Last month, Mark Kaelin wrote a great article on maintaining peak testosterone levels as you age, citing the pervasiveness of advertising geared towards men with low testosterone. Since hormonal problems for women are ridiculously common as well, I spoke with Dr. Bryan Walsh, ND, to lay out a strategy for addressing them.

The only problem with trying to explain all of the potential hormonal problems women may face is that it's really damn complicated. If I had to explain the specifics of the hormones produced by the brain, including follicle stimulating hormones (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) and the specific mechanisms by which they trigger the production of hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone from the ovaries....well, we'd be here a long time.

Instead, I tried to break down the steps you need to take if you think your hormones are completely out of whack.

Step 1: Get bloodwork

There are a lot of health conditions associated with hormonal imbalance, such as PCOS and endometriosis, so getting checked out by a qualified physician is always a good idea.

Another reason for testing: while it may be tempting to treat symptoms with over-the-counter herbs and vitamins, Walsh points out that there can be multiple underlying causes for the very same hormonal imbalance. Low FSH could lead to low LH, low estrogen, and low progesterone. Or perhaps FSH levels are normal, but LH and estrogen are low. Or maybe it's just progesterone that is low and other markers are normal.

A good functional medicine doctor, or perhaps a naturopath, can help you get the tests you need to figure out what's going on.

Unfortunately, some endocrinologists are a bit prickly when asked to run specific panels for their patients, which is why Dr. Walsh recommends going to a functional medicine doctor. Ask them to test your progesterone, estradiol, FSH, LH, and testosterone, for starters. If you can't find anyone, just go to Direct Labs , Life Extension (which is pricier), or True Health Labs. If you find a panel and want to add a specific test on, you can usually buy it a la carte.

It’s worth noting that women's hormones are, well, cyclical. Any tests conducted should be done halfway through the luteal phase (around day 21 in a standard 28-day cycle), when progesterone is high, estrogen is low, and FSH is normal to low. You may still have some lingering LH, but it's still the best time to get a good panel.

Step 2: Address underlying health issues

Insulin resistance has been shown to lower progesterone. If you have any kind of blood sugar issues, fixing those could very well solve the problem. In addition, some of the solutions won't be as effective if there are any kind of blood sugar issues.

If you have symptoms of hypoglycemia (like, if you're irritable between meals, shaky and lightheaded, and wake up during the night), you'll want to address that as well. Hypothyroidism can negatively affect the hormones as well.

And if you have low progesterone, for example, Walsh offers this warning: "There are a lot of things that can impact it and you can throw all sorts of supplements at progesterone that you want but until you fix these other factors that will undermine progesterone synthesis, the supplements are just a waste of time."

Step 3: Fix your diet

Make sure your diet is nutrient-rich, and loaded with antioxidants, magnesium, and vitamin B6. Take a look at your digestion as well.

As far as other specific vitamins and minerals, you'll also want to make sure you're getting adequate amounts of vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, and zinc.

"Vitamin C, Vitamin E and selenium have been shown to possibly increase progesterone somewhat, and all three are antioxidants. If a woman has too much oxidative stress, then that might decrease progesterone synthesis." Although increasing antioxidants won't increase the amount of progesterone beyond what the body would normally make in someone who's already getting an adequate amount, taking care of a deficiency can improve results. These vitamins and minerals will help a lot of you are deficient. Otherwise, they may have little or no impact.

Step 4: Consider vitamins and herbs

Now that you have a good idea of what's going on with your hormones, you can research specific herbs to see if they may be useful. Vitex may be effective for low LH (though some recommend against it), and black cohosh is useful for high estrogen, as is fiber (hello, flax seeds!). Liver herbs can also help clear elevated estrogen. There's also a small amount of evidence that xenoestrogens can lead to elevated estrogen, so getting rid of unnecessary chemicals and sticking to grassfed beef may be helpful.

Wild yam is another herb worth researching.

Step 5: Sublingual progesterone drops

If all else fails, and you still have low progesterone, you may need to take progesterone. Make sure it is bio-identical. (For more information on why, check out the book Sex, Lies & Menopause, written by T.S. Wiley, the author of Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival. Wiley has been the subject of some controversy, so remember to take the information with a grain of salt and come to your own conclusions.)

As far as types of progesterone, Dr. Walsh recommends sublingual drops, available over the counter in the U.S. He prefers the drops to vitamin capsules, which go through the liver first and make it hard to know what your dose is. The drops go right to the lymphatic system. They also don't build up in the bloodstream in the same way as he's seen creams do. "Progesterone cream builds up in the bloodstream and starts to downgrade the receptors. High progesterone actually causes low progesterone symptoms due to progesterone resistance," he explains.