In this episode of the Fitness Simplified podcast, Brooke Davis discusses the importance of functional labs when it comes to perimenopause stress and in supporting women’s health during the perimenopause transition. She explains the differences between functional and conventional medicine, highlighting how functional labs can provide deeper insights into hormonal health, gut microbiome, and mineral levels. The episode covers three key tests: the Dutch test for hormonal assessment, the GI map for gut health analysis, and HTMA for mineral analysis. Brooke emphasizes a holistic approach to perimenopause stress, health, integrating nutrition, lifestyle changes, and potential hormone therapy to optimize well-being during this transitional phase.

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The Fitness Simplified Podcast

Welcome to the Fitness Simplified Podcast. I’m Brooke Davis, Women’s Functional Nutritionist and Fitness Specialist with Elysian Women’s Wellness, and I’m here to simplify your fitness. Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Fitness Simplified Podcast.

I’m Brooke Davis, Women’s Functional Nutritionist and Fitness Specialist with Elysian Women’s Wellness, where we simplify health and fitness for women. In today’s episode, we’re going to be talking about some of the best functional labs to support the perimenopause transition. If you’ve ever heard your doctor saying something is wrong with you, and they either tell you it’s just normal at this age, you’re fine, or they refuse to run any labs because they just won’t tell you anything, then this episode is for you.

If you’ve been wondering really how to get a clearer picture of what’s happening inside your body beyond the standard blood tests, this episode is for you. So we are going to talk about three key tests, and that is the DUTCH, or the Dry Urine Testing for Comprehensive Hormones, the GI MAP, and HTMA, or Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis. Each of these functional labs offers insights that can really help create a customized wellness plan tailored to your hormonal needs and metabolic function during perimenopause, so let’s get into it.

Functional Medicine vs. Conventional Medicine

I want to start first by explaining the difference between functional medicine and conventional medicine. The name essentially says it all. While most doctors are really looking for specific things that they can diagnose and then treat, or often simply put a bandaid on, usually with some sort of pharmaceutical, as a functional practitioner, we’re looking at the overall function of various systems in the body.

So this includes things like your endocrine system or hormone production, your immune system, digestive system, your detoxification pathways, and your nervous system. The other main difference is that we see all of these systems as interconnected in the body as a whole. When one system is experiencing dysfunction, it’s going to impact the other systems, and so treating just one area, like conventional medicine, often leaves gaps in the healing process and leaves you wanting for more, which is why we address all aspects of what we call metabolic chaos or dysfunction in each system in order to get the best and most permanent results.

Functional labs are just one of the ways that we do that, and I have three main ones that I’m going to share with you today that, when combined, gives us a really good overview of each system and the body as a whole in order for us to create the most holistic plan for healing and getting you the results that you want. First up is the DUTCH test. So again, this is the dry urine test for comprehensive hormones, and it is an advanced hormonal assessment that gives us really detailed insight into not just how hormones are produced, but how they are metabolized and excreted in the body.

Perimenopause Stress: Unveiling Hormonal Health with the DUTCH Test

It really goes beyond just standard blood tests by not only measuring the hormone levels, but also showing how your body processes and clears them. It’s a super simple, at-home, non-invasive test that uses your dried urine and sometimes saliva samples collected throughout the day to really give a complete picture of your hormonal health. So the DUTCH test will give us a look at all the main steroid hormones, including cortisol, and this is our stress hormone.

We measure this at different points throughout the day in order to assess adrenal function and stress response. So when it comes to fat loss specifically, what you need to know is that cortisol actually plays a big role in fat storage, specifically in the abdominal area. So measuring cortisol production and clearance throughout the day, we can see not just if overall production is high or low, but how it’s being metabolized as well as your daily rhythm.

Often the symptoms that you’re having are not just due to high or low cortisol, but by the fact that it might be low when it should be high or high when it should be low. Some of these common symptoms of cortisol dysregulation are, like I said, weight gain in the belly, sugar cravings, fatigue, low motivation, and more specifically sleep issues. Next up is DHEA.

A Key Player in Hormonal Balance When It Comes To Perimenopause Stress

This is a precursor to all other hormones like testosterone, estrogen, along with the balancing act to cortisol. So we measure DHEAS, which stands for sulfate, and that is the stored or usable version of DHEA. A big thing we’re looking at here is again, not just the levels of DHEA, but the levels relative to cortisol.

If cortisol is high, but DHEA is low or even normal, that tells us that your body is in a catabolic state, breaking down and is likely entering what we call the compensatory or exhaustive stage of HPA axis dysfunction or adrenal fatigue, which we don’t really use that term, but that is the kind of common referral of that symptom. And then if DHEA is high and cortisol is low, then this tells us that you are anabolic, which sounds good, but it’s too much, especially as women, because DHEA is an androgen. So it can cause you to be irritable, angry, anxious, or aggressive.

