Hormone health nutritionist · Online across the UK
Hormonal Imbalances
PMS, perimenopause, poor sleep or afternoon energy crash? Explore the root causes with an experienced, UK-registered nutritional therapist and get a functional medicine plan built around you.
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Which hormone symptoms can we help with?
Choose what you're experiencing to see what may be behind it and how we can help.
Acne, hair loss or unwanted hair
Breakouts along the jaw and chin, thinning hair on your head, or new hair on your face or body, often alongside irregular periods.
Often linked to
Your options
A consultation looks at your skin and hair alongside your cycle, blood sugar, stress and any test results, to understand what may be driving them and tailor your therapy. Where hormones look involved, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on. Our skin conditions page covers hormonal acne in more depth.
Periods that are irregular or have stopped, or new hair growth on your face or body: see your GP as well.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Afternoon energy crash
Fine in the morning, then a slump mid-afternoon that coffee or something sweet only half fixes, and a second wind late at night.
Often linked to
Your options
A consultation looks at your energy through the day alongside your meals, sleep, stress and any test results, to understand what may be behind the crash and tailor your therapy. Where your cortisol rhythm looks involved, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on.
If you have not had routine blood tests with your GP, ask for them: they rule out common medical causes such as anaemia and thyroid problems.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Anxiety & low mood
Feeling on edge, flat or tearful more than usual, sometimes following your cycle, a stressful stretch or a run of poor sleep.
Often linked to
Your options
A consultation looks at when your mood dips, your cycle or stage of life, sleep, stress and any test results, to understand what may be contributing and tailor your therapy. It works alongside any support from your GP or a therapist, never instead of it. Where hormones look involved, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on.
If you are struggling with your mood or having thoughts of harming yourself, speak to your GP or call NHS 111. If you feel you might act on them, call 999.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Hot flushes & night sweats
Sudden waves of heat through your chest, neck and face, and nights spent throwing the covers off, often from your forties.
Often linked to
Your options
A consultation looks at your flushes alongside your cycle, sleep, stress, diet and any test results, to understand what may be making them worse and tailor your therapy. It works alongside HRT or anything your GP has prescribed. Where hormones look involved, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on.
Night sweats with a fever, or weight loss you cannot explain: see your GP.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Low libido
Less interest in sex than is normal for you, often with tiredness, stress or a change in your cycle, in women and men alike.
Often linked to
Your options
A consultation looks at your energy, stress, sleep, cycle or stage of life and any test results, to understand what may be behind it and tailor your therapy. Where hormones look involved, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on.
Erection problems can be an early sign of a heart or circulation problem: see your GP.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Low testosterone
Tired, flat and less driven, losing muscle while gaining fat around the middle, with a lower libido. Most often talked about in men from their forties.
Your options
A consultation looks at your energy, sleep, stress, weight, diet and any test results, to understand what may be behind it and tailor your therapy. It works alongside anything your GP has checked or prescribed. Where hormones look involved, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on. Our fertility page covers testosterone and sperm health for men trying to conceive.
A low testosterone level needs confirming by your GP with a blood test, usually taken in the morning.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Perimenopause
Periods that change, sleep that breaks, flushes, brain fog and mood swings, often starting in your forties and lasting several years before periods stop.
Often linked to
Your options
A consultation looks at your symptoms, cycle, sleep, stress, diet and any test results, to understand where you are in the transition and tailor your therapy. It works alongside HRT or anything your GP or menopause specialist has prescribed. Where hormones look involved, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on.
Bleeding after the menopause, between periods or after sex: see your GP first.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
PMS & heavy or irregular periods
Mood swings, bloating, tender breasts or headaches in the days before your period, or periods that are heavy, painful or hard to predict.
Your options
A consultation looks at your cycle alongside your diet, digestion, stress, sleep and any test results, to understand what may be driving the pattern and tailor your therapy. Where hormones look involved, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on.
Periods so heavy that you flood, pass large clots or feel faint or breathless: see your GP.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Stress & burnout
Tired but wired: running on adrenaline and cortisol all day, unable to switch off at night, and a hard stretch that should have ended months ago.
Often linked to
Your options
A consultation looks at your stress, sleep, energy, diet and any test results, to understand how your body is coping and tailor your therapy. Where your cortisol rhythm looks involved, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on.
Keep taking anything your GP has prescribed while the cause is looked into.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Waking at 3am
Falling asleep, then waking in the small hours with a racing mind and lying awake until just before the alarm.
