to tune in!
Or, listen on your favorite app: iTunes (Apple Podcasts) | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn | Subscribe on Android
In this episode:
- Listener question about testing hormones for skin rashes
- Is it worthwhile to look at hormones first?
- Hierarchy of organ systems + where hormones fall
- Why you might NOT see results if you only focus on hormones
- Better approach to suspected hormone imbalances
Quotes:
Hormones aren't foundational. They are higher up on the hierarchy and thus impacted by the things that are more foundational.
If your hormones are out-of-balance, it’s imperative to ask why this has happened. AND what’s potentially driving the imbalance.
Before You Do Hormone Testing For Skin Rashes… (FULL TRANSCRIPT)
Welcome back to episode #119 of the Healthy Skin Show!
In today's episode, I want to talk about whether hormone testing is the next best step for you if you have skin rashes.
So if you’ve considered getting hormone testing because you believe that hormones are triggering your rashes, this episode is for you!
This episode was inspired by a listener's question.
Florence wrote in and asked, “I want to get some functional testing run. I'm thinking about doing hormone testing because I've seen a lot of people talk about it. What are your thoughts on getting hormone testing to get answers for my skin?”
For me to answer this question, it's important for you to understand that there is a hierarchy of systems in the body.
Some systems are lower down on the list of important and thus considered to be more foundational. Others are higher up within the hierarchy and can be impacted directly by the systems that are beneath them.
Imagine being back in grade school and think about the difference between basic math versus calculus. It’s a pretty big difference!
There's a lot of things to learn in between the two levels of math. Jumping from basic math to calculus is pretty difficult for the majority of people (even me).
It would be natural to feel completely lost because you're missing too many of the other pieces underneath calculus to understand the concepts.
I share this simple analogy because it’s similar to what I’m talking about here!
This system hierarchy concept is definitely not the first time it’s been discussed on the Healthy Skin Show. Dr. Jolene Brighten discussed this in both of her interviews. You can check out what she has to say about it in episode #5 and episode #84!
With that in mind, it’s critical to know that hormones aren't foundational.
They are higher up on the hierarchy and thus impacted by the things that are more foundational.
Can Hormone Imbalances Trigger Skin Rashes?
Hormones play a role in many different aspects of your health.
They can regulate things like blood sugar balance, but they also impact your thyroid function and sex hormone balance.
I like to think of them as communication signals.
If you aren’t sure, hormone imbalances can absolutely trigger or contribute to rashes!
(And sometimes you can develop almost an allergy to progesterone.)
But if your hormones are out-of-balance, it’s imperative to ask why this has happened. AND what’s potentially driving the imbalance.
If you’re only focused on your hormones as the sole problem, there’s a good chance that you’ll end up missing key pieces of the puzzle.
Ultimately, this could lead to wasting money and potentially time without getting clear answers.
To highlight this, I want to share a quick case story from my private practice with a client whom we'll call Sam.
Sam struggled with a bunch of different complaints such as dandruff, some acne, low energy, the inability to gain muscle mass, brain fog, and had some mild GI complaints.
He'd seen a functional doctor who ran a lot of blood tests and did the DUTCH test (which you’ve heard Dr. Carrie Jones talk about).
Based on the blood labs and the Dutch test, the doctor didn’t have any clear answers to explain why Sam had all these health complaints.
Unfortunately, Sam did not get anywhere.
What Would Be A Better First Step For Your Skin?
It can be really tempting to rush out and buy a hormone test kit if you think hormones are triggering your rashes.
There are a lot of quizzes online and in books that could make you think that your hormones are your sole problem.
But I hope that you can see the reason why hormones may not be the best place to start.
And that’s exactly what Sam found.
After he stumbled upon my private clinical practice, we chatted about his frustrations.
I had to level with him — “We really need to look at things from a more foundational level because I feel like you ended up looking too high up in the organ system hierarchy. Things were skipped over which would help explain why your hormones look the way that they do and would better help you get results.”
I recommended that we do a stool test and an organic acid panel along with a few additional blood nutrient markers to help fill in some missing pieces to the puzzle.
What we found was incredibly helpful:
- Digestive dysfunction impairing his ability to break down and absorb food
- Gut microbiome dysbiosis
- A number of unfriendly gut bugs that likely shouldn’t be there
- Nutrient deficiencies
- Phase 2 liver detox pathway overwhelm
All of these issues on their own can throw a wrench in hormone balance!
Even though there was a lot going on, we dove in and began to see a significant improvement in many of his health complaints that he previously wasn’t seeing any progress on.
Can You Address Hormone Issues Indirect?
The point of this story isn't that you shouldn’t get your hormones tested. That's not what I'm saying.
It’s just to make sure that you look in the right places first.
I want to help you take smarter action especially given that many of these functional tests are generally are out of pocket. Testing just for testing sake can be very expensive!
And it may result in an inefficient approach.
So doing a hormone panel or a DUTCH test first is probably not the best way to go.
If you have foundational issues and there's a legitimate reason to suspect that you do, address those issues and THEN do hormone testing.
That’s when it really makes sense to invest in a hormone panel or a DUTCH test.
It’s possible that by addressing the foundational issues, you may be able to indirectly rebalance the issues at the hormonal level.
That’s because your hormones are no longer being hijacked by a struggling foundation!
When working with a practitioner, make sure that they look at you as a whole complete system rather than just assuming it’s a hormonal issue because that’s their “thing”. Otherwise, you could end up like Sam and a number of my other clients.
I really hope that you find this perspective both refreshing and practical because I don't want to see you waste time and money!
Got any questions and comments? Leave them in the comments below so we can keep the conversation going.
If you know anyone who has questions about their hormones and has been thinking about doing hormone testing, share this episode with them!
This will hopefully help them to get at the root of the problem instead of spending money and time… and essentially spinning their wheels too high up in that hierarchy of systems that we discussed.
I wish you a wonderful rest of your day!
I appreciate you for tuning in and I'll see you in the next episode.
