After months of irregular periods and other symptoms, Living360’s Evelyn Richards took ownership of her health and underwent private hormone testing.
For as long as I was on the pill, I didn’t have periods, my skin was relatively blemish-free, I was always full of energy and my weight was stable.
Then, after I’d been on the pill for 14 months, everything changed, seemingly out of nowhere.
The symptoms crept up slowly at first — some spotting here or there, dull headaches settling in like unwanted guests and my skin breaking out in ways that reminded me of my teenage years.
But it was the weight gain that really got to me. No matter what I did — how I ate, how much I exercised — those extra pounds refused to budge. I wasn’t just feeling out of sync; I was becoming a stranger to my own body.
At first, I brushed it off as one of those things; maybe I was stressed, maybe I wasn’t sleeping enough. After all, we’ve all been told that stress can mess with your body.
But weeks turned into months, and instead of getting better, things got worse. I started suffering from weekly periods that would last days at a time, with horrendous cramps and mood swings I couldn’t predict. And I was constantly tired — like, deep-in-my-bones tired, the kind of fatigue that sleep doesn’t cure.
It wasn’t until I confided in my GP that I even considered it might be my hormones.
I was sent for blood testing, which unfortunately didn’t yield any helpful results. Some deficiencies here and there, but nothing that explained my symptoms.
I even had an ultrasound scan, which also didn’t answer any of my concerns as I was given the all clear. I was relieved to find there were no growths or signs of PCOS, but I was still left searching.
I did some research and came across FUTURE WOMAN, a private hormone testing service with countless positive reviews from women saying the company helped guide them through the complex world of hormones.
In fact, the website says that ‘92% of women feel better after following their plan for just six weeks’ — something I was desperate for.
Before my screening call with Francesca Lyon, hormone expert and lead nutritionist at FUTURE WOMAN, I felt a mixture of scepticism and hope. We started going through my symptoms one by one, and she asked a range of questions about my lifestyle and general health.
Francesca suggested I use FUTURE WOMAN’s Advanced Hormone Test kit (£399), which includes full hormone mapping. She explained that our hormones are like an intricate system of checks and balances, and when one thing is out of whack, it can throw everything else off.
She told me that blood tests show a snapshot of what’s happening in your body at that time. However, FUTURE WOMAN conducts urine and saliva tests over the course of a day to give a much broader picture of what’s going on with our hormones.
When the test results came back a few weeks later, I was floored.
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Low cortisol doesn’t mean low stress
The culprit behind my symptoms was cortisol.
Cortisol is often called the ‘stress hormone’ because it helps regulate the body’s response to stress, but it does so much more than that. It influences metabolism, immune function and even how we handle inflammation.
Francesca explains: “Remember, stress can be caused by and related to all sorts of things — it can be emotional, physical and spiritual, but also internal or external, such as noise pollution, air pollution, hormone imbalance and viruses.”
If stress is sustained over a period of time, then the communication from the brain to the adrenal glands becomes dysregulated and cortisol production essentially becomes unhealthily low in response.
My cortisol levels had dropped so low that they were no longer doing their job properly, and this was setting off a domino effect in my body.
In fact, Francesca told me that I had one of the lowest cortisol levels she’d ever seen, saying: “I don’t think I’ve seen someone so flatlined”.
I was stunned.
How stress can impact your hormones
My low levels were, in turn, dragging down other vital hormones, including oestrogen.
There’s a complex relationship between oestrogen and cortisol, as one can impact the other.
Oestrogen, as it turns out, isn’t just about reproduction or menstrual cycles (although that’s a big part of it). It’s also responsible for maintaining healthy skin, regulating weight and keeping our moods in check. When my oestrogen dropped, my skin started breaking out, my periods went haywire and my body began storing fat, especially around my midsection.
And it wasn’t just oestrogen — other hormones were suffering as well. Progesterone, another key hormone that helps with the menstrual cycle and mood stability, was also on the decline.
Essentially, my body was running on empty after being on overdrive for too long due to stress, and the result was a cascade of symptoms that I hadn’t known were all connected.
Read more: How to get rid of ‘cortisol face’ — and no, you don’t need to buy fancy supplements
The physical impact of burnout
The relief of finally knowing what was going on with my body was immense. But I also felt a wave of frustration — why had I let it get this far?
The truth is, like so many of us, I’d pushed through burnout. We’re conditioned to normalise stress and exhaustion, to believe that feeling ‘off’ is just part of modern life. Everyone hates Mondays, everyone hates their job, right?
But when I saw the actual data from my hormone test, it was impossible to ignore. My stress had wrecked my body’s internal balance.
And I know what had caused my stress levels to go haywire. My incredibly demanding previous job. Even though I’d left to search for pastures new some seven months ago, the physical damage still lingers and is causing health issues to this day.
Restoring my hormonal balance
Francesca’s approach wasn’t about slapping a plaster on the problem. Instead, she focused on getting to the root cause of the issue and helping me understand how to nurture my body back to balance.
She explained that restoring my cortisol levels and rebalancing my hormones would take time — it wasn’t an overnight fix. But knowing that there was a plan, a way forward, was exactly what I needed.
The first step was to take some specially selected supplements to help replenish my empty fuel tank. I was prescribed stress support tablets (which includes vitamin C, pantothenic acid and zinc among other ingredients) and liver nutrients (which includes milk thistle extract, taurine and betaine anhydrous among others) to help support healthy oestrogen detoxification pathways to reduce general inflammation and oxidative stress.
Read more: The five supplements almost all of us need
Next came diet. For aiding everything from building neurotransmitters for better mood and sleep to improving my digestive health, I was advised to get my daily protein intake to at least 65g.
This sounds like a huge undertaking, especially as a vegetarian, but Francesca sent a helpful list of veggie-friendly foods that are high in protein. For example, eggs, beans, edamame, nuts and fermented tofu.
These days, I add protein powder to my coffee — now limited to one cup per day — eggs to my dinners and snack on a protein bar mid-morning. These small changes add up to a big difference.
I also needed to up my healthy fats, something that’s essential for hormone production, mental wellbeing, skin health and energy regulation.
Avocado, nuts, seeds, extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil are some of the top go-tos for vegetarians.
My zinc intake, which supports everything from ovulation to inflammation, also needed to go up. Fortunately, a lot of the previously mentioned foods (nuts, seeds, etc.) are all high in this.
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The final step was to rethink my exercise regime.
Francesca recommended I stop all intensive cardio for three months. She explained that running — though I find it relaxing — is a stressor, as your body can’t tell the difference between running for safety or for pleasure.
My stress capacity is stretched thin enough, so she recommended that I swap out cardio for strength and resistance training three times a week.
Regular readers will know that I’m a running girly, and so the idea of stopping for that length of time feels daunting — especially when paired with my emotional need to run while my gained weight remains. However, for the sake of my hormones, I’m sure I can commit to weight training instead until the new year.
Long distance walking is still very much recommended, and so I’ll just have to get used to strutting my stuff for 10km, rather than running it.
Lessons I want to share
Looking back, I wish I hadn’t waited so long to seek help. But I’m also incredibly grateful I finally did.
Getting my hormones tested was the wake-up call I didn’t know I needed, and it taught me one crucial thing: we have to listen to our bodies, even when it feels easier to ignore them.
I also learned that stress is more than just a mental burden — it can affect every aspect of our physical health, too. I’m still on this journey, but now, I feel empowered. And that’s something worth celebrating.
Francesca and I plan on retesting my hormones after a few months to see how the changes to my diet and lifestyle have affected my levels, so watch this space.
