Dr. Tabatha Barber explains why normal lab ranges don't catch hormone imbalance. Even small shifts in estradiol and progesterone can create a big ratio change and symptoms, even when both values stay within the normal range.
The ranges on the lab reports are not optimal. They are very wide, and they are to determine outright disease. So if your levels are outside of those ranges, you definitely have a diagnosable disease. But you could be inside of that range and still not be optimal and therefore have a hormone imbalance. Especially, say, your estradiol or estrone are a little bit high and your progesterone's a little bit low. That little bit on both ends makes a big ratio difference and feels like a major hormone imbalance.
