How do I know if I have a hormone imbalance? 9 signs worth taking seriously

"Hormone imbalance" gets used for everything, which makes it hard to know whether it applies to you. Hormones aren't really in or out of balance like a set of scales — they're a conversation between your brain, ovaries, thyroid and adrenals. When that conversation gets noisy, you feel it in fairly specific ways.

Nine signs worth paying attention to

• Periods that have changed — heavier, lighter, closer together or unpredictable
• PMS that's getting worse each year, especially rage or tearfulness in the week before
• Waking between 2am and 4am, wide awake, for no obvious reason
• Weight settling around your middle despite eating the same as always
• Sore, swollen breasts in the second half of your cycle
• Hair thinning at the temples, or new hair where you'd rather not have it
• Skin breaking out along the jaw and chin as an adult
• Low mood or anxiety that tracks with your cycle rather than your life
• Energy that falls off a cliff mid-afternoon

What causes it

In practice, the same handful of drivers show up again and again: chronic stress stealing the raw materials your sex hormones need, blood sugar swinging through the day, a thyroid that's sluggish but still "in range", poor sleep, low iron or vitamin D, coming off hormonal contraception, perimenopause starting earlier than expected, and a liver and gut that aren't clearing used oestrogen efficiently.

Tests worth asking your GP for

Timing matters — most sex hormones should be drawn around day 19 to 21 of a 28-day cycle. It's reasonable to ask for a full blood count, iron studies including ferritin, TSH with free T4 and free T3 if possible, vitamin D, HbA1c or fasting insulin, and oestradiol, progesterone, LH, FSH and testosterone depending on your symptoms.

And remember: "normal" means not-diseased, not optimal. A ferritin of 20 is in range and still leaves most women flat.

What actually helps

Unglamorous things, mostly, done consistently for three cycles:

• Protein at breakfast, every day — this steadies blood sugar, which steadies everything downstream
• Enough food overall; under-eating is a common and invisible driver
• Fibre and bitter greens to help the liver and gut clear used hormones
• Magnesium and B6 in the luteal phase for many women
• Strength training twice a week, and less all-out cardio if you're already depleted
• Protecting sleep like it's medicine, because hormonally it is

Getting a plan that's yours

Generic hormone advice fails because your pattern is specific. A personalised wellness plan maps your symptoms, cycle and labs together and tells you what to do first, second and third — nutrition, herbs and supplements with NZ brands and where to get them, and a four-week roadmap. NZ$129, no appointment needed.

If your periods have changed suddenly, you're bleeding between periods or after sex, or you're bleeding after menopause, see your GP — that always gets checked properly first.