And it could also be a sign of PCOS. Next is estrogen and its metabolites. So not only is total estrogen measured, but also how it’s broken down and excreted, looking at the different phases that it goes through.

Estrogen and Progesterone: A Delicate Balance For Perimenopause Stress

So this helps us assess risk related to estrogen dominance or deficiencies. And it can also tell us specifically where the body needs support and how to give it that support. If you’re making normal amounts, but you’re just not clearing it properly versus you’re actually producing too much and also not clearing it adequately, you’re not able to keep up with clearing it.

These are two different healing protocols. Next is progesterone. And that is crucial for menstrual regulation, fertility, which is why its decline during menopause impacts the regularity of your cycle.

Within this, we are looking at balancing estrogen and progesterone. So especially when it comes to weight management, you know, fertility, symptoms of PMS or menopause, this balance is really important. So you might be estrogen dominant, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have low progesterone.

Unraveling the Impact of Androgens, Testosterone, And Perimenopause Stress

You could also be estrogen dominant and have low estrogen and progesterone. So this, again, just gives us a really good picture overall. And estrogen dominance, of course, can definitely play a role in weight gain, especially in the hip size, belly.

And it will often come with those PMS symptoms like bloating, mood swings, headaches. Low progesterone will usually show up as irregular cycles, anxiety, depression, and trouble losing weight. But by identifying the estrogen dominance or progesterone imbalances, it really helps personalize strategies for diet adjustment supplements and even hormone therapies if needed in order to help improve your symptoms and support your weight loss goals.

The Dutch test also shows us androgens and testosterone. So testosterone is an androgen similar to DHEA, which is a male characteristic hormone, but something that even women have and is hyper important to your overall health. So testosterone plays a role in libido, muscle mass, energy, and where you gain fat.

The Role of Testosterone in Weight Management

In women, both high and low levels of estrogen, including testosterone, can really affect your weight. So low testosterone can make it hard to gain muscle mass. It makes you tired.

And again, it makes it hard to maintain a healthy weight. And then high androgens or testosterone, often seen in PCOS, this is where too much of that can cause weight specifically around the stomach. So usually men, when they gain weight, it is a lot of belly fat.

And that is a really common thing seen with, again, high testosterone, high androgens. So understanding more about these levels, which ones through the Dutch test can really help guide interventions like exercise routines, supplements, lifestyle, or even potentially adjusting medications, working with your doctor to do that in order to optimize fat loss and muscle building. Next up on the Dutch, we have melatonin.

Unraveling the Impact of Androgens and Testosterone

And so this assesses your sleep and wake cycles and your overall circadian rhythm. This helps us improve your sleep and recovery, and which improves everything else in your life, including your mood and energy levels, all of that good stuff. But both melatonin and cortisol are really important in making sure that those patterns are optimal, is important for maintaining that healthy sleep wake cycle.

In case you didn’t already, poor sleep can significantly impact your weight loss by disrupting your metabolism, increasing cravings, reducing your energy and motivation to exercise. So we really want to make sure that we are supporting the production and regulation of these hormonal patterns. In addition to these hormones and metabolic pathways, the Dutch test also includes markers for oxidative stress, organic acids related to neurotransmitter function like dopamine and serotonin, and then nutritional metabolites like B6 and B12.

So this really gives us a nice broad overview of your overall health. If you could only do one test, this would probably be it. So the last thing is oxidative stress, and that specifically tells us how well your body is handling inflammation and free radicals.

High Oxidative Perimenopause Stress

So high oxidative stress leads to inflammation, which is a key factor in a lot of different diseases, weight gain, of course. If we are seeing that, we want to prioritize reducing oxidative stress through lifestyle, diet, and again, potentially supplements. So like I said, the Dutch test can really be used for a lot of different kinds of people, obviously ones who are struggling with hormone related issues or are just looking for some better insight into their body’s stress and energy systems.

It is especially beneficial for women struggling with hormonal issues like irregular periods, PMS, PCOS, and of course perimenopause. And then anyone dealing with stress, burnout, or chronic fatigue. Anyone dealing with weight loss resistance, hormones like cortisol, estrogen, thyroid function, they all contribute to that stubborn belly fat. The DUTCH can help pinpoint those things. And then anyone concerned about fertility.

Especially if you are nearing perimenopause, assessing your overall hormones can help you optimize your chances of getting pregnant efficiently. Precision analytics also offers a cycle mapping test, which evaluates both progesterone and estrogen throughout the entire cycle. This provides valuable insights for fertility. Those with sleep disorders or unexplained fatigue, measuring cortisol and melatonin rhythms can help identify underlying issues. These issues could be affecting energy, sleep quality, and recovery.

