Should you test your hormones when on birth control?
A common question I get is, “Should I test my hormones while taking birth control or after?” And honestly my answer might surprise you. My answer is: neither. Don't test hormones at all if you haven't done root cause work. This question shows how far disconnected conventional health care and 95% of people are from what “root cause” medicine is. Root cause medicine aims to address the 5 major root causes (as defined by the Integrative and Functional Nutrition Academy): Stress, Toxins, Adverse Food Reactions, Infections, Nutritional Imbalances. These things can help women avoid symptoms of “hormonal imbalance”.
So what does this actually look like in my practice? Here's a flow chart that can help you see first, what are the steps I take with my clients to address these five root causes. Then, what is a realistic order of symptom changes I expect to see.
So back to hormonal birth control.
Because hormonal birth control suppresses your natural hormone production, standard hormone tests often don’t give us meaningful information. So no, I do not recommend testing sex hormones like testosterone, progesterone and estrogen when on birth control. In fact, trying to “balance” hormones while on the pill, implant, or shot is a bit like yelling instructions at a GPS, it’s already locked into its own programmed route. However, I will never downplay the importance of your daily habits around food/fitness for setting your body up for success when you come off of the birth control.
So where can we make a difference while taking birth control
👉 Nutrient support – Birth control depletes important nutrients like B vitamins, magnesium, zinc, and antioxidants. Replenishing these can boost energy, mood, and resilience. But the tricky part, when it comes to minerals, I don't recommend blindly supplementing a bunch of magnesium, zinc or iron even if you read it can be an important nutrient. Why? Eventually over supplementing too much of something can throw other nutrients off. However, if you are going to take something general, take a comprehensive multivitamin that has a wide variety of nutrients (my favorite is the Pure Encapsulations Women's Nutrients). Testing and monitoring is still the best option if you can invest in it.
👉 Gut & liver health – Your body has to process and clear synthetic hormones, which can put extra stress on digestion and detox pathways. Supporting these systems reduces bloating, skin issues, and fatigue. How do you do this? Some of my top recommendations: Eat enough fiber (25-30 g daily), we love ground flax, chia, psyllium, berries and Ezekiel bread for fiber boosts. Support antioxidants with herbs like milk thistle, turmeric, teas or a blend in a product like Protandim NRF2 and ensure you are doing what you can to breakdown your food well by supporting stomach acid and enzymes including taking your bitters and enzymes, deep breathing and food chewing well. Unfortunately I do still find some major gut dysbiosis in clients who are “doing all the things” with lifestyle. If you've used antibiotics this area is of EVEN MORE importance.
👉 Adrenal & thyroid balance – These hormones are testable and often need extra love when stress and synthetic hormones are at play. Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis is a test I use in practice to help my clients support these glands BEFORE they need to jump to hormone therapy or medications. Also getting nutrients like iodine, vitamin A and avoiding under-eating are important.
The bottom line: If you’re on hormonal birth control, the most powerful support often is giving your body the nutrients and total system support it needs to thrive. You'd be better off doing HTMA testing, GI-Maps and basic functional blood labs to monitor what is working and what else needs support. This is what I do with clients in StrongHer Labs Circle (doors are open!!!).
And if symptoms still persist? That’s when it’s worth having a conversation about whether birth control is truly serving your long-term goals, or if it might be standing in the way of deeper healing.
✨ Want to dive deeper? I have a few options for you!
I just put together my new course, Reclaim Your Rhythm. You can gain lifetime access to the course HERE or when you join the StrongHer Community you gain access to this course and so much more!
StrongHer Labs Circle provides you with my foundations blood labs, two HTMAs and two urine iodine tests + a treatment plan and 6 months on-going messaging support + protocol adjustments. Apply Here.
Interested in 1:1 support to cultivate a healthy relationship with food, fitness and daily disciplines? Apply Here.
