How Epicentre's Functional Health Report reads female hormones
Your hormones do not have one normal. They have four, because the same number means something different in each stage of your cycle. The functional report knows that, and it changes how your results are read.
In short
- FSH, LH, oestradiol and progesterone each get four optimal ranges, one per cycle stage, not one range for the month.
- Which range applies depends on the day you say you were on. Get that wrong and the verdicts change completely.
- The report reads your hormones as one picture, including the ones that are not cycle-timed, like prolactin and thyroid.
- Where you have tested before, it shows direction, and flags when two draws were at different stages.
- It names the hormone tests your panel did not include.
Four optimal ranges, not one
An ordinary result sheet gives a female hormone one range to be measured against. The functional report gives it four: one for the follicular stage, one for the luteal stage, one for ovulation and one for after menopause. It marks which one applied on the day your blood was taken, and scores you against that one.
Here are four hormones from an anonymised Epicentre report, recorded as a luteal draw.
Above the luteal range.
More than double the top of the luteal range.
Above the luteal range.
Well below the luteal range.
On an ordinary result sheet those would be four separate lines with four separate ranges, and most of them would not have been flagged at all, because the standard ranges are wider. The functional report puts them together and scores every one against the stage it was told about.
Why the day you give decides the verdict
The cycle stage decides which of the four ranges your hormones are judged against, and you are the one who supplies it. Read the same four numbers against the ovulation ranges instead of the luteal ones and every verdict flips. Nothing about the blood changes. Only the stage.
The same 10.1, mid-range.
The same 36.1. This is the mid-cycle surge the ovulation range exists for.
The same 232.63, comfortably inside.
The same 0.53. Progesterone has not risen yet, which is what you expect before ovulation completes.
The cycle stage is something you supply, not something the blood reveals. The report cannot work out where you were in your cycle from the numbers. It scores against the stage on the request form. If that stage is wrong, every cycle hormone on the page is scored against the wrong ruler.
So if your dates are uncertain, or your cycles are irregular enough that you cannot say, tell us that rather than guessing. An honest "not sure" is far more useful than a confident wrong answer, and we can note it on the request.
This is also why which day you come in matters more for hormones than for almost anything else you can test. Day 1 is the first day of proper bleeding, not spotting, and being out by two days is enough to move you between rulers.
Why a hormone panel includes prolactin and thyroid
A hormone panel includes prolactin and TSH because both can disrupt a cycle from outside it, and neither is cycle-timed: both can be drawn on any day, and either one can throw the cycle hormones off on its own. In the same example, prolactin came back at 21.70 ng/mL against an optimal range of 3.00 to 10.00.
That matters because of what it prevents. If prolactin or thyroid is off, the cycle hormones downstream can look abnormal as a consequence rather than as the problem. Reading them as separate lines invites the wrong conclusion. Reading them together is the point of the exercise, and it is what a doctor will do with the report in front of them.
The same logic runs beyond hormones. That example panel also carried vitamin D and B12, and both were flagged more strongly than anything hormonal. Tiredness and low mood send people for hormone panels, and they are also what low vitamin D, low B12 and low iron look like. A report that only read hormones would have found a hormone answer and stopped.
Direction over time, with the stage attached
Where you have tested before, each marker is placed next to its previous value with an arrow. For cycle hormones the report also carries which stage each draw belonged to, which is what makes the comparison honest.
| Biomarker | PreviousJan | CurrentOct | Optimal range by stage | Units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FSH | 4.8 | 10.1 ↑↑ |
Follicular 2.50 to 10.20 Luteal 1.50 to 9.10 Ovulation 3.10 to 17.70 Post-menopausal 23.00 to 116.30 |
mIU/mL |
This is the practical argument for testing at the same point in your cycle each time. Two day-three draws six months apart tell you something. A day-three draw and a day-nineteen draw tell you almost nothing, however different the numbers look.
You can also load older results from other laboratories into the platform and have them read the same way, so a trend does not have to start with your first Epicentre test.
