How to Interpret Your DUTCH Test & What it Means For Your Fertility
The DUTCH test is the most comprehensive test available to help you get an accurate picture of what is really going on with your hormones. In today’s blog, we’ll share some insights on what your DUTCH test results could mean when it comes to your fertility, common results we see in our practice and how to properly assess your levels with your provider.
A Quick Overview of the DUTCH Test
If you missed our last article all about how the DUTCH test can help you optimize your fertility, you can read about it here. As a quick overview, it’s a urine test that evaluates your sex hormones: estrogens, progesterone and testosterone, along with cortisol, adrenal function, melatonin as well as hormone metabolites — which essentially show us how well your hormones are being detoxified and excreted vs. staying in the body to recirculate. It’s the best panel to run when looking to optimize your fertility as a woman and it’s super easy to do.
How to Interpret DUTCH Test Results for Fertility
Now assuming you’ve already done the test with us, here are some key things to know about the biomarkers and generally what they can tell you about your fertility, hormones and overall health. Please note that these type of results are not always the case, so it’s important to know your individual test results and ALWAYS work with an expert to interpret them.
— If you have already run the DUTCH test and are looking for a practitioner to interpret and provide your personalized fertility plan, Sara is Winnipeg Nutrition’s fertility expert! Email us at nutrition.winnipeg@gmail.com to get started.
Here are some common patterns we see in our practice:
Low Progesterone
Low progesterone is something we very frequently see when we run hormone panels and it plays a huge role in infertility as women. When a woman has low progesterone, she may experience symptoms like anovulation, anxiety, depression, insomnia, irregular cycles, miscarriage, short luteal phase, long menstrual cycles (>35 days), spotting and low libido. Low progesterone can point towards a luteal phase deficiency or PCOS.
High Estrogen & Low Progesterone
Another very common pattern we see in women is elevated estrogen with low progesterone. Estrogen dominance is an epidemic these days with all the synthetic, estrogen-mimicking chemicals in our world today, including plastics, BPA and PFAS in so many of our products and even in our water supply. It’s more important than ever that we support healthy estrogen levels — in both men and women — especially when your goal is a healthy pregnancy. When estrogen and progesterone aren’t living in a happy balance, we can struggle with things like endometriosis, heavy periods, migraines, mood swings, fibroids and a short luteal phase or menstrual cycle. For this, we need to work on liver health, nutrition, digestion and detoxification.
High OR low Cortisol
We frequently see elevated cortisol levels, the body’s main stress hormone, which can drive inflammation, infertility and other hormonal challenges. It’s important to note that sometimes women come into our practice with LOW cortisol also, which can present with similar symptoms, so it’s always important to test, not guess! Having anxiety or panic attacks, poor immunity, insomnia and feeling overwhelmed easily are just a few common symptoms.
High or Low Testosterone (Yes even women can see this!)
Testosterone is often thought of as a male hormone, but its need to be in balance is equally as important for women. Common symptoms of elevated testosterone include acne, anxiety, fertility problems, hair loss, male patterned hair growth and irritability. Key areas to address here are blood sugar and insulin control, lowering stress, detoxification and following a low sugar, clean eating plan.
Ready to get to the root of your fertility struggles? Email us today at nutrition.winnipeg@gmail.com to get started with the DUTCH test!
