Adults can develop growth hormone deficiency as they age and knowing how to check HGH levels can save a lot of time and money spent on unnecessary diagnostic tests. Low growth hormone levels in adults can lead to serious health concerns if left untreated. HGH deficiency increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease, obesity, osteoporosis, dementia, and many other medical issues.
How do I find out how to check my HGH levels?
Anytime that you are dealing with hormone levels, you want to contact an experienced hormone specialist. General practitioners do not have the advanced training to diagnose and correct hormonal imbalances. Finding a qualified hormone replacement therapy specialist is your first task. Once you do, you will have a consultation to discuss any symptoms that lead you to a concern of hormone deficiency or imbalance. At https://hghtherapydoctor.us you’ll find qualified specialists whom you can talk to about your health problems and get first tips on how to balance your hormones. From there, the next steps include blood analysis and physical examination.
Your doctor or clinical advisor will tell you to begin fasting the night before the test, and not eat or drink anything in the morning until after the blood specimen collection is complete. A quick visit to a local laboratory for the blood test first thing in the morning completes this step.
What Diagnostic Tests Check HGH Levels?
There are two primary forms of testing used for how to check HGH measurements in the blood. Children undergo a longer, more complicated test that stimulates growth hormone production. That is rarely necessary to check for adult HGH levels. Instead, hormone specialists typically look at IGF-1 levels to determine growth hormone deficiency.
Insulin growth factor 1 is a hormone that the liver secretes in response to the amount of HGH in the bloodstream. As human growth hormone reaches the liver, its signal dictates how much IGF-1 to produce. Once IGF-1 enters the bloodstream, it remains relatively constant throughout the day. Low HGH levels typically mean decreased IGF-1 in the bloodstream.
The reason the doctor does not measure HGH directly is that its levels fluctuate widely. HGH release occurs once every 3 to 5 hours, and it enters and leaves the bloodstream at a rapid pace. That makes its measurement very unreliable for determining a deficiency.
The hormone specialist also measures a few other hormone levels to ensure that the symptoms are not due to a different deficiency. Many hormonal imbalances have symptoms that mimic one another. By knowing how to check HGH levels, the specialist can often zero in on the cause of the symptoms.
What Do the Results of My HGH Levels Tests Mean?
Low IGF-1 levels typically mean that your pituitary gland is not producing enough growth hormone. By age thirty, most people are already facing a slow decline in the secretion of HGH. Ten or twenty years down the road, symptoms of the decline can begin. Some people even experience it sooner while others never notice an issue at all. Remember, each person is unique, and how the body reacts to changes in hormone levels is equally so. Through an understanding of how to check HGH levels, the hormone specialist can correct an imbalance before it causes problems.
Growth hormone deficiency is important to treat. Although it is not life-threatening, and you could ignore it, you do not want to do that. Left to worsen, HGH decline can lead to other issues. If necessary, the hormone specialist will prescribe HGH or sermorelin therapy to help boost growth hormone levels.
