DUTCH Test in Mason, OH Hormones move. Your testing should too.
One estrogen level at one moment is like checking a fuel gauge once and deciding the engine runs fine. The DUTCH panel maps your full daily curve, plus the metabolites: the leftover pieces that show where each hormone went.
You went to your doctor. They pulled an estrogen level, maybe a progesterone, maybe a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone, the standard thyroid screen). Everything came back inside the lab range. You were told your hormones look normal. And you still feel like something is off: your cycle is unpredictable, your mood tanks the week before your period, you're not sleeping the way you used to, and the weight is moving in the wrong direction no matter what you try.
That isn't in your head. The standard hormone workup pulls a snapshot, and hormones don't live in snapshots. They live in patterns, cycles, and conversion pathways: the routes your body uses to turn one hormone into another and clear it out. The DUTCH panel is built to capture all three.
At The Wellness Way - Mason, Dr. Ryan DeNome, Doctor of Chiropractic, orders and interprets the DUTCH panel as part of our functional health approach. We pair the lab results with chiropractic care, where adjustments may support the nervous system that helps regulate hormonal signaling. All of it runs alongside your primary care provider, never in place of them.
What the DUTCH Test Actually Measures
DUTCH stands for Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones. It uses four dried urine samples collected over 24 hours: first morning, mid-morning, late afternoon, and bedtime. From those four samples the lab measures roughly 35 hormone markers and metabolites. Metabolites are the leftover pieces your body makes as it breaks a hormone down, and they help show where each hormone went after it was made.
The DUTCH Complete panel includes:
- Sex hormones: estrogen in its three forms (estrone, estradiol, estriol), progesterone and its metabolites, testosterone, and DHEA, a building-block hormone made by your adrenal glands, the small stress glands that sit on top of your kidneys. Plus the androgen (male-pattern hormone) metabolites that show how your body is converting between them.
- Estrogen metabolism pathways: the 2-OH, 4-OH, and 16-OH pathways, three different routes your body can use to break estrogen down. Which route your body favors is associated with different symptom and risk patterns. This is the piece a blood draw cannot show.
- Cortisol curve: cortisol is your primary stress hormone, and the panel maps it at four points across the day. A curve that runs flat all day can look normal at any single timepoint and very different once you see the whole line.
- Cortisol metabolites: total cortisol production versus free cortisol, the portion that is circulating and active right now. Two patients with the same free cortisol can have very different total production.
- Melatonin: overnight output of the hormone that signals your body it's time to sleep, relevant to both sleep quality and immune function.
- Organic acid markers: byproducts your cells leave behind, including breakdown products of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin (your brain's signaling chemicals), B-vitamin status, and markers of oxidative stress, the everyday wear and tear on your cells. They add context the hormone numbers alone can't give you.
Why a Snapshot Isn't Enough
Hormones don't sit still. Estrogen rises and falls across the cycle. Cortisol follows a daily curve that's supposed to peak in the morning and taper by bedtime. A single blood draw at 8 a.m. on day 3 of your cycle gives you one data point on one day at one moment. It tells you very little about how the system is moving.
Much of the hormone story is in the conversion. Estrogen production is adequate for most women. What varies is how the body breaks it down. The 2-OH route is generally considered the gentlest. The 4-OH route, when dominant, is associated with less favorable patterns. The 16-OH route sits in the middle. None of that shows up on a serum (blood) estrogen test, no matter how thorough the rest of the bloodwork looks.
The body never does anything without a reason. The DUTCH panel helps us look for yours.
Patterns We Look For
The labs tell a story. Some of the patterns we see most often when patients in Mason, West Chester, Loveland, and Cincinnati run the DUTCH:
- Low progesterone with adequate estrogen. The pattern that often sits behind PMS that takes over the second half of the cycle and anxiety that tracks the luteal phase, the stretch between ovulation and your period.
- 4-OH dominant estrogen metabolism. The breakdown route associated with less favorable risk patterns, and one that may respond to targeted nutrition and gut support.
- Flat cortisol curve. What most people call "adrenal fatigue." Cortisol that should peak in the morning is barely registering, and the patient wakes up exhausted no matter how long they slept.
- Reversed cortisol curve (wired at night, flat in the morning). A sleep disruption pattern, often paired with chronic stress or shift work.
- Elevated androgen metabolites. The pattern often seen with adult acne, irregular cycles, and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
- Low DHEA with elevated cortisol. The body is burning through its building blocks faster than it's making new ones. Common in long-duration stress or undereating with overtraining.
How the Test Process Works
- Discovery consultation. We sit down, you tell us the story. If DUTCH is the right panel, we walk you through what it shows and confirm pricing before ordering anything.
- Test kit ships to your home. The collection happens at your house, not at our office. Four samples on filter paper over 24 hours: first morning, mid-morning, late afternoon, bedtime.
- Mail samples back to the lab. Prepaid envelope, no extra cost. Results take 2-3 weeks.
- Results review visit. We sit with the actual report and walk through what each section means in plain language. You leave with a care plan built around what the lab is showing, not a generic template.