Hormonal Health With Perimenopause Stress

The Dutch test is an invaluable look into your hormonal health and really offers so much more than the traditional blood test. Anyone looking to get some deeper insights into your hormonal patterns, how to optimize your health, the Dutch test is a game changer. The next functional lab is one of my favorites.

They’re all my favorites. That’s why I’m talking about them. And it is the GI map or the gastrointestinal microbial assay plus, which is a stool analysis test.

And this gives us insight into the health of your gut microbiome. It measures some of the largest populations of bacterial, viral, parasitic, and fungal microorganisms. It takes a look at markers of inflammation, digestive function, and immune system within the GI tract.

And it is one of the most advanced available for understanding the balance of gut flora and how it impacts your overall health. It is actually really commonly used by doctors for diagnosing various diseases, but we use it just to get a better look at ways to support the microbiome and reduce inflammation. The GI map tells us a lot of different things about the gut.

A Deeper Look At Gut Microbiome

So number one is going to be the pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and parasites. So it identifies harmful bacteria. Things like H. pylori, C. diff, Clostridium difficile, and Salmonella.

Viruses like Epstein-Barr, the cytomegalovirus, and then parasites like Giardia blastocystis hominis. Those things you would likely know if you had them, but it can show up on the testing. All of these can cause digestive issues, inflammation, and contribute to chronic health conditions if they’re showing up in high levels.

And then next we have, it looks at the balance of the commensal or beneficial bacteria, such as Lactobacillus, Bifidobacteria, and Acromantia, which are super important for digestion, immune function, and overall health. An imbalance of these, which could be an overage or a lack of these bacteria, known as dysbiosis, can lead to various symptoms and health issues, even completely unrelated to the gut. So you can even have too much good bacteria.

And that is why kind of willy nilly probiotics are not necessarily always the best thing to do without testing. Next is opportunistic bacteria, or the bad bacteria. And these are always normally present in the gut.

Gut Microbiome: A Deeper Look With How It Correlates With Perimenopause Stress

The kind of ratio is we want about 20% opportunistic bacteria. And what that does is it keeps our immune system and our body kind of on alert. But it can be problematic if they overgrow or they are dominating the gut environment.

So overgrowth of this opportunistic bacteria causes bloating, gas, constipation, diarrhea, among other things, inflammation. And then next is fungal and yeast overgrowth. So it detects things like Candida that, of course, overgrow in the gut, leading to digestive problems, skin issues, fatigue, sugar cravings, even things like brain fog have been attributed to Candida.

So just because it’s in the gut doesn’t mean that it’s not impacting the rest of the systems in your body. What I want to emphasize in terms of looking at overall healing opportunities. And that is why I love these three labs I’m talking about, because they really cover it all.

And then it also measures markers of inflammation and immune function. So inflammation markers like calprotectin, that it measures inflammation in the gut. And it actually is used to monitor conditions like inflammatory bowel disease.

Leaky Gut And Perimenopause Stress

This is not something, again, that we’re diagnosing with this test, but it can be used for that. And then secretory IgA, that is an immune activity marker. That shows us how well your gut is responding to the microbial imbalances or infections in the gut.

And then digestive function. So it gives us enzymes. And this is elastase.

This measures actually pancreatic function. And then steatocrit, which indicates fat malabsorption. So this tells us how well you are breaking down and absorbing, essentially, the nutrients in your gut.

And then markers of gut permeability. So elevated levels of zonulin or gluten proteins in the test can indicate increased intestinal permeability or leaky gut, which is when the gut lining becomes compromised. And this allows toxins, pathogens to enter the bloodstream and then trigger inflammation.

So this is where when something, your body will do basically everything to make sure that nothing happens in the blood. Everything else will go wrong before we get blood testing. And so even if you get blood tests and everything is good, you could get markers on these tests that are showing you that there is function elsewhere that is really breaking down or is under a lot of stress and eventually will cause issues in the blood if your body cannot keep up with it.

Health Issues And Symptoms With Perimenopause Stress

The GI map is honestly really for anyone who’s having health issues or symptoms of any kind. But I think most people, again, would benefit from the GI map, even if your problems are not directly gut related. But most specifically, anyone with chronic digestive symptoms, bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain without a clear diagnosis, anyone with IBS or IBD, even if you’re on medication, if you are managing those things, getting a better look of actually the specific imbalances and what is impacting your gut can be really, really beneficial just to make a more specific plan of healing and navigation of those things for you.