What tests were missing from your panel?
Every score names the tests that would have sharpened it but were not in your panel. For hormones this is unusually useful, because a lot of the picture sits in markers a basic panel does not include.
A thyroid score built on TSH alone will say so, and list what a fuller thyroid picture would need: free T4, free T3, reverse T3 and the antibodies. A score built on one marker and a score built on eight look identical on the page, both a percentage in a coloured bar. The list underneath is the only thing that tells you which one you are looking at.
Zero does not mean healthy. On a hormone-only panel, most body systems score zero, because the report calculates each system from a group of related markers and those markers were not run. Zero means not assessed. On the example panel, thyroid, kidney, liver, adrenal, immune and blood sugar regulation all read zero, not because they were fine but because nothing in the panel spoke to them.
Which panel fills in how much
Every option below returns the ODx functional report at no extra cost, whether you order four tests or forty. What changes is how much of the report has something to say. The report scores a body system only when your panel contains enough markers to judge it, so a narrow panel produces a narrow report.
Start with the question you actually have. The panels get wider as you go down, and so does the price.
You do not have to buy a package. The four hormones this article's example is built on are R221 each as individual tests, so FSH, LH, oestradiol and progesterone together come to R884. You still get the functional report, with all four stage ranges, on exactly those four.
Adding prolactin and testosterone brings you to the Fertility and Cycle Monitoring panel at R1,328, which is the cheapest way to have the cycle hormones read alongside the two that most often disrupt a cycle from outside it.
Tell the team what you want to know and they will price a list for you. A short list read properly is worth more than a long one you were talked into.
Female Hormone Package
R3,011The full female picture: every cycle hormone with all four stage ranges, plus prolactin, thyroid and iron so they can be read in context, and AMH for ovarian reserve.
Want it cheaper? AMH is R1,210 of this price on its own, and it answers a different question: how many eggs you have left, not how your cycle is behaving. If ovarian reserve is not what you came to find out, leave it off and ask for the rest.
Come in: day 2 to 5 of your cycle.
The report can score: your hormones, in full. The rest of the report stays blank, because the panel contains nothing that measures your other body systems.
PCOS Metabolic Panel
R4,890Seventeen markers across androgens, insulin, thyroid, inflammation and nutrients. Wide enough that blood sugar regulation, inflammation and nutrient status calculate rather than reading zero.
Come in: day 2 to 4, fasting, morning 7 to 10am.
The report can score: your hormones, plus blood sugar handling, inflammation and nutrient status.
ODx Max
R5,750Built for the report rather than for one question. Hormones, a fuller thyroid picture, insulin, minerals, cortisol and the metabolic markers, so nearly every body system has enough behind it to be scored.
Come in: fasting, morning appointment.
The report can score: your hormones, plus nearly every body system the report covers.
There is also a Menopause Hormone Panel at R664 and a Comprehensive Menopause Package at R1,411, plus thyroid, anti-ageing and men's panels, all on the hormone testing page. Every individual test and price is on the full test list. Prices are 2026 cash rates including VAT and may change; in-store pricing applies, and the team will confirm any custom total before you pay.
What the report cannot do
It does not diagnose. Its optimal ranges are general reference recommendations rather than guidelines for any specific person, the scores are risk estimates calculated only from the markers that were run, and the whole document is educational rather than clinical.
- A hormone flagged against a stage range is a prompt to look further, not a finding, and as the example above shows, the stage itself has to be right first.
- Functional optimal ranges are less settled than laboratory ranges, and different systems draw them slightly differently.
- Epicentre is a laboratory. We test and we report. We do not diagnose, prescribe or treat, at a branch or over the phone.
What we can do is walk you through it. An ODx Expert Session goes through the report marker by marker and helps you build a practical plan around food, movement, sleep and when to retest. It is free with any Epicentre functional health test of R1,500 or more, and R300 otherwise. Where medical care is needed, the branch team will refer you.
