A Breakdown of the Top Functional Medicine Lab Tests
When it comes to your health, signs and symptoms can tell you a lot about what is going on. In fact, they are your body's way of letting you know that something is out of balance and you should listen and try to fix it. In the past I would’ve turned to doctor google and spent hours panicking about the fact that I am probably dying and going in circles about what treatment to seek – none of which ever seemed to land me at the true root cause of why I wasn’t feeling well. Luckily, this isn’t the case anymore.
Discovering why you don’t feel well becomes significantly easier when you have some tools and data to work with, such as functional medicine lab testing. For example, how many reasons are there for bloating? ALOT. Could it be food related? Do I have a parasite? Is it stress? Do I have a leaky gut? The list can go on and on.. Instead of spending countless hours and money trying