A majority of woman I speak to in practice are exhausted and feeling stretched, spending their time juggling all the things - family, work and more. Often they’re not aware of the impact that poor dietary choices, combined with hormonal imbalances, have on their health and that poor diet and hormone imbalances present symptoms such as mood swings, bloating, fatigue, anxiety & depression, abnormal menstruation (heavy/painful periods), PMS, headaches, decreased sex drive, breast tenderness, endometriosis, fibroids, and weight gain.

I help to identifying and improve the areas of the diet that need attention, as well as offering a comprehensive hormone test to identify what is occurring with the hormones. This DUTCH test is the gold standard when it comes to hormone testing, it examines reproductive and adrenal hormones as well as cortisol, melatonin and oxidative stress.

What is the DUTCH Hormone Test? It stands for - Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones

and involves collection of a small amount of urine on filtered paper, four times a day. The DUTCH TEST measures hormone metabolites from the dried urine samples, as well as cortisol and cortisone rhythms and levels, and estrogen metabolic pathways. The full list includes -

• Cortisol
• Cortisone
• Estradiol     
• Estrone      
• Estriol   
• Progesterone   
• Testosterone       
• DHEA        
• Melatonin

Why measure these hormones? While blood tests for hormone profiles are useful, they are not as comprehensive as the DUTCH test.

Blood and saliva tests don’t measure cortisol rhythms and estrogen metabolism and do not track hormone replacement as thoroughly. Bloods are also not sensitive enough to see the different levels of estrogen, which can be an issue when we’re trying to figure out a persons estrogen state that impacts her overall health.

What makes the DUTCH test better than blood or saliva tests is the comprehensive information that is collected with a single test. The DUTCH test is well-recognized for its ease-of-collection, coupled with comprehensive reporting that is not currently available from other tests.

By examining the DUTCH test results, we as practitioners can identify why certain symptoms are present and what the root cause is. Symptoms such as :

• Adrenal fatigue, sleep and stress issues. Testing the adrenal hormones provides specific information about how to support stress and sleep issues, by specifically looking at the HPA axis (hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal) adrenal-brain communication.

• Fertility problems, poly-cystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). This test is beneficial for people suffering from fibroids, PMS, irregular periods, painful periods, anxiety & moodiness, and endometriosis. It provides a comprehensive picture of how the adrenal and reproductive hormone imbalances may be contributing to these problems.

• Hormone replacement therapy. This test works well for oral progesterone, vaginal hormones, patches, pellets and injections. N.B this is only for hormone replacement therapy, not hormonal birth control pills.    

• Sleep issues. By checking melatonin levels, I can assess how your sleep/wake patterns may be affected. Melatonin can be low and related to your sleep problems, or it can be normal.

• DHEA levels. When this “feel-good” hormone, produced by your adrenal gland, is low it can cause fatigue, decrease muscle mass or bone density, propel depression, aching joints, loss of libido and lowered immunity.

• Estrogen dominance. Estrogen dominance occurs when we have too much estrogen in the body and is relative to the other sex hormones, such as having too little progesterone to balance it out. Estrogen dominance can be a factor in endometriosis, PMS, painful periods, fibrous breasts, fibroids, tender breasts, moodiness, peri menopause and more. It can also make perimenopausal symptoms significantly worse.

• Liver function to metabolise estrogens. Important for understanding how we are clearing estrogens from the body. If you don’t metabolize estrogen well, you risk estrogen dominance, as well as greater risks of estrogen-related symptoms such as breast, cervical and uterine cancers. We can also see the methylation pathway of estrogen when doing the DUTCH test, which can tell if there are nutrient deficiencies or an MTHFR gene mutation, which would then need to be addressed to maximize health.

How to access the test -

The DUCTH test is ordered via me and is posted to your home with reply-paid packaging. Full instructions are provided to you and I also stand by on the phone to assist you when collecting samples, if need.

For new clients, an Initial Consultation will need to be conducted before purchasing the test. The appropriate test will then be recommended for you. Please contact me for further information.

When will you see results?

Your test results are analyzed in detail by me before sharing with you; as I look at any hormone imbalances to effectively determine a plan that is tailored to your specific needs. Test results take approx. 4-6 weeks once you have completed the test. We discuss the results and personalised plan in a long consultation (1-1.5 hours)