- Retest at the right interval. Usually 3-6 months after the first round of care, to see whether the pattern is moving in the right direction.
When to Run DUTCH vs. When to Wait
We don't recommend DUTCH for everyone. Functional testing is most useful when there's a specific question to answer. Some examples of when DUTCH makes sense:
- You've had standard hormone labs run and they came back "normal" while you don't feel normal.
- PMS, perimenopause, or postpartum symptoms that aren't fitting a clean pattern.
- You're considering hormone replacement therapy or coming off hormonal birth control and want a baseline.
- Stress-related symptoms (sleep, energy, weight) that haven't responded to lifestyle changes.
- Adult acne, irregular cycles, or a PCOS workup.
- Low libido or testosterone-related symptoms in men.
When we don't recommend it:
- You haven't run a basic complete blood count, comprehensive metabolic panel, or thyroid panel yet. Those go first.
- You're acutely ill or just finishing a course of medication that would skew results.
- Pregnancy. DUTCH isn't useful during pregnancy itself. Postpartum once cycles return is fine.
DUTCH Test Pricing in Mason, OH
We're a cash-pay practice. Approximate retail pricing for the DUTCH Complete panel is around $400, with exact pricing confirmed at booking. Some patients also need a basic foundational panel run alongside (the TWW Basic Panel), in which case total first-day lab spend can land between $500 and $700.
We accept HSA and FSA cards. Most functional lab panels including DUTCH are not billable to commercial insurance the way a standard sick visit is, but the trade-off is transparent pricing, a real conversation, and a panel matched to the question you're actually asking. Full pricing here.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the DUTCH test?
DUTCH stands for Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones. It's a hormone panel that uses four dried urine samples collected over a 24-hour window. The samples capture sex hormones, adrenal (stress gland) hormones, and the metabolites: the leftover pieces your body makes as it breaks hormones down, which help show how your body is using and clearing them. That's the piece most other tests don't measure. Made by Precision Analytical, used by functional health practitioners nationally.
How is the DUTCH test different from a blood or saliva hormone test?
A blood draw shows you a single timepoint, usually fasted in the morning. A saliva test gives you a slightly broader window for cortisol. The DUTCH panel maps the full daily curve and shows the metabolites, which is the key part. How much estrogen you make often matters less than how your body breaks it down. Two patients with identical estrogen production can have very different symptom and risk patterns depending on which breakdown pathway is dominant, and DUTCH is the panel that shows you that pathway.
Who is the DUTCH test for?
Most often: women in their 30s through menopause who feel like something is off and the standard hormone panel from their PCP came back "normal." Common reasons to run it include unpredictable cycles, PMS that has taken over the second half of the month, perimenopause symptoms showing up earlier than expected, anxiety or mood patterns that track with cycle phase, low libido, weight gain that won't move, and trouble sleeping. We also run it for men with low testosterone symptoms or the stress-hormone pattern often described as "adrenal fatigue."
What does the DUTCH test cost in Mason, OH?
Retail pricing for the standard DUTCH Complete panel is around $400. We confirm exact pricing before ordering. We're a cash-pay practice. DUTCH and most functional panels are not billable to commercial insurance the same way a standard blood draw is, but HSA and FSA cards are accepted.
How do you actually take the DUTCH test?
You collect four dried urine samples on filter paper over the course of 24 hours: first morning, mid-morning, late afternoon, and bedtime. The samples dry on the paper, you mail them back to the lab in a prepaid envelope, and results come back in about 2-3 weeks. You don't have to come into the office to collect. The test ships to your home.
When in my cycle should I take the DUTCH test?
For women who are still cycling: days 19-22 of a 28-day cycle (the luteal phase, the stretch between ovulation and your period). For irregular cycles or PCOS: we time it based on what we're looking for. For women in menopause, on hormonal birth control, or on hormone replacement therapy: timing is more flexible. We'll walk you through the specific window when we order the panel.
Will the DUTCH test results give me a diagnosis?
Functional lab panels show patterns, not diagnoses. We use the DUTCH results to identify where your body's hormone story is loaded: production, conversion, detox, or rhythm. From there, we build a care plan around the pattern. If something on the panel suggests a need for medical evaluation outside our scope, we'll refer you to the appropriate provider.
Can I run the DUTCH test if I'm on hormonal birth control or HRT?
Yes, though the interpretation changes. We can read the panel knowing what you're on, and there are specific things the DUTCH catches that other tests miss, for example the metabolites you produce from synthetic hormones versus your body's own. If you're considering coming off birth control or transitioning hormone therapy, DUTCH is one of the more useful baseline panels.
Final Thoughts
You don't have to keep guessing, and you don't have to choose between trusting your symptoms and trusting your lab report. A panel that maps the whole story can help both of them make sense.
Test, don't guess.
Ready to See the Full Picture?
Book an appointment and we'll talk through whether DUTCH is the right panel for what you're dealing with, confirm pricing up front, and ship the kit to your house if it's a fit.