Fertility Hormone Tests

Women attending a fertility clinic hoping for investigation into why they are having fertility problems, are often left feeling disappointed by a diagnosis of “unexplained infertility”.  Most fertility clinics will screen for the more obvious hormones estradiol, progesterone, LH, FSH and sometimes prolactin.  Estradiol, progesterone, LH and FSH are the hormones that will be manipulated with fertility drugs, so these are of interest to fertility doctors.

Three Hormone Tests That are Rarely (if ever) Done

There are 3 tests that are almost never run that could be impacting your fertility:

Testosterone

Testosterone is a male hormone that women make, just to a lesser extent in most cases.  Because it is more masculine, if it’s elevated it can interfere with the normal function of the female hormones.  Low levels of testosterone can also be bad news since it is a building block for your ovaries to make into estrogen, if it’s low, estrogen levels can be lower.

DHEAs

DHEAs is a weaker male hormone or androgen.  Similar to testosterone, too much can inhibit egg development and release, too little means poor egg development and quality.  Older women are sometimes given DHEAs and there is some research that in women who are low in it, DHEAs can help ovulation and fertility.  However, in my opinion, it would be best to know where the woman falls before giving this as a treatment.

Androstenedione

Like the above two, androstenedione is more of an androgen and the same holds true for this hormone as the other two – too much or too little can have a negative impact on fertility.