In this video, you'll learn how to collect the specimen for your saliva hormone test. This test allows us to check cortisol levels throughout the day and sex hormone levels and specific times during the menstrual cycle.
Video Transcript:
Hello there, Dr. Shayna Peter here with Well ahead Chicago. So today I want to go through how to complete your saliva hormone test because I know the instructions can get a little confusing. So just want to go through that with you guys. So you understand exactly what to do in your crystal clear. So, you should have received a kid that looks something like this. And so this little thing has everything you need. So if you open that up, you're going to find your requisition form. So you want to So that that's completely filled out the test should already be selected on the back and your information should be at the top but you just want to make sure everything else is filled out and definitely fill out the symptoms questionnaire. So next, you're going to complete your specimen. So you're going to collect your specimen. So you should have some instructions that look like this. So this is going to tell you exactly what to do. So for your saliva specimen, you should have four different tube because we're going to do sex hormones and we're also going to do a diurnal cortisol. So your cortisol levels throughout the day. So you're going to need to collect four specimens throughout the day. So you are going to take all of these specimens on the same day. Okay, so that's really important. So I know some people get confused about that. So if you're a female and you're menstruating you're going to do this test on either day 19 20 or 21 of your cycle, but it's all on one day so I won't be on three different days. You're just going to pick one of those days in your menstrual cycle. To collect your specimen so all four of these samples. Okay, so it's pretty self-explanatory in the instructions what to do, but you're going to take the first specimen upon waking. So on the first page, they even have the breakdown of how you're going to collect your saliva specimen. So this large tube, this is the one that you're going to use to collect that first specimen in the day because your other hormones your sex hormones are going to be run off of this specimen Okay, so the next specimen that you're going to collect is going to be before lunch. So you'll use one of these smaller tube. So you'll use your collect your specimen before lunch. You do one before dinner and then you're doing one before bed. So it's really easy to do make sure you read through all these instructions because there can be, you know, just a few little important Nuance things that you want to do. to make sure that you don't mess up this specimen so for collecting the saliva, you don't want to eat anything brush your teeth anything like that before you collect the saliva. So just make sure you read through those instructions because it tells you specifically what to do and how to do that. And so once you've collected all your specimens you want to freeze them because that's what's going to keep them in tapped they're being shipped to the lab. So once you've got all your specimens and you're going to stick them in the freezer and your kit it has your label in here. So this envelope you're just going to take that out and just a fix this UPS label to so you'll just stick that on there take it to you. Yes, or have them pick it up, and that's pretty much all there is to it. So, I hope that that was helpful. I hope that I made you understand a lot better what to do. But of course, if you have any questions about anything you can always reach out to us, so until next time take care, and I can't wait to see your results.
