Why You Don't Feel Like Yourself · Dr. Ladynez Espinal
Your Complete Optimal Lab Reference
Two numbers matter on every lab report. The standard range is what most laboratories will flag as abnormal. The optimal range is where I want my patients to be. A result can sit comfortably inside the first and nowhere near the second — which is how a woman is told she's fine while she feels anything but.
These two targets depend on where you are:
Optimal
In standard range, not optimal
Outside standard range
Before you fill this in. Estradiol and progesterone targets change depending on your stage, so choose the option above that fits you. If you are still cycling, timing matters: draw estradiol on day 3–5 and progesterone on day 19–22. Free testosterone and pregnenolone are reported differently by different laboratories, so for those two, compare your result against the range printed on your own report. Bring this sheet to your clinician rather than drawing conclusions from it alone.
If you are postmenopausal and not on hormone therapy. Your estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone will read well below these numbers, and that is exactly what your body is doing on its own not a result to be alarmed by. The optimal ranges here are what treatment aims for, not what an untreated body produces after menopause. Everything else on this sheet thyroid, metabolic, vitamin D, B12, iron, liver applies to you the same way regardless.
🧪 Instructions for lab work
- Avoid alcohol: 72h prior
- Avoid resistance training, cycling, sauna: 72h prior
- Avoid supplements: 24h prior (biotin: 72h)
- Stay hydrated the day before
- Drink 1–1.5L water 90 min pre-draw
- No coffee or nicotine morning of test
- Fasted 8–12h (water allowed)
- Sleep 7–9h night before
- Sit quietly 10–15 min before blood draw
- Draw between 6:30–9:30am
- Note the day of the menstrual cycle (women)
- Postpone if sick or infected recently