Functional Hormone Testing

What are Hormones?

Hormones are chemicals created by your endocrine glands that act as messengers which allow the different systems in the body to communicate with each other. They help control crucial functions in the body such as metabolism, reproduction and the stress response. When certain hormones spike or drop, they affect a variety of cascades downstream, which cause us to experience symptoms.

Why Functional Hormone Testing?

Often, blood tests for hormones aren’t able to give us the whole picture. The DUTCH hormone test is a type of functional hormone testing that goes above and beyond other hormone tests in providing details for understanding the complex pathways of hormones in your body.

Besides the sex hormones and their metabolites, the DUTCH test also measures many biomarkers, such as adrenal and stress tolerance, neurotransmitters, sleep hormones, vitamin deficiencies, protection against toxins and DNA damage.

Who should consider this test?

If you have symptoms that you suspect are related to hormonal imbalances in the body, the DUTCH test is a great way to understand the root cause of the problem.

Common signs of hormone imbalance include:

Menstrual irregularities
Fertility concerns
Low sex drive
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
Acne or excess body hair
Scalp hair loss
Menopausal symptoms
Chronic pelvic pain
Breast tenderness and PMS
Fatigue and burnout
Weight gain or difficulty losing weight
Migraines and headaches

The Complete DUTCH test can tell you about:

Imbalances in your sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, etc.)
Important neurotransmitter levels (dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine)
Your stress response (cortisol measured 4 times throughout the day)
Sleep hormone imbalance (melatonin)
Vitamin deficiencies and/or compromised ability to use vitamins (vitamin B6, vitamin B12)
Your ability to protect your cells from toxins and DNA damage (glutathione)
An indication of DNA damage via oxidative stress (using a chemical biomarker)