Often linked to
Your options
A consultation looks at your sleep alongside your evenings, meals, stress and any test results, to understand what may be waking you and tailor your therapy. Where your cortisol rhythm looks involved, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on.
Loud snoring, or stopping breathing or gasping in your sleep: see your GP.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Weight gain around the middle
Weight that settles around your waist, sometimes called ‘cortisol belly’, though you have not changed how you eat, often with cravings, energy dips or a stressful stretch.
Often linked to
Your options
A consultation looks at your meals, blood sugar, stress, sleep and stage of life, with any test results, to understand what may be driving it and tailor your therapy. Where hormones look involved, testing may be recommended either as a first step, or later on.
Very thirsty, passing urine often or losing weight without trying: ask your GP to check your blood sugar.
Consultation
Comprehensive Consultation£180Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
What is usually behind a hormonal imbalance?
Hormones rarely go out of balance on their own. Functional medicine looks at how your body makes, uses and clears them: stress, sleep, blood sugar and the gut all shape that, which is why the same symptom can have different drivers in different people. A hormone nutritionist helps identify yours and shapes a plan personalised to your needs.
Stress, sleep and cortisol
The thread running through many of the hormone symptoms we see, and often where we start.Cortisol, the main stress hormone, follows a daily rhythm: high when you wake, low at night. Long-term stress and poor sleep can flatten or upend that rhythm, and because the stress system and the sex hormones are closely linked, the rest of the system often feels it.Read more
Sound familiar?
- Tired but wired, and unable to switch off at night
- Waking at 3am with a racing mind
- An energy crash every afternoon
What can lead to it
- Long-term work or life stress
- Short or broken sleep
- Skipped meals and a lot of caffeine
- Illness or a difficult life event
Our approach
We look at how your stress, sleep, meals and daily routine fit together, and build a plan that steadies your rhythm with changes you can realistically keep, adjusting it at each follow-up. Our immune system support page covers how stress and hormones affect autoimmune conditions.
How we investigate
Often clear from your history, so a consultation is a good place to start. Where testing helps, the DUTCH Plus maps your cortisol at five points through the day, including the rise after waking.
Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Sex hormone balance
Oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone, and how they shift through the month and through life.Oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone work as a set. When one runs high or low against the others, it can show in your cycle, mood, skin, hair and libido.Read more
Sound familiar?
- PMS, or periods that are heavy or irregular
- Breakouts along the jaw and chin, or unwanted hair
- Low libido
What can lead to it
- Stress and poor sleep
- Blood sugar swings
- Coming off the pill
- How well your body clears used hormones
Our approach
We look at how your cycle, stress, blood sugar and gut fit together, and shape a nutrition and lifestyle plan to support a steadier balance. Our fertility page covers hormone balance when you are trying to conceive.
How we investigate
Hormone patterns often show clearly in your history and your cycle, so a consultation is a good place to start. Where testing helps, the DUTCH Plus measures your sex hormones and the metabolites that show how your body processes and clears them.
Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Perimenopause
The years of change before periods stop, when oestrogen and progesterone rise and fall unevenly.Perimenopause usually begins in your forties and can last several years. Hormones do not fall smoothly; they swing, which is why symptoms come and go and change from month to month.Read more
Sound familiar?
- Periods that change in length or flow
- Hot flushes, night sweats or broken sleep
- Brain fog, low mood or anxiety that is new to you
What can lead to it
- A natural stage of life, which starts earlier for some women
- Stress and poor sleep, which can make symptoms harder to live with
- Blood sugar swings, which add to energy dips and cravings
Our approach
We build a nutrition and lifestyle plan around your symptoms and stage of life, working alongside HRT or anything your GP or menopause specialist prescribes, and adjust it as things change.
How we investigate
Perimenopause is usually recognised from your age and symptoms, so a consultation is the best place to start. Where testing helps, the DUTCH Plus maps oestrogen, progesterone and cortisol together.
Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
Blood sugar swings
Highs and lows through the day that feed cravings, energy crashes and weight around the middle.When blood sugar rises and falls sharply, the body leans on stress hormones to steady it, and insulin, the hormone that moves sugar into your cells, has to work harder. Over time that can affect energy, weight and the balance of other hormones.Read more
Sound familiar?
