Navigating the menopause can be challenging, as it’s a time of profound change. With over 30 symptoms attributable to the menopause, functional tests are invaluable. Testing highlights what is happening in your body to create imbalances, translating your symptoms during this complex time.
On the positive side, menopause offers an opportunity to understand your body better. It’s a chance to adopt positive lifestyle habits to support your health through this phase and beyond.
Read on to discover about a new testing package designed especially for women who are navigating hormone-related symptoms connected with menopause, perimenopause or post-menopause.
The term menopause relates to the time your periods stop. Before periods cease, many women experience a phase of hormonal transition known as perimenopause. This can last as long as ten years in some cases. When you no longer have menstrual periods, this stage of life is known as post-menopause.
Hormones are molecules signalling to cells to perform a specific action. The two main types of hormones relevant to menopause are sex hormones and stress hormones. Imbalances and the eventual decline in sex hormones lead to many of the familiar symptoms experienced by women during menopause and perimenopause. Symptoms can include menstrual irregularities, low libido, excess facial hair or scalp hair loss, vaginal dryness, hot flushes, cardiovascular issues, mood swings or weight gain. However, hormone imbalances can contribute to issues such as immune dysfunction and chronic inflammation, too.
Two comprehensive tests are designed to evaluate both current hormone levels and any genetic predispositions influencing your hormone balance.
The DUTCH Complete test (Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones) evaluates the levels of the reproductive hormones oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Even subtle imbalances in these hormones can create symptoms.
The test also checks how your body is metabolising oestrogen. This is important, because when your liver breaks down excess oestrogen, it’s converted into slightly different forms, known as metabolites. These differ in their activity and potency. The three main metabolites, called hydroxyestrones, occur in different forms, namely 2-OH, 4-OH and 16-OH. Nutrients, genetics and lifestyle factors influence the predominating metabolites. 2-OH is the weakest form, so if most of your oestrogen is metabolised this way, you might not experience as many perimenopausal symptoms as if it’s metabolised into stronger metabolites such as 16-OH. Therefore, knowing the relative levels of oestrogen metabolites gives a far more detailed picture of how oestrogen is affecting your cells and tissues than simply measuring overall oestrogen levels.
Because stress hormones and sex hormones are so intimately connected, the DUTCH Complete test measures stress hormones too, including cortisol and DHEA. To do this, samples of your saliva are collected at several times during the day. Results reveal whether cortisol levels are diverging from the cortisol awakening response. This is when cortisol levels surge directly after you wake up and is an indication your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is functioning well. The axis is a complex set of interactions governing your body’s response to stress. Imbalances in your HPA axis can reveal whether stress is impacting your sex hormone levels or activity.
Thirdly, the test measures markers of brain neurotransmitters including dopamine and noradrenaline, both crucial for healthy mood, along with melatonin, which controls the sleep/wake cycle. Measuring markers of these brain chemicals is more accurate than examining their absolute levels in blood, since these may not reflect brain levels.
Finally, the test identifies certain organic acids in urine. These can build up when the nutrient needed for a specific chemical reaction is lacking. Therefore, their presence in urine can indicate nutrient imbalances, for example insufficient B vitamins.
Taken overall, the results will build up a picture of your current hormone levels and how they may be affecting your wellbeing. Additionally, they will reveal what may be impacting the delicate hormonal balance, such as stress or nutrient shortages.
Your genes can influence your hormone metabolism, detoxification of hormones and your resilience to stress. Variations in DNA known as SNPs cause the expression of a gene to be increased or decreased.
This test examines specific genes impacting oestrogen metabolism, detoxification of hormones, your body’s stress response and your sleep cycle. For example, genes called CYP1A1 and CYP1A2 are involved in oestrogen detoxification, and result in mainly beneficial 2-OH metabolites being produced. Another, known as COMT, can if underactive lead to inefficient inactivation of oestrogen in the final stage of detoxification via a process called methylation. This latter scenario will elevate oestrogen owing to inefficient clearance.
Results will reveal those specific nutrients, foods, or herbs helpful to optimise those pathways not operating as well as they could.
Put simply, a simple cheek swab will reveal how your genetics are interacting with environmental factors to affect the production, activation and detoxification of hormones, which are then causing your symptoms.
Although the results of your tests will be presented in actionable, colour-coded formats, the human body is a complex machine, so we do offer expert practitioner interpretation if you wish, at additional cost.
Begin your journey with our menopause testing package today to understand more about your menopause journey and gain the knowledge to optimise your health through this stage of life and beyond. Or book at FREE 15-minute Discovery Call if you’d like to chat with someone or to see if we’re a good fit.
If you want support with hormones, menopause or testing & interpretation, why not book a FREE Discovery Call to see how Functional Medicine can help?
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