Hormones & reproductive lab tests

Estradiol is the main form of estrogen during your reproductive years, made mostly by your ovaries. Your level can rise and fall a lot through your cycle, so when you test matters.

Progesterone can rise after you ovulate (release an egg) to get the lining of your uterus ready for pregnancy. Checking it about a week before your period is due can help show whether you ovulated that cycle.

FSH comes from your pituitary gland, a small gland at the base of your brain, and helps eggs grow in your ovaries each cycle. As your ovaries slow down, FSH can rise.

LH is a hormone from your pituitary gland, at the base of your brain. A sudden rise in LH each cycle can trigger ovulation, when an ovary releases an egg.

Total testosterone counts all the testosterone in your blood, both free and attached to proteins. This version uses a precise lab method that stays accurate at the lower levels women normally make.

Women make testosterone too, in smaller amounts, in the ovaries and the adrenal glands on top of the kidneys. Free testosterone is the part not attached to proteins in your blood, so it’s free to act on your body.

Sex hormone binding globulin, or SHBG, is a protein made by your liver that carries testosterone and estrogen in your blood. Hormones attached to it are less active, so SHBG affects how much is free to work.

DHEA sulfate is a hormone made almost entirely by your adrenal glands, small glands on top of your kidneys. Your body can turn it into testosterone and estrogen, and levels can slowly fall as you age.

AMH is a hormone made by the small sacs in your ovaries that hold developing eggs. Your level gives a rough picture of how many eggs remain, often called your egg supply.

Prolactin is the hormone that tells your body to make breast milk. It comes from your pituitary gland, a small gland at the base of your brain.

Androstenedione is a hormone made by your ovaries and your adrenal glands, small glands on top of your kidneys. Your body turns it into testosterone and estrogen.

Dihydrotestosterone, or DHT, is a stronger form of testosterone that your body makes mainly in your skin and hair roots. It affects hair growth and the oil in your skin.

Here, estradiol, the main form of estrogen, is measured with a more precise lab method. It can read the very low levels that standard estradiol tests may miss.

Estriol is a form of estrogen made in large amounts by the placenta, the organ that nourishes a baby during pregnancy. Outside pregnancy, levels can be very low and the test is rarely useful.

Your body makes a few types of estrogen, and this test adds the main ones together. It gives a broad picture of your overall estrogen level.

Estrone is a weaker form of estrogen. After menopause it becomes your main estrogen, made mostly in body fat from other hormones.

hCG is the pregnancy hormone, made soon after a fertilized egg attaches to the uterus. This blood test measures the exact amount and can pick up pregnancy earlier than a home urine test.

Progesterone can rise after you ovulate (release an egg) to get the lining of your uterus ready for pregnancy. This version uses a more precise lab method that stays accurate at low levels standard tests can miss.