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It's a System

Hormonal Testing:
What Each Option Tells Us

A guide to three different types of hormonal assessment, so you know what you're looking at and why it matters for your health picture.

Hormonal tests are not interchangeable. Each one captures a different layer of the picture, from a one-time blood draw, to a deep look at what your body does with its hormones across a full day, to real-time daily tracking over weeks. Understanding what each reveals helps you make sense of the results and the next steps.
Option 01
Serum / Blood Panel
Blood draw, single time point, via Function Health or hormonal panel only
What you'll see

A snapshot of your hormone levels on the day of the draw. Think of it as a photo, it shows where things stand at that one moment, not how they move over time.

With the broader Function Health panel, you also get a view into how your thyroid is functioning, whether your blood sugar is stable, how your liver is processing things, and whether your iron stores are adequate. It's a much fuller metabolic picture, not just hormones.

Keep in mind

Hormones shift throughout the day and throughout the month. One blood draw tells you the number on that day, it won't tell you if that number is typical for you, or how your body handles and clears hormones over time.

Two ways to order
Hormonal panel only, $125 Sex hormones, thyroid basics, and cortisol. Focused and affordable. I'll send you the lab request form to take to your nearest draw site.
Function Health, $399 My preference. You order online, go to a local lab, and get a comprehensive report covering hormones, thyroid, liver, blood sugar, iron, lipids and more. Much more to work with.
Markers included
  • Estradiol, Progesterone, FSH & LH
  • Testosterone, DHEA-S
  • Cortisol (morning)
  • Full thyroid panel
  • Fasting insulin, glucose & HbA1c
  • Iron, liver & lipid markers
Option 02
DUTCH Plus
Dried urine + saliva, 4 samples across one day
What you'll see

A much deeper look than a blood test. The DUTCH doesn't just show you hormone levels, it shows you what your body is doing with those hormones. Are you breaking down estrogen through a safer or riskier pathway? Is your cortisol pattern supporting you or working against you? Are you clearing everything properly?

It also picks up clues about your sleep quality (via melatonin), your stress response across the full day, and whether your cells have what they need to process hormones well, including B vitamins and methylation support.

Best for

When you feel something is off, fatigue, poor sleep, mood shifts, weight changes, unexplained symptoms, but standard blood work comes back "normal." This test looks where blood tests don't.

Markers included
  • Estrogen & how your body breaks it down
  • Progesterone metabolites
  • Testosterone & DHEA metabolites
  • Cortisol rhythm across the full day
  • Melatonin (overnight)
  • B vitamin status, needed to run hormonal and detox pathways
  • Your body's ability to process and clear hormones, a key factor in estrogen-related symptoms
Keep in mind

Like serum, this is a single-day picture. It shows patterns within that day, not how your hormones move week to week over time.

Option 03
Mira Tracker
Urine wand, ongoing daily or cycle tracking
What you'll see

Both serum and DUTCH give you a picture of a single day. Mira gives you the whole movie. You test daily with a small urine wand and see how your hormones actually move across your full cycle, week by week, month by month.

You can see exactly how your hormones move across each phase of your cycle, when estrogen peaks, whether progesterone rises as it should, and how those patterns shift over months. Especially valuable when cycles become unpredictable or symptoms vary throughout the month.

Why I find this more useful than serum alone

A blood test on day 21 tells you one number. Mira shows you the full arc, the rise, the peak, the drop, and whether it's consistent. That's a completely different level of insight, and it's happening in your real daily life, not in a lab.

Markers tracked daily
  • LH, confirms ovulation timing
  • Estrogen, tracks the full cycle rise and fall
  • Progesterone, confirms whether it's rising after ovulation
  • FSH, available on select cartridges
Best paired with

DUTCH Plus. Mira shows you the pattern across time; DUTCH shows you the quality of what's happening on a given day. Together they give you the most complete hormonal picture.

At a glance: which test does what
Feature Serum DUTCH Plus Mira
Format Blood draw Dried urine + saliva Daily urine wands
Time scope Single moment One full day Ongoing / daily
Hormone metabolism No Yes, full breakdown pathways No
Cortisol rhythm Morning only Full day pattern + CAR No
Cycle tracking One point One point Full cycle trends
Ideal first step Yes, for baseline Yes, for deeper work Yes
Working together: interpretation & protocol

Once you have your results, I translate them into plain language and build a personalized protocol around them. Two ways to work together depending on how much support you want.

$300
Interpretation & Protocol
A detailed video walkthrough of your results, a written protocol with specific next steps, and a 1-hour live session to answer your questions and make sure you leave with clarity.

Prices listed in USD. If you're paying in another currency, we'll sort it out during the discovery call.