01 · The rhythm
Your hormones move in a duet
Oestrogen and cortisol rise and fall in conversation across the day. A single blood draw sees one dot on this line — dried urine traces the whole wave.
+ Functional Testing
Dried urine · At-home
The DUTCH-style hormone test, read by a clinician who knows what to do next
If your bloods came back “normal” but you don't feel normal, a single blood draw was never going to catch it. A dried-urine hormone test maps not just how much oestrogen, progesterone, testosterone and cortisol you're making — but how your body is using and clearing them across a full day.
At How It Heals we run this as the EndoMAP profile (NutriPATH's dried-urine panel) — the same DUTCH-style methodology, collected at home, ordered and interpreted for you. No referral needed.
+ What the test sees
A hormone map, not a moment
A blood test catches one hormone at one instant. Dried urine, collected across a full day, shows the rhythm, the balance and the way you actually clear your hormones. Here is what that looks like.
02 · The cortisol curve
Four timed samples, one clear pattern
Cortisol should peak within 30 minutes of waking and taper to a low by night. Mapping all four points is what separates “tired” from “tired but wired.”
03 · The clearance pathways
Three exit routes, and the ratio matters
Oestrogen leaves down three pathways — one protective, two you want to keep in check. How you clear it is as important as how much you make, and standard bloods never look.
Oestradiol (E2) Sample marker
LowOptimalHigh
04 · How it's read
Every marker placed against optimal
Each of the 35+ markers is mapped onto an optimal range — then read by a clinician alongside your symptoms and history. Not a printout. A plan.
+ What it measures
Your whole hormone story, not a single snapshot
A blood test tells you the level at one moment. Dried urine tells you the pattern — production, metabolism and clearance — which is usually where the answer actually lives.
Oestrogen & how you clear it
Not just how much oestrogen you have, but how your body breaks it down and clears it out — which is what decides whether it's working for you or building up as a problem.
Progesterone
Your progesterone-to-oestrogen balance — the see-saw behind PMS, spotting, anxiety and the classic perimenopausal shift.
Testosterone & DHEA
Your “male” hormones and how your body handles them — relevant to PCOS, acne, hair changes and libido.
The full cortisol curve
Your stress hormone across the whole day, not one number. This is what separates “tired” from “tired but wired,” and shows where stress has knocked things off track.
Melatonin & sleep
Your overnight sleep hormone, plus the signs of wear your cells are carrying — sleep, recovery and how depleted you really are.
How you detox hormones
How well your body clears hormones once it's finished with them — the step most “hormone balancing” advice skips entirely.
+ When it's worth running
The pattern this test is built for
You don't need all of these. If a few land, a hormone map usually earns its place.
- PMS, PMDD or mood that tracks your cycle
- Perimenopausal changes — cycle shifts, heat, sleep, mood
- Heavy, painful or irregular periods
- “Tired but wired” — exhausted yet can't switch off
- Anxiety or low mood that flares premenstrually
- Weight settling around the middle despite no change
- Low libido, thinning hair or stubborn skin
- Hormones that feel off while bloods read “normal”
+ How the test works
Collected at home, over a single day
No clinic, no blood draw, no time off work. You collect a few dried-urine samples across one day and post them back.
-
Kit to your door
After your consult we order the panel and a collection kit is posted to you — anywhere in Australia.
-
Collect at home
You saturate a few collection strips at set times across a single day and let them dry. That's it.
-
Post & interpret
Pre-paid return to the lab. Results come back to us, and we read them with you — what they mean and what changes.
Dried urine Sample
At home Collection
~2–3 wks Turnaround
AU-wide telehealth Coverage
+ How we read it
A result you can actually act on
Most people have been handed a hormone printout before and left more confused. That's not testing — that's a PDF.
The value of a dried-urine hormone test isn't the graph. It's someone who can look at your oestrogen clearance sitting alongside your cortisol curve, your symptoms and your history, and tell you which thread to pull first.
At How It Heals every result is read in the context of the whole picture — your bloods, your cycle, how you actually feel — and turned into a specific, staged plan. Not “your oestrogen is high.” Instead: here's why, here's the pathway it's taking, and here's the food, nutrient and lifestyle change we start with, in order.
You leave understanding your own hormones — and knowing the first three things to do about them.
+ Common questions
DUTCH & dried-urine hormone testing, answered
The questions we get asked most, answered straight.
Is EndoMAP the same as a DUTCH test?
Effectively, yes. EndoMAP is the dried-urine hormone panel we run at How It Heals — the same methodology as the DUTCH test, mapping your hormones and their metabolites across a full day. It's NutriPATH's Australian-lab version, which keeps turnaround and cost sensible for local clients. If there's a clinical reason to run the branded DUTCH panel or DUTCH Cycle Mapping instead, we will.
Do I need a doctor's referral?
No. As a clinical nutrition practice we can order the panel for you directly. You don't need a GP referral, and it doesn't attract a Medicare rebate the way some standard bloods do — we'll always be upfront about cost before you commit.
Can I do a DUTCH-style test from anywhere in Australia?
Yes. The kit is posted to you, you collect at home, and you post it back — so it works the same whether you're in Brisbane or regional WA. Consults are by telehealth.
How is this better than the hormone blood test my GP ran?
A blood test measures one hormone level at one moment. Dried urine shows the full picture — how much you make, how you metabolise it, and how you clear it — across a whole day, including the cortisol pattern and oestrogen-detox pathways a standard panel never looks at. It's why hormones can feel off while bloods read normal.
+ Keep reading
From the library
The thinking behind this test, in plain language.
+ A test on its own changes nothing
Testing is step one. Knowing what to do with it is the point.
A hormone map only matters if it changes what happens next. At How It Heals it feeds straight into a personalised plan — food first, then targeted nutrients and lifestyle — reviewed and adjusted as you retest. That's the whole difference between a printout and a path forward.