DUTCH hormone testing is one of the many personalised, accurate clinical services we offer here at Meyer Clinic as part of our emphasis on preventative, holistic, and 360-degree treatments and services. Hormonal testing helps us and you understand how your hormones are influencing any symptoms or changes you might be experiencing.
Working in partnership with regulated, well-regarded laboratories, we use evidence-based testing to provide valuable insights and ensure that the recommendations we make are fully tailored to your health and well-being – without guesswork.
This particular hormone test, which stands for dried urine testing for comprehensive hormone readings, is just that; a complete testing process that is ideal if you need more refined answers or have remaining queries or concerns following blood testing.
Understanding the Purpose of DUTCH Hormone Testing
There are many scenarios where hormone testing could be important, either to gain further precision insights into the results following blood tests or as part of a full panel of tests. Our dedicated specialists offer a range of support for women at all life stages, which can include personalised testing to ensure we know how best to focus care in a balanced, optimised way.
We’ll often suggest completing this particular testing process either over a 24-hour period or over the course of a month to track levels and changes in:
- Stress hormones
- Melatonin levels
- Inflammation markers
- Vitamin metabolites
- Overall hormonal activity
In many cases, the primary objective of a DUTCH test is to identify and understand the underlying causes or contributing factors impacting hormonal imbalances or to determine whether a hormone imbalance is indeed one of the root causes of symptoms.
Recognising high or low levels of various natural hormones can, for example, help determine the right approach to fertility.
It can also explain changes in body composition, libido, and energy, including erectile dysfunction and mood disorders. All this can be done by looking a little deeper to understand how the hormones that work to impact our cellular physiology are performing and responding.
We work with other clients to complete DUTCH testing to ensure that treatments and therapies intended to manage symptoms during perimenopause, menopause, or post-menopause are suitable, appropriate and working well for them, checking that hormone measurements are adjusting as we expect, and informing the ways hormonal treatments are administered.
Timeframes for DUTCH Hormone Testing Processes
Here at Meyer Clinic, we recommend that most clients have a hormonal test over a full day and night or a month rather than a one-off test, which would only tell us your hormone levels at that exact moment. This is purely to ensure that any guidance we offer is aligned with the way your body is settling and responding to changes that are normal during menopause, perimenopause and during post menopause.
For many, particularly women, hormones change naturally and sometimes dramatically over the course of a month, mainly due to the menstrual cycle. However, some conditions or stress responses also fluctuate or occur in cycles.
Tracking hormones over an extended period provides a far better picture of your whole body’s well-being. We can use these insights, alongside monitoring symptoms, emotions, and your sense of contentment to identify with greater accuracy how your hormone levels are affecting you.
DUTCH hormone tests tend to be completed over shorter periods for women who are not experiencing changeable symptoms or do not have an ongoing menstrual cycle. Otherwise, they can be more useful over time, especially when we recommend hormone analyses to assist with menopause and fertility.
Hormone Test Results: What Does a DUTCH Test Tell You?
There are varied cases where we may advise that hormone testing would be beneficial, such as dealing with perimenopausal symptoms, experiencing regular migraines, or having other symptoms that seem to be indicative of a hormone imbalance.
Following your test, we can often find clarity around the underlying reasons why:
- You are experiencing sudden and progressive weight gain or loss.
- You feel uncomfortable or unhappy with your hormone replacement therapy (HRT) regime.
- You have had difficulties with fertility and conception.
- You have symptoms but are unsure whether these are linked to perimenopause.
- You have an ongoing concern and have been unable to get to the real cause.
As an illustration, adrenal hormones can instruct your body to remain on ‘high alert’. DUTCH test results are used to extract a baseline oxidative stress marker to see if this is occurring, and how it affects your ability to manage stress.
Identifying very low cortisol levels as an awakening response first thing in the morning could be a sign of adrenal exhaustion, whereas higher levels could point towards exaggerated stress reactions, and determine the core reason you could be feeling anxious.
By pinpointing the specifics of hormonal imbalances and logging when and how these occur, we can provide far more bespoke advice, address deficiencies, identify which hormones are too low or high, and offer better guidance around remedies, self-care, treatments, and therapies to help you feel your best self.
Benefits of Private DUTCH Hormone Testing to Aid in HRT
Thousands of women cycling HRT treatments are dissatisfied with the outcomes or remain feeling unsettled and less than great – and the answers are frequently linked with the hormonal responses to medications and whether HRT is gauged correctly to you as an individual.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to HRT, and we know that the symptoms of perimenopause can vary significantly between people.
Heavy bleeding, chronic fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, and other symptoms can have a serious impact on your day-to-day life, but in too many circumstances, physicians will not or cannot offer comprehensive hormone testing – often because of your age or because generic tests show hormones within the ‘normal’ range. We recognise that fluctuations in hormones happen continuously and that perimenopause does not follow a typical timeframe, which is where DUTCH hormone testing can have profound benefits.
One of the compelling advantages of this type of hormonal testing technique is that it can help determine the level and extent of hormonal imbalances and examine your unique metabolic pathways—the cellular chemical reactions that occur in your body.
For instance, your body will break down testosterone into various metabolites, with some more potent that could be linked with increased oil in your skin, hair thinning, greater body hair growth, irritability and acne.
By understanding the metabolic pathways your body naturally prefers, we can determine the right supplements, HRT, or alternative therapies to optimise healthy hormone regulation without taking a standardised approach that might be ineffective.
The outcome is a detailed, customised picture of your hormone balance, which can be incredibly meaningful in finally getting to the actual cause of symptoms, identifying why treatments or HRT haven’t been working, and getting you on the pathway to optimal health, vitality and well-being.
If you are interested in DUTCH hormone testing, have concerns about potential hormone imbalances, or would like a confidential consultation to discover more about health prevention checks and testing, please contact Meyer Clinic.