THE PERIOD WHISPERER PODCAST - Perimenopause, Menopause, Cortisol, Weight Loss, Hormone Balancing, Insomnia, Hot Flashes, Night Sweats, Libido, Your Guide To Thriving In MidLife · Bria Gadd - Integrative Nutrition Coach, Hormone Specialist, Personal Trainer, Perimenopause Coach,

Eps 398: Functional vs Conventional Labs: What Each One Reveals with Dr. Kela Smith

·38 min·2 clips

"If you're getting gas lit by your doctor," Dr. Kela Smith says, "you need to dig further."

Bria opens by framing functional labs as a way to listen when symptoms and standard blood work do not line up. Dr. Smith joins to explain what she looks for first. The dried urine hormone test comes up right away. She says it is not only about hormone levels. It also shows how the body is methylating and detoxing. The test adds a 24-hour cortisol pattern, which matters because a blood draw is only a snapshot in time. In perimenopause and menopause, hormones can move too fast for that snapshot to catch the full story. The conversation then shifts to gut testing. Dr. Smith says she uses gut work alongside hormone work. She prefers a full microbiome analysis over a narrow conventional disease screen. The difference is between checking for illness and checking how the gut is functioning. They talk through leaky gut as stretched tight junctions that let food and other material into the bloodstream and drive inflammation. The microbiome lens also looks for opportunistic bacteria and parasites. It can show how short-chain fatty acids are being made. It can also surface how vitamins are being synthesized. Bria asks whether these tests matter only for women with symptoms or fertility goals. Dr. Smith says she likes to use them across all kinds of cases. The episode lands on a simple point: if you can afford both, the hormone test and the microbiome analysis work best together.

As heard by us

A practical case for looking deeper when a normal blood draw still does not match how you feel.

The episode argues for looking beyond a normal blood draw when symptoms still do not add up. Dr. Kayla Smith points to the dried urine hormone test, or Dutch test, as a way to look at hormone handling, methylation, detoxing, stress patterns, and a 24-hour cortisol pattern.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

When normal labs still leave you feeling off, this one zooms in.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from THE PERIOD WHISPERER PODCAST - Perimenopause, Menopause, Cortisol, Weight Loss, Hormone Balancing, Insomnia, Hot Flashes, Night Sweats, Libido, Your Guide To Thriving In MidLife