- Craving something sweet mid-afternoon
- Feeling shaky or irritable when a meal is late
- Weight that settles around your middle
What can lead to it
- Meals built on refined carbohydrates
- Skipping breakfast or long gaps between meals
- Stress and short sleep
Our approach
We look at what, when and how you eat alongside your stress and sleep, and shape a way of eating that keeps your energy steadier through the day.
How we investigate
Usually best started in a consultation, as the pattern shows in your meals and symptoms. Your GP can check your blood sugar with a routine blood test. Our metabolic issues page covers blood sugar, insulin resistance and energy in more depth.
Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
An imbalanced gut
The gut helps clear used hormones, so an unsettled gut can keep them in circulation.Once oestrogen has done its job, the liver packages it up and sends it out through the gut. Some gut bacteria can unpack it again, so it is reabsorbed rather than cleared. That is one way an imbalanced gut can add to oestrogen-related symptoms.Read more
Sound familiar?
- Bloating, constipation or irregular bowels alongside hormone symptoms
- PMS or heavy periods
- Symptoms that worsened after antibiotics or a gut upset
What can lead to it
- Constipation
- An imbalance in the gut bacteria
- A diet low in fibre
- Alcohol
Our approach
We support regular digestion and a healthier gut alongside the rest of your hormone plan, so your body can clear what it no longer needs.
How we investigate
The GI-MAP + Zonulin maps your gut microbiome and includes beta-glucuronidase, the gut enzyme involved in recycling oestrogen. Our gut health page covers the gut in more depth.
Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
How your body clears hormones
Used hormones are broken down in the liver and leave through the gut, and when that slows they can build up.Once a hormone such as oestrogen has done its job, the liver changes it into forms the body can carry out, mostly through the gut. That work relies on nutrients from your diet, and alcohol adds to it, so an overloaded or under-supported liver can leave more oestrogen in circulation.Read more
Sound familiar?
- Heavy periods, sore breasts or PMS that is getting worse
- Feeling the effects of alcohol more than you used to
- Constipation alongside hormone symptoms
What can lead to it
- Alcohol, which adds to the work the liver has to do
- A diet low in protein, B vitamins or vegetables such as broccoli and cabbage
- Constipation, which slows the last step out of the body
Our approach
We look at the nutrients and habits your liver relies on, and at regular digestion, and build a nutrition and lifestyle plan that helps your body clear what it no longer needs.
How we investigate
Where testing helps, the DUTCH Plus measures the breakdown products of oestrogen, which show the routes your body uses to clear it. How the gut finishes the job is covered in the card on an imbalanced gut.
Want to discuss your symptoms or test options? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call
What is it like to work with a nutritional therapist?
You’ll work with one practitioner, one to one and online, from start to finish. Carmen Martinez-Vidal is a UK-registered nutritional therapist with over 15 years in functional medicine. She looks at your hormones alongside your stress, sleep, blood sugar and gut to work out what’s driving your symptoms, advises on and interprets any testing, and designs a personalised protocol to address the root causes, refining it with you at each step.
Should I see a hormone nutritionist or take a test first?
There's no one-size-fits-all approach to hormones. We shape your therapy around your symptoms, history and goals, whether you begin with a consultation or a test.
One-to-one consultation
Start here if you’ve already tried other routes or want a comprehensive review of your health. Carmen assesses your history, diet, lifestyle and symptoms in depth to identify possible underlying causes, design a targeted action plan and recommend whether testing is worthwhile.
60-minute Comprehensive Consultation · £180
At-home hormone testing
Start here if you’d like answers from a test first. We can help you choose if you’re not sure which test is right for you. Your results are then professionally interpreted and explained in a Lab Findings Review (£99) with Carmen, or applied to a personalised plan in a full Comprehensive Consultation (£180).
DUTCH Plus hormone test £365
See the testsNot sure where to begin?
Talk it through with Carmen on a free 15-minute video call to understand your best first step.
Which hormone tests can I take at home?
Hormones change from hour to hour and week to week, so how you feel only tells part of the story. A test shows how yours are really behaving, giving a clear picture to work from. Explore the test below to see what it can show you.
DUTCH Plus Complete Test + Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR)
See how your sex hormones and cortisol rise and fall across one ordinary day, from the moment you wake.
- At-home urine and saliva
- Results in 15 to 20 working days
- Free UK delivery
Explore more hormone-related tests
All at-home tests →Not sure which test is right for you? Book a free Discovery Call
What do our clients say?
Common questions about hormonal imbalances
How do I know if I have a hormonal imbalance?
