Did you say saliva testing?
We use saliva testing to measure hormone levels at our Seasons offices. Naturally, the phrase “saliva testing” raises a few questions.
How do we collect your saliva? We don’t. You do it at home with saliva collecting kits. It isn’t a difficult process, but you do need to follow the directions carefully:
- 30 minutes before collection, please do no eat or drink anything except water.
- Rinse mouth thouroughly with cold water 3-4 minutes prior to saliva collection.
- Following the collection schedule below, collect saliva in each of the 4 blue cap tubes to fill three quarters or more, excluding any foam. Take your time. Recap tubes and place into the zip lock bag.
Morning/Fasting 7 – 8 AM
Noon 11 – 1 PM
Afternoon 4 – 5 PM
Midnight 11 – 12 PM
Each saliva collection kit includes some “pour off tubes.” Here’s how they work.
Pour off enough saliva from the noon and/or afternoon tubes to fill 1/4 of the tubes labeled FL and FT3. Cap tubes tightly. Follow the mailing instructions. If you pour more, do not pour saliva back into the blue cap tubes.
Finally, on the day you are collecting saliva, there are a few things you want to avoid.
- Do Not Eat chocolate, onions, garlic, cabbage, cauliflower/broccoli.
- Do Not Drink coffee, tea, or caffeinated drinks (like coke, guarana, etc.)
- Do Not Use sublingual hormones or troches as of the night before collection.
- Avoid antacids, bismuth medications or mouth washes.
- Stop your current hormone therapy 72 hours prior to the saliva collection.
