Every hormone marker worth testing in the UK for men and women, why GPs only check a fraction of them, and how a comprehensive hormone blood test identifies imbalances driving fatigue, weight gain, mood changes, and low libido.
The most comprehensive hormone blood test available in the UK is TrueVitals' Ultimate panel, which tests 15 hormone markers — testosterone, free androgen index, SHBG, oestradiol, progesterone, LH, FSH, prolactin, cortisol, DHEA-S, Free T3, Free T4, TSH, insulin, and leptin — as part of a 110-biomarker panel with a 60-page personalised report for £349. No other UK provider tests this many hormones in a single blood draw.
Hormones control virtually everything in your body — energy, mood, sleep, weight, libido, muscle mass, menstrual cycle, fertility, stress response, and metabolism. Yet when you ask your GP for a hormone blood test, you typically get one or two markers checked in isolation. A woman complaining of mood swings might get her TSH checked. A man concerned about low energy might get a total testosterone. Both will likely be told they are "normal" even when the full hormonal picture tells a very different story.
The problem with testing hormones in isolation is that they do not work in isolation. Cortisol affects progesterone. SHBG affects how much testosterone is actually available to your tissues. Thyroid hormones affect metabolism which affects sex hormones. Insulin affects SHBG which affects testosterone. You cannot understand a hormonal imbalance by looking at one marker any more than you can understand a football match by watching one player.
Hormones every woman should test:
Oestradiol is the primary oestrogen and fluctuates throughout the menstrual cycle. It drives bone density, skin health, mood regulation, and cardiovascular protection. Low oestradiol causes hot flushes, vaginal dryness, mood changes, and bone loss. High oestradiol relative to progesterone creates oestrogen dominance which drives bloating, breast tenderness, heavy periods, and weight gain in the hips and thighs.
Progesterone is essential for mood stability, sleep quality, and menstrual regularity. It supports GABA receptor activity in the brain, which is why low progesterone causes anxiety, irritability, and insomnia. A GP will almost never test progesterone unless you are trying to conceive. Yet it is one of the most common hormonal imbalances in women of reproductive age, particularly those under chronic stress — because the body prioritises cortisol production over progesterone when resources are scarce.
LH and FSH together reveal where you are in your menstrual cycle, whether you are approaching perimenopause, and whether your pituitary gland is communicating properly with your ovaries. An elevated FSH with irregular periods is often the first biochemical sign of perimenopause, detectable years before periods stop entirely.
Prolactin is a pituitary hormone that should be low in non-pregnant, non-breastfeeding women. Elevated prolactin can cause irregular periods, missed periods, breast discharge, and reduced libido. It can be raised by stress, certain medications, or rarely by a pituitary adenoma.
Hormones every man should test:
Total testosterone alone is almost meaningless without context. A total testosterone of 15 nmol/L might be "normal" by lab range but if your SHBG is 60, very little of that testosterone is actually free and available to your tissues. Free androgen index, calculated from testosterone and SHBG, gives a much more accurate picture of how much testosterone is actually doing its job.
DHEA-S is an adrenal precursor to testosterone. Low DHEA-S in a man with low energy and low testosterone suggests the adrenal glands are depleted, often from chronic stress. This is a fundamentally different problem from primary hypogonadism and requires a different approach.
LH and FSH tell you whether low testosterone is coming from the testes (primary) or from the brain not sending the right signals (secondary). This distinction is clinically important and your GP almost never tests for it unless referring to endocrinology.
Hormones everyone should test:
Cortisol is the primary stress hormone. Chronically elevated cortisol causes fatigue, abdominal weight gain, poor sleep, anxiety, muscle breakdown, and suppressed immune function. It also directly suppresses reproductive hormones — elevated cortisol is one of the most common drivers of low testosterone in men and low progesterone in women. Morning cortisol is not included in standard GP testing.
Thyroid hormones — TSH, Free T4, and Free T3 — control your metabolic rate. Most GPs only test TSH. But Free T3 is the active hormone that actually drives cellular metabolism. Poor T4-to-T3 conversion is common in stressed, under-eating, or chronically inflamed individuals and is completely invisible to a TSH-only test. Thyroid antibodies (TPO and thyroglobulin) should also be checked to rule out autoimmune thyroid disease.
Insulin and leptin are metabolic hormones that affect weight, appetite, and energy. Fasting insulin reveals insulin resistance years before glucose becomes abnormal. Leptin reveals whether appetite regulation is functioning properly. Neither is included in standard GP testing.
Why a comprehensive panel matters for hormones:
Testing testosterone without SHBG is incomplete. Testing oestradiol without progesterone is incomplete. Testing TSH without Free T3 is incomplete. Testing any hormone without cortisol is incomplete. The interconnections between hormones mean that isolated testing almost always misses the root cause.
The TrueVitals Ultimate panel tests every hormone listed above plus 95 additional biomarkers covering every major body system. The 60-page personalised report connects your hormone results to your symptoms, explains the interactions between markers, and provides targeted supplement and lifestyle recommendations. One of our customers had elevated cortisol, low progesterone, and low Free T3 — three findings that together explained her fatigue, mood swings, and headaches. Tested individually by her GP, each might have been dismissed. Tested together, the pattern was unmistakable.
See inside a real TrueVitals report →