Tell us your dates and we will tell you the day
The report is only as good as the cycle stage it is given. Send your last two period dates on WhatsApp and the team will tell you which day to come in, and price a list to suit your budget. Four hormones or forty, the functional report comes with it. No doctor's referral, no appointment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my hormone result show four different ranges?
Because female hormones move across the cycle, so one range for the whole month would be meaningless. The report gives FSH, LH, oestradiol and progesterone a separate optimal range for the follicular stage, the luteal stage, ovulation and after menopause, and marks which one applied on the day your blood was taken. The same number can be flagged in one stage and be entirely ordinary in another.
What happens if I get my cycle day wrong?
The report scores your hormones against the stage you told it, so the wrong stage produces the wrong verdicts. In the anonymised example on this page, a panel recorded as luteal flagged all four cycle hormones: FSH high, LH high, oestradiol high and progesterone low. Read against the ovulation ranges instead, all four of the same numbers sit inside range. The cycle stage is something you supply, not something the blood reveals.
Why does a hormone panel include prolactin and thyroid?
Because both can disrupt a cycle from outside it, and neither is cycle-timed. Prolactin and TSH can be drawn on any day, and if either is off it can explain a picture that otherwise looks like a sex hormone problem. The functional report reads them alongside the cycle hormones rather than as separate lines, which is the point of reading results as a group.
Can the report compare this test with my last one?
Yes. Where a previous result exists it places the two side by side with an arrow showing direction. For cycle hormones it also matters whether the two draws were at the same stage of the cycle, because a change between different stages is not a change you can read. You can load older results from other laboratories into the platform so a trend does not have to start with your first Epicentre test.
Why are most of the body system scores zero?
Because a hormone-only panel does not give the report enough markers to score them. The systems section calculates a probability of dysfunction from groups of related markers, so where those markers were not run, nothing is calculated and the score shows as zero. It means not assessed rather than healthy. The wider the panel, the more of that section fills in.
Does the ODx report diagnose a hormone problem?
No. The report is educational, its optimal ranges are general reference recommendations rather than guidelines for a specific individual, and the scores are risk estimates calculated only from the markers that were run. Epicentre is a laboratory: we test and we report, and we do not diagnose, prescribe or treat. A hormone result needs a doctor to read it alongside your history, your cycle and an examination.
Do I have to buy the report separately?
No. Any Epicentre blood panel that is not testing for an infection comes back as two documents at no extra cost: the usual results your doctor recognises, and the ODx functional health report. Blood results come back in 2 to 5 working days and the functional report follows in 7 to 10.
What these terms mean
- Follicular stage
- The first half of the menstrual cycle, from the first day of bleeding until ovulation. FSH, LH and oestradiol are usually drawn on day 2 to 5, near the start of it.
- Luteal stage
- The second half of the cycle, from ovulation until the next period starts. Progesterone peaks about seven days into it, which is when it is drawn to confirm ovulation happened.
- Optimal range
- A narrower range than the usual laboratory one, reflecting where a result sits in people who are well. For female cycle hormones the ODx report gives a separate optimal range for each stage of the cycle.
- Functional body system score
- A percentage the ODx report calculates for a body system, estimating the probability that it is not working as it should. It is calculated from a group of related markers, so it only appears when your panel contains enough of them.
- Health concern
- An item on the ODx report's ranked summary page, scored by how much attention it needs relative to everything else in the panel. Each one lists the markers behind it.
- Ovarian reserve
- The number of eggs remaining in the ovaries. AMH estimates it. It predicts response to fertility treatment better than it predicts natural conception, and it is a different question from how your cycle is behaving.
This article is general health information and not medical advice. The example figures are from an anonymised report and are illustrative only. Epicentre is a diagnostic laboratory: we provide testing and reporting, and we do not diagnose, prescribe or treat. Functional optimal ranges are educational reference recommendations, not guidelines for any individual. Please discuss any result that needs attention with a doctor.
