One of the labs I use to assess a person’s overall health is the DUTCH (Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones). It is very easy to do and gives me a lot of data to evaluate. It assesses your cortisol and cortisol pattern, your DHEA, estrogen and how you metabolize it, testosterone, progesterone (for women), melatonin, plus markers that help assess brain health and nutrition. If you are suffering from low energy, jitters, or insomnia, this one is especially important.
It is important to take a loot at your hormones when you are dealing with the possible effects of environmental toxins. This particular lab assessment is not looking for specific toxicities, but it does show what is going on with the chemicals in your body, otherwise known as your hormones.
When a body is exposed to environmental toxins, cortisol (the stress hormone, what most folks call adrenaline) can be greatly affected. Initially, you can experience an excess as your body is working hard to deal with whatever foreign invader your immune system recognizes. You might feel pretty good at first and have better energy or focus, but after time, the inflammation builds and your body can’t keep up. Then, your cortisol starts to drop and you can experience a variety of issues. When one hormone is high or low, it can throw off the balance of the other hormones in your body, like estrogen or testosterone, giving you all kinds of non specific symptoms that seem far removed from the original problem. Plus certain hormones need to have particular ratios for balance. We use the results of this lab to help you learn how to counteract the stress in your body.
The DUTCH Complete is as easy as urinating on a paper strip 4 times in less than a 24-hour period (or 5 times if you wake up in the middle of the night). In 24 hours when the paper is dry, you simply package it up as per lab instructions and use the prepaid shipping label. You can read more about it on the DUTCH COMPLETE web page.
Contact me to learn if the DUTCH is right for you!