And then anyone with autoimmune, there is really a growing body of research linking gut health to autoimmune like Hashimoto’s, thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, and even lupus. So the GI map can tell us whether gut dysfunction or dysbiosis might be contributing to some of that immune dysregulation. And then people with skin issues, like I said, the gut is really often connected to things like eczema, acne, psoriasis.

If fungal overgrowth or leaky gut show up, then addressing these things can usually help improve your skin health. And then anyone struggling with weight loss, gut imbalances really affect your metabolism, your appetite regulation, your fat storage, as well as, of course, nutrient absorption. So identifying the things like bacterial overgrowth, poor digestion could really help take off some of those roadblocks to weight loss that you’re experiencing.

Mineral Imbalances: The Effects On Gut Health

And then anyone with chronic fatigue or mood disorders, the gut-brain access is a real thing, and it plays a really big role in mood and energy regulation. I think something like 70% of a serotonin is actually made in your gut. So that can be a huge factor in mood.

If that’s something you’re struggling with, the GI map could potentially help identify some of those things. And then lastly, and our third most powerful and simplest, most simple test for supporting your journey through perimenopause and menopause is the HTMA or hair tissue mineral analysis. This is a lab test that shows us the levels of essential minerals and toxic heavy metals in the body that are being deposited into the hair.

And since hair grows over time, it provides a longer term picture of the mineral imbalances and imbalances, giving us some pretty valuable insight into metabolic and health conditions. The results not only tell us the presence of these elements, like what’s in the body and in the hair, but also the relationships between them, which can really highlight nutritional imbalances and metabolic dysfunction. For example, just because something is showing up high in the hair doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s high in the body.

Four Minerals Ratio Patterns With Perimenopause Stress

It can be a sign that something else is off and could be pushing excessive amounts of it out of the body and to be excreted in the hair. So looking at these various mineral levels can tell us what level of stress your body is under, your current metabolic type, how fast you are processing, what’s going on in your body. And this really helps us tailor your diet to your needs in the moment, as opposed to just giving you some macronutrients or targets even, you know, or calorie targets.

What we are looking at specifically are ratios and patterns of the four main minerals, sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. So for ratios of mineral levels, like sodium relative to potassium, calcium to magnesium, calcium to potassium, sodium to magnesium, that is giving us insight into blood sugar regulation, thyroid health, adrenal health, and then heavy metal levels can give us insight into your detoxification system. HTMA can be used for anyone struggling with specific health concerns or really just looking to optimize your health.

Even if you’re doing a lot of things to take care of yourself, this deeper insight can be game changing into, again, just longevity. So women experiencing fatigue, mood swings, sleep issues, any kind of weight loss resistance, anyone experiencing chronic stress, burnout, anyone concerned about heavy metal exposure for sure. And then again, anyone just looking to get a more holistic view of their health and find a little bit deeper ways to be able to support their health.

Combining Functional Labs and Lifestyle Changes

And that is all we are covering today for functional labs. They are our most popular for a reason. And that’s because especially when combined can really give a great big picture view of the health of all of your body systems, what’s driving your symptoms.

And it allows us to create a very specific tailored plan to you. We take a holistic approach to uncover all this information. So of course, we’re going to use a holistic approach to solve it and address it.

So addressing all of these things, right, we’ll be talking about nutrition and dietary adjustments, exercise recommendations, stress management, overall lifestyle and habit changes to address stress, sleep, recovery, and of course supplements. But last for a reason, because while they can be helpful, you will never get the same benefits simply by taking the supplements. No magic pill exists alone that you will get by addressing all of the above, right, your nutrition, lifestyle, stress management, all that good stuff.

Perimenopause Stress: Beyond the Brick Wall

And then last but not least, we can help support you in finding hormone replacement therapy that works best for you if that is something that you need. Perimenopause does not have to be a time of total suffering, confusion, and perimenopause stress. I know so many women are hitting a brick wall when it comes to getting support from their normal healthcare providers.

And that is why we want to bridge that gap. Working together, we can uncover the underlying imbalances that are driving your worst symptoms and create a personalized plan to help you feel best at any age. I will put a link in the show notes for a free discovery call, which is just a quick chat to see if we think that what we do could be a good fit for you.

If you have any questions like perimenopause stress, suggestions for future topics, or just want to chat, feel free to reach out to us on Instagram @Brooke_Elysian and Facebook linked in the show notes or via our website, ElysianWomensWellness.com. And if you enjoyed what you heard today, we’d be thrilled if you could take a half second to leave us a five-star review. Not only will you be helping others find our show, but you’ll also be entered into our $100 giveaway for no reviews. New episodes drop every Monday, so make sure to hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more.

Thanks for listening. See you soon.

Coach Brooke Davis Links:

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