FAQS
How it works
FUTURE WOMAN is available to anyone in the UK over the age of 18.
We recommend FUTURE WOMAN for women who are struggling with hormone imbalances like painful or heavy periods, PMS, difficulty conceiving, recurrent miscarriages, conditions like PCOS or endometriosis, perimenopause or menopause and other hormonal symptoms like acne, unexplained weight gain, fatigue and hair loss.
As of now, FUTURE WOMAN is only available to UK customers. We hope to be available internationally soon!
At FUTURE WOMAN, we’re always working towards providing you with a personalised healthplan that is completely tailored to you and your symptoms. We do that by collecting as much information about you and your symptoms as possible, and then testing your hormones at home.
- Step 1 – choose your test: Take our short symptom checker to discover the best test for you based on your symptoms. If you still have questions about which test to choose, there’s an option to book in for a free 15 minute consultation with one of our women’s health experts at the end of the symptom checker. They’ll talk through your symptoms and what you’ve tried so far, to give you the best recommendation for what to do next.
- Step 2 – complete your sample: You’ll receive your test kit in the post 2 business days after you’ve purchased it online. Collect your samples following the instructions provided inside the test kit. It’s important to test your hormones on the right day (see FAQ ‘when is the best day to take the test’). Once you’ve finished your collections, place your samples in the pre-paid returns mailer bag provided and post them through a letterbox on the same day. These will arrive at our partner lab in the US who will analyse your test and send us the raw results.
- Step 3 – wait for the lab analysis: Once they’ve received your samples, our partner lab in the US takes 7-10 business days to analyse your samples for the Classic and Advanced Hormone Tests. For the Advanced+ Hormone Test with Cycle Mapping, analysis can take up to 15 business days.
- Step 4 – complete your onboarding questionnaire: While our partner lab is analysing your results, we’ll ask you to complete a detailed onboarding questionnaire, covering your symptoms, diet, lifestyle and history. This allows us to provide the most accurate interpretation of your results and create the most personalised plan for you.
- Step 5 – receive your personalised report: 7 days after we get your results from the lab, we’ll share your personalised report. Your report will show your test results and also provide you with a personalised plan, which will include supplement, diet and lifestyle changes. You can download a sample report here.
You’ll receive your test kit 2 business days after you’ve purchased the test.
Depending on where you are in your menstrual cycle, you may need to wait a few days or longer for your testing day. See FAQ ‘when is the best day to take the test’.
Once you’ve sent off your sample, you should receive your report in around 4 weeks (that’s 3-4 days for your samples to arrive at our partner lab in the US, 7-10 business days for lab testing and 7 business days for us to prepare your personalised report). If you’ve purchased the Advanced+ with Cycle Mapping your results can take up to 5 weeks, as our partner lab has more samples to analyse.
Every report is different as they’re tailored to your results and your symptoms. But you can download an example report here.
No, it’s not included – your report should include everything you need. However, we know that sometimes it helps to talk to someone. If you have questions about the report or want to learn more about your results, you can purchase a 30 minute add-on consultation here. Many of our clients choose this option.
You can either purchase the add-on consultation at the same time as you purchase your test, or wait until you’ve received your report and purchase it then.
The FUTURE WOMAN box that includes your test kit is slightly bigger than a UK letterbox size.
However, your sample can be returned through a Royal Mail postbox, using the pre-paid mailer bag provided.
We use dried urine testing to get the most accurate assessment of your hormones. By taking 4-5 samples across a 24 hour period, we can take an average reading which smoothes out the peaks and troughs of your natural hormonal fluctuations. You can read more about the accuracy of our testing methodology here.
No! Our tests are completely pain-free. We collect dried urine samples – simply urinate on the strips of paper provided – and saliva samples collected into a tube.
Classic Hormone Test & Advanced Hormone Test: The ideal day for testing is 5-7 days after ovulation. This is so we can capture an accurate reading of progesterone. In a 28 day cycle, this usually means testing on days 19-21. You can read our step-by-step guide to picking the right day for testing here.
Advanced+ Hormone Test with Cycle Mapping: This test includes daily dried urine collection across the full menstrual cycle, starting on Day 7. The test also includes 4-5 saliva collection tubes for collecting saliva across a 24-hour period.
It’s really important to get the right day for testing – we try to provide as much support as possible to help you identify it correctly. However, if you are concerned that you might not have tested on the right day, get in touch with our customer service team as soon as possible at support@future-woman.com or reach out via the chat bot on our website and we’ll guide you about what to do next.
The Classic Hormone test provides a comprehensive understanding of your hormone production, hormone balance and hormone metabolism. The test looks at your reproductive hormones estrogen, progesterone and testosterone and their metabolites.
Included with all our tests is the test kit, free return postage and packaging, your personalised report and exclusive discounts on supplements.
Like the Classic, the Advanced Hormone test looks at your hormone production, hormone balance and hormone metabolism. However, the Advanced Hormone Test also goes a lot further, and includes a comprehensive overview of your adrenal hormones (like cortisol) and other factors that might be contributing to your symptoms like nutrient deficiencies, inflammation and neurotransmitter balance.
Included with all our tests is the test kit, free return postage and packaging, your personalised report and exclusive discounts on supplements.
Our Advanced+ Hormone Test with Cycle Mapping is our most comprehensive test. It offers everything included in the Advanced Hormone Test, with the addition of a full map of your estrogen and progesterone across an entire menstrual cycle.
Cycle mapping allows your practitioner to identify the root cause of cyclical symptoms like migraines, hot flushes or mood changes.
We also typically recommend this test for anyone struggling with fertility or recurrent miscarriage.
Included with all our tests is the test kit, free return postage and packaging, your personalised report and exclusive discounts on supplements.
Your report will be reviewed and prepared by one of our FUTURE WOMAN practitioners.
All of our practitioners are degree-qualified nutritionists and naturopaths, who specialise in women’s hormone health.
AMH stands for Anti-Müllerian hormone and is typically used to measure a woman’s ability to produce eggs. AMH levels naturally decline as we get older. We do not test AMH as we believe this test can often elicit a lot of unnecessary fear. We believe instead of focusing on quantity, that focusing on egg quality is more important.
Can I test if...
You, can still test with any of our hormone tests if you do not currently have a cycle. In this case you can test on any day.
If you’re not cycling due to menopause, see FAQ ‘can I test if I’ve been through menopause’.
If you have had a hysterectomy where the uterus has been removed but the ovaries are still present, then you can test. The key here is finding the right day to test, which is 5-7 days after you ovulate. Cycle tracking and Basal Body Temperature are the best ways to assess this. Try our FREE cycle mapping guide to help you to keep track of your cycle and ovulation.
If you’ve had a total hysterectomy where the ovaries have been removed as well then you can technically test on any day. Your practitioner will be interested in testing your adrenal function, as the adrenal glands take over your hormone production from the ovaries post menopause. This is why we often recommend the Advanced Hormone test as this looks at the adrenal gland functioning as well as nutrient deficiencies, neurotransmitters and inflammation.
If you have had an oophorectomy but you still have a uterus then you can technically test on any day.
It can still be beneficial to test to assess if your hormones are impacting your symptoms and also to understand how your body is using your hormones too. As a full oophorectomy will result in menopause, we recommend testing with the Advanced Hormone Test as this will also evaluate your adrenal gland function. The adrenal glands produce a small amount of your sex hormones when the ovaries no longer do. If you have had an oophorectomy and are on HRT then we recommend testing to ensure your HRT is being metabolised correctly in the body.
Yes you can and in fact we really recommend that you do test if you are on an estrogen receptor modulator medication like tamoxifen. We can assess to make sure it is working but also most importantly to ensure you estrogen is moving through the correct phase 1 pathways and is being detoxified effectively in phase 2 detoxification too.
Yes, you can test if you’ve been through menopause and you can test on any day.
We usually recommend our Advanced Hormone Test for clients post-menopause, as it looks at your adrenal function (which becomes even more important post menopause as our adrenal glands take over hormone production from the ovaries), neurotransmitter balance, inflammation and nutrient deficiencies.
If you’re on HRT, see ‘can I test if I’m on HRT’.
Pregnancy and post partum
We don’t recommend testing if you’re pregnant.
However, we can still support you with a 1-1 consultation, which comes with a 3 month healthplan.
Yes you can test during this time and we recommend testing if you’re experiencing symptoms. We usually recommend waiting until your cycle returns (as high prolactin levels from breastfeeding can lower estrogen and progesterone). However, you can still get lots of valuable information in the Advanced Test apart from estrogen and progesterone.
The Advanced Hormone Test can be very beneficial for understanding how your hormones might be contributing to low mood or depression in the postpartum period. The Advanced test looks at your adrenal gland function and stress hormones which may be contributing to low mood here. If you are no longer breastfeeding, testing your hormones here can be beneficial as low estrogen and progesterone and high testosterone and cortisol can contribute to postpartum depression
Yes, you can test your hormones when breastfeeding, especially if you have symptoms like poor sleep, low mood, headaches or migraines.
If you’re interested specifically in testing your reproductive hormones like estrogen and progesterone, then it might be better to wait until your cycle returns. This is because high prolactin levels lower your estrogen and progesterone levels. But if you have symptoms you can still test to discover what might be contributing.
When breastfeeding you are more likely to benefit from the many other markers included in our Advanced Hormone Test, rather than looking at estrogen and progesterone. Our practitioners will be particularly interested to look at your adrenal function with markers like cortisol (stress can often be an issue postpartum) and also your nutrient and neurotransmitter balance as these could be contributing to symptoms such as low mood.
You can still access FUTURE WOMAN support without testing. Simply purchase a 1-1 consultation with a practitioner which comes with a 3 month, personalised health plan.
It is best to wait for at least 3 cycles to return before testing your hormones postpartum. This will ensure prolactin has lowered and is not interfering with your estrogen and progesterone levels to give us clear results.
Testing and HRT
Yes, we really recommend you test your hormones before starting HRT.
This can help us to assess which hormones you really need. For example, you may only need progesterone in the early phases of perimenopause. And testing can also show us whether we need to work on your estrogen metabolism pathways prior to starting hormone therapy.
Yes, you can and we recommend that you do!
Testing your hormones can help our practitioners assess whether your estrogen therapy is moving through the optimal pathways in the body.
For example, if your estrogen is choosing the 4-OH pathways then this can be more DNA damaging and more carcinogenic so we would want to optimise this pathway with personalised supplement recommendations.
Some types of hormone therapy can be measured better than others; therefore, it is best to get in touch with us to discuss your specific health picture. For example our urine testing works really well to monitor oral progesterone, vaginal estrogen and transdermal estrogen.
Testing and contraception
Unfortunately we can’t offer testing to women using hormonal contraception. That’s because hormonal contraception suppresses some of our natural hormones and therefore you won’t get an accurate result from testing.
You can however purchase a 1-1 consultation with a practitioner which comes with a 3 month, personalised health plan.
Yes, you can.
It is best to wait until your cycle returns and you have tracked it for 1-2 cycles in order to understand the pattern. Try our FREE cycle mapping guide to help you to keep track of your cycle and ovulation.
If your cycle does not return after 3-6 months then book in with one of our practitioners for a 1-1 consultation.
It is best to wait until you have had one normal cycle after taking the emergency contraceptive pill. This ensures more accurate results.
SUPPLEMENTS
In your personalised plan, we provide a link and a discount code to purchase the supplements we recommend. The discount code entitles you to 10% off.
We only recommend high quality, practitioner grade supplements at therapeutic dosages.
You are welcome to purchase supplements elsewhere. However, we have carefully selected the brands of supplements we recommend due to their exceptional quality and therapeutic dosages. We also offer a 10% discount on all of the supplement brands we recommend.
If you do decide to buy your supplements elsewhere, please pay attention to the dosage and the form to make sure it’s the same as we’ve recommended. For example, Magnesium Glycinate is a different form to Magnesium Citrate.