There is no single sign. The patterns people most often bring to us are irregular, heavy or painful periods, PMS, hot flushes and night sweats, low libido, tiredness, poor sleep, low mood, acne or hair changes, and weight that settles around the middle, in men as well as women. Many of these have other causes, so they are a reason to look further, not a diagnosis. Your GP can run blood tests, such as thyroid function, and the DUTCH Plus shows how your sex hormones and cortisol behave across a day.
What is the functional medicine approach to hormonal imbalances?
Functional medicine looks at the whole journey a hormone takes: how your body makes it, how your cells respond to it, and how it is broken down and cleared through the liver and gut. Stress, sleep, blood sugar and gut health all affect that journey, so we look at them alongside your symptoms and history, and suggest testing such as the DUTCH Plus where it would change the plan. Then we build a plan for diet, lifestyle and any targeted supplements, alongside any care from your GP.
Can a nutritionist help with hormone imbalance?
Yes, alongside your GP rather than instead of them. A registered nutritional therapist does not diagnose or treat medical conditions. What we do is look for what may be driving your symptoms, most often stress and sleep, blood sugar, the gut and your stage of life, and build a nutrition and lifestyle plan around what your history and any testing show.
What does a DUTCH test tell you?
The DUTCH Plus maps your sex hormones (oestrogens, progesterone and testosterone), your cortisol through the day and the metabolites that show how your body makes, uses and clears them, from dried urine collected over one day. Five saliva samples add the Cortisol Awakening Response, the rise in cortisol after you wake. A blood test shows a single moment; the DUTCH shows the pattern across a day.
What are the signs of high cortisol?
People often describe feeling tired but wired, waking in the early hours, an energy crash in the afternoon, cravings, and weight settling around the middle, sometimes called ‘cortisol belly’. Long-term stress can also leave cortisol low or flat rather than high, which tends to feel like exhaustion. These signs overlap with other conditions, so they are a reason to look further, not a diagnosis. Rapid weight gain with a rounder face, easy bruising or purple stretch marks needs your GP first.
How can I lower my cortisol?
Start by finding out what your cortisol is actually doing: long-term stress can leave it high, low or flat, and each needs a different approach. The DUTCH Plus measures your cortisol at five points through one day, at home, for £365. What helps most often sits in daily life: regular sleep and wake times, meals that keep your blood sugar steady, daylight in the morning, less caffeine later in the day, and ways of winding down that suit you. Rapid weight gain with a rounder face, easy bruising or purple stretch marks needs your GP first.
How much does the DUTCH test cost in the UK?
At Nutrition Diets Clinic the DUTCH Plus Complete Test + Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR) is £365, with free UK delivery and a prepaid return. Results take 15 to 20 working days. Having the results explained is a separate, optional consultation.
Does the NHS recognise functional medicine?
Functional medicine is a private service rather than part of NHS care, so it works alongside your GP, not instead of them. When you choose a private practitioner, the NHS advises checking they are registered with an organisation accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). Carmen is registered with the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC), whose register the PSA accredits. We will always ask you to see your GP about symptoms that need medical assessment.
Can diet help with perimenopause symptoms?
It can help many people feel better: steadier blood sugar, better sleep and less stress often ease the load of flushes, energy dips and low mood. It works alongside HRT or anything your GP or menopause specialist prescribes, not instead of it, and we are happy to work around your treatment.
Do you test thyroid hormones?
We do not offer a thyroid test. If you have symptoms such as tiredness, feeling cold, weight changes or dry skin and hair, ask your GP for thyroid blood tests first. We can support you with nutrition and lifestyle alongside whatever your GP finds.
Do you help men with low testosterone?
Yes. Men see us for low energy, poor sleep, stress, low libido and weight around the middle, and the DUTCH Plus collection instructions cover men as well as women. A low testosterone level needs confirming by your GP with a blood test, usually taken in the morning.
Is everything done online?
Yes. The Discovery Call and every consultation are by video, so you can work with an online hormone nutritionist from anywhere in the UK, and the test is a home collection kit.
When should I see my GP first?
If you have bleeding after the menopause, between periods or after sex, periods so heavy you feel faint or breathless, or periods that have stopped when you are not pregnant, see your GP first. If you are struggling with your mood or having thoughts of harming yourself, speak to your GP or call NHS 111, or 999 if you feel you might act on them. These need medical assessment, and we will always ask you to have it.
Still have questions? Ask Carmen on a free 15-minute video call.
Book a free Discovery Call
