About Hormone Consultants

Why the failed response matters

A dramatic increase makes an easy story. An absent reply demands a better question. The kisspeptin challenge studies interest me because a failure to provoke a response can reveal something worth investigating about the receiving system.

I welcome the inconvenience of a paper that makes a comfortable phrase unusable. “Raises hormones” seemed like a useful description of this literature until the challenge experiments made it feel incomplete. Capacity, timing and the chosen endpoint now seem more interesting subjects to argue about.

I feel more respect for a hypothesis after it survives an awkward result. A strong opening response can be exciting; the later loss of responsiveness makes the explanation work harder. That is the kind of intellectual tension I come here for. The prospect of an answer matters, but the demand for a good question matters just as much.

That is the reason for this site’s name. A worthwhile consultation begins by establishing the question. Hormone Consultants is the title of this editorial project, with me as its sole reader of published research and the person responsible for the arguments here.

Editorial boundaries

There is no consulting business attached to Hormone Consultants. No consultations or treatment are available here, and the site has no medicines to supply. Personal hormone tests need the context of individual medical care; these essays cannot provide it.

Nothing on this site is medical advice. I am discussing published experiments and the questions they raise, without claiming a medical qualification or a professional role. An interpretation can be worth arguing with while carrying no authority over anyone’s care.

The challenge essay is the clearest expression of what interests me. The reading list is there for anyone who wants to pursue the same papers.