My Dutch Test Testimonial
The top 3 things I have struggled with since hitting puberty are:
Headaches
Horrible periods: very painful with a heavy flow
Low energy
Despite all of this, I thought I was healthy because I was skinny and I was active in school sports. These symptoms were normal things to me that I just got used to. I would take 2 Tylenol to combat my headaches and during my periods, I would be miserable, sure, but I thought everyone else in my class was miserable too! My cramp pain would be so bad the first few days that I would often throw up and my flow was so heavy that I would go through a super tampon every hour or so. I had no idea that this was a lot worse than most people experienced during their period. I just never talked about it with anyone! I also struggled with homework because I would more often than not fall asleep as soon I started working on something at home. I assumed I was just tired because I was busy: I had two part time jobs when I was 16 and I was involved in a few extra curricular activities. High school was a little rough but I made it through and onto a 4 year college!
After graduating high school though, my symptoms only got worse. I was now getting headaches every single day and so, taking 2 Tylenol every single day for years and years became a normal thing. My period pain was now so extreme for the first two days that I would often call in sick to work and miss classes. They were debilitating. My energy was worse too. I was so tired all of the time. I would often fall asleep during lectures and the minute I got home I would crash. I was still working multiple part time jobs, going to school full time and was involved in extra curricular activities so again, I assumed I was just stretching myself too thin. I got myself into a bad cycle of unhealthy behavior. I would over sleep because I was so tired; I could barely get out of bed in the morning. Then, since I was usually rushing out the door, I would eat nothing, or eat something convenient and unhealthy. I was often behind on school work because I was crashing so often so I had to pull a lot of all nighters the night before my assignments were due to catch up! I was also paying my way through college and worked myself to the bone, working 15 hours a day sometimes when I didn’t have class. I kept myself going with Red Bull and fast food and crashed whenever I could. That’s when the weight gain really started. I gained 40 lbs during the first few years after high school and I’ve struggled ever since to shed it. I was miserable. I felt like I was always running on empty and I didn’t know how to fix it.
On top of all of that, I was emotional. I felt like I was constantly crying or anxious, my mood was all over the place, I almost always had a headache and I had low libido. Bless my poor husband for sticking with me during those years, I was such a mess! At one point, I saw a doctor and after a 10 minute appointment they wrote me a prescription for birth control pills and anti-anxiety medication and sent me on my way. It turns out I felt even more “off” with those than I did without them. I had no emotion at all and absolutely zero sex drive. My periods were lighter but I found that it didn’t help my pain or my headaches. I also never liked the idea of being dependent on medications, so I went off of them and continued to just survive the best I could for the next 5 years.
It wasn’t until I started working at Lake Pointe Wellness that I finally got some answers! I learned about Functional Medicine and why it’s important to get to the root cause of symptoms if you want to see real changes vs. justing cover them up with medications. After completing the Functional Physical , which included a variety of simple in house urine, saliva and blood tests, they found that my adrenals were completely tapped out and my body was in constant fight or flight mode. They believed that this was due to my lifestyle (stress, unhealthy eating, no exercise) as well as a hormonal imbalance. They ordered the Dutch Plus test with Cortisol Awakening Response by Precision Analytical to get more answers. Instead of looking at a broad range blood level numbers, the Dutch Plus test w/CAR measures how your body uses your sex & stress hormones.
I was directed to complete the test on the 19th day of my menstrual cycle. The test included both urine and saliva collections that I completed throughout one full day, from the moment I woke up until bed time. The kit was well organized and the directions were laid out clearly so I found it very easy to complete! The kit came with a prepaid shipping bag that I used to send my samples to the lab once I completed the collections.
It took a few weeks for me to get the results back and WHOA did I learn a lot! There were 14 pages of information about my hormones, pathways and answers to my questions! As suspected, my estrogen levels were crazy high which can cause all of these symptoms, many of which I was experiencing:
Painful periods & heavy bleeding
Headaches
Fatigue
Anxiety, mood swings, irritability and depression
Decreased sex drive
Weight gain (especially in your hips, thighs and midsection - yes, yes and yes for me!)
Bloating
Acne
Endometriosis
Swelling / tender breasts as well as lumps in breasts
Infertility / PCOS
It felt so good to have an answer to WHY I was feeling so crappy all of the time, and actually learning about my own body and it’s needs. I felt more confident going into a plan of healing with the doctors at Lake Pointe because they spent time with me to help me understand my results and what I could naturally do to heal myself versus just blindly accepting a medication (with harmful side effects) because a doctor told me to take it.
Not only was my estrogen high, but you can see that my corstiol levels showed some major spikes and crashes during the day too, completely out of normal range and exactly where I was feeling my best and my worst. It made sense that I would have so much trouble waking up in the morning because my cortisol levels were very low in the morning, then they would spike once I was out the door to start my day and then gradually make it’s way down until I completely crash again right around the time I got home. This further supported the information that we found during my functional physical that showed that my adrenal glands were struggling.
After reviewing the results with the doctors at Lake Pointe, they put me on an all natural protocol to support my adrenals and balance my hormones, which includes a daily shake and various supplements. They also gave me a list of healthy lifestyle changes to implement starting with little very do-able changes and working my way up to an ideal healthy lifestyle. For example, one of the important ones for me to do right away was to, “eat a good healthy breakfast every day”. I know that sounds so simple and obvious but I hadn’t been doing that for so many years that I simply didn’t even think that it made that big of a difference, but it did! I’ve also implemented seed cycling and I’ve started regularly seeing our acupuncturist, Jalashree Pradhan, who is an amazing healer that has helped me on my hormone and adrenal journey even more!
One of the natural supplements in my protocol. I ALWAYS feel better when I take this regularly!
Infographic from Trillium Ayurveda
I’ve been following this protocol now for a year or so and the difference that it’s made in my life is incredible. I have so much more energy and I feel absolutely amazing. I actually have energy to cook good, nutritious meals after work, exercise regularly and have hobbies! I very rarely get headaches anymore, my emotions have normalized drastically and my periods are lighter and shorter with cramps that are actually tolerable! My biggest problem now is consistency. I have to confess that I’m one of those people that stop following my protocol when I start feeling better. That’s a mistake that I’m working on! When I’m not consistent all of my symptoms come back after awhile and I have to start all over. I have to remind myself that I spent half of my life out of balance and in pain, and it’s going to take time and continued work on my end to heal. I’m so thankful to everyone at Lake Pointe for helping me on my health journey. I truly feel like I’m on my way to living my best, healthy life and I have them to thank!
If you’re interested in doing the Dutch Plus w/ CAR test you can order it here!
Thanks for listening!
