I recently took a Women’s Fertility Testing at Home with EverlyWell and I’m sharing my results! Breaking down the test, how it works, the results, and what it means for me!
This post is sponsored in partnership with EverlyWell. All opinions expressed (as always) are my own. I only partner with brands I trust and personally recommend – thank you for your support in helping make Eat the Gains possible!
Women’s fertility is such a hard subject to talk about. I am really no expert, but I do know many women struggle with being fertile and having healthy hormones. With today’s day and age, we are constantly bombarded on how we should look, what we should be eating, and how hard we should be working out. There is an unrealistic image put out there that a lot of women are subconsciously trying to achieve.
I admit that I used (and still struggle with it) to be one of them. I’ve mentioned it a few times on Instagram before, but my hormones are all messed up (to say it nicely) after years of over exercising, restricting my eating, then binge eating, and doing it all over again. Don’t be me wrong, I know my body is awesome and has taken me through some amazing things, but on the inside I don’t know what’s going on.
I stopped hormonal birth control in 2008 after the end of a serious relationship and not needing it anymore. That is also when I also got into a vicious cycle of over exercising and under eating. I was probably 20-25# lighter than I am now. I didn’t get my period for 5 years straight. Yes, 5 whole years with no period. Since then I’ve probably had it maybe 20-25 times or so, this being over the span of 10 years.
I just turned 30, about to get married, and starting to think about starting a family with Michael one day. I mean we already have our son, but maybe some humans will come into the picture as well. Over the past few months I have been taking some steps with trying to help my hormones, but with my body taking a beating the last decade, I really don’t know what is going on inside.
And that is where this Women’s Fertility Testing at home with EverlyWell comes in! Y’all saw I already did a food sensitivity test with them a couple months ago and now I am going back at it (aka doing it from my own home) for a fertility test to see if it shows anything abnormal in hormonal levels.
Women’s Fertility Testing at Home with EverlyWell
EverlyWell is an at-home health testing company that offers a wide variety of tests you can take from the comfort of your own home. They make it super easy and convenient for you since you do it on your own time. About a week (or less) after you send in your test, they send you your results which are physician reviewed, easy to read, and they are always available for your viewing.
The tests range from Women’s Fertility, Testosterone, Vitamin D, Food Sensitivity, Sleep and Stress, Metabolism, and more. You can purchase the kits of your choice online. Once you receive them in the mail, follow the directions for taking your sample, and send it back in with the prepaid postage they supply you with. They will review your data in a board certified lab and in about a week, they send you the results online.
The Women’s Fertility Test provides a detailed assessment about hormone levels which can affect menstrual cycle and ovulation. It is super easy to use (like their other tests), but this one is more detailed oriented than the food sensitivity testing I did. First and most importantly, you can’t be on birth control to take the test (and I believe you have to be off of it for a certain amount of time). This was fine for me, but I know a lot of women are on birth control so keep that in mind.
Like the other tests, you need to prick you finger to collect blood. Follow the directions on drinking a lot of water, washing your hands, and let them hang by your side for a bit. I didn’t have any trouble doing this, but my sister and Michael did another one of their tests and struggled. Make sure to follow the directions!
For the fertility testing, you are collecting blood at different times in your cycle. First in the beginning of your cycle and then later on in your cycle. The process is the same, you just need to keep track of your cycle (I’ve been using the app Flo and like it). By collecting blood at a specific time during your cycle, EverlyWell is able to measure a variety of hormones known to be instrumental in a woman’s health and fertility.
These hormones measured include:
- estradiol (measured on day 19)
- LH (measured on day 3)
- FSH (measured on day 3)
- total testosterone (measured on day 19)
- TSH (measured on day 19)
After you send in the test, you just have to wait a week (or less!) to get your results in!
Women’s Fertility Testing at Home with EverlyWell Results
Overall I was pretty happy with my results and somewhat surprised. Considering how crazy my hormones have been over the past years, most of my hormonal levels were in the normal range.
The only hormone that was low was estradiol. This totally makes sense as my period has been so abnormal the past decade and since estradiol has to do with ovulating, I am not ovulating regularly. A few years ago I went through a phase where I would get some night sweats as well, so I can definitely see that being related to my estradiol.
My testosterone is in the normal range, but on the lower side. When I was really in my overexercising and under-eating phase, I was really skinny for awhile. When I look back on it, I don’t even know how I weighed that little, and it makes sense that having that little of body fat affected my testosterone. I was eating a very low fat diet at that time in my life as well.
Taking this test has helped me see what I can do to help get my hormones in line. I have been working on it the past months, but now I can see exactly where my body is lacking and where I can try to help fix that. There are supplements you can take (zinc and maca are thought to help testosterone) and lifestyle things you can do as well (getting a quality night’s rest, weight training, and eating lean proteins and cruciferous veggies).
EverlyWell is kind enough to offer y’all a special discount code if you would like to do your own testing. They offer a wide variety of tests so there is definitely one for everybody! Use the code ‘GAINS’ for 15% off your order.
This post may contains affiliate links and I may make little bit of money if you click on and purchase the products that are linked. It doesn’t cost you any extra money. The compensation helps with expenses to keep ETG up and running. I truly appreciate your support!
Leave a Reply