Millions of women experience symptoms due to hormonal imbalances such as, premenstrual symptoms (PMS), mood swings, hot flashes, weight gain, low libido, fatigue, and/or menstrual pain. The good news is, with testing we can often identify the hormonal imbalance at the root of your symptoms and then address the imbalance accordingly with natural therapies (and if needed, in collaboration with your conventional health care team). Often if you are having hormonal symptoms you may have had your hormones tested, but were likely told they are all “normal.” So, why are you still having symptoms? Your testing may not have dug deep enough.
5 Reasons Why We Love the DUTCH Complete Hormone Test:
- You get a more comprehensive look into your hormones. The Dutch test goes beyond just your blood levels of hormones and gives valuable information on the levels of hormone metabolites, which gives us a sense of WHERE in the pathway of hormone metabolism your imbalance could be coming from. This information then directs individualized treatment!! The Dutch test includes an assessment of reproductive and adrenal hormones and their metabolites (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and cortisol).
- It measures your estrogen metabolism. This is very valuable information, because if you are someone experiencing “estrogen dominance,” we want to know are you metabolizing your estrogen in favourable non-inflammatory pathways, such as 2-OH-E1, or are you metabolizing in more inflammatory pathways such as 4-OH-E1 and 16-OH-E1. Again, if your body is choosing the unfavourable pathway, we can support the anti-inflammatory pathways with certain dietary changes, herbs, or nutrients.
- It measures your stress response by measuring “free” levels of cortisol throughout the day and the cortisol metabolites. Sometimes people don’t think they feel stressed or they feel they are coping well with their stress and this test often gives great insight to just how much your body is mounting and requiring your stress hormones. Hint: it might be more than you think 😛
- In addition to testing your reproductive and stress hormone metabolites, it also measures your melatonin metabolites (great for those with sleep issues) and oxidative (inflammation) metabolite markers.
- It is convenient. It only requires a urine sample, that can be done at home. No needles!
Keep in mind, the DUTCH Complete does not assess your thyroid hormones, so if thyroid is part of your hormonal picture, we would likely suggest different testing. In addition, we are only fans of testing hormones if we feel like the results will give us better direction for a treatment plan (ie, times where symptom picture and assessment alone aren’t enough to give us a clear sense of what is happening hormonally).
Alright, alright. You’ve heard enough! I bet you love the sound of finally getting to the bottom of your hormonal imbalances and being able to receive natural treatment options, individualized to your needs to improve your symptoms. Book HERE with one of our Naturopathic Doctors to get started on your path to HORMONE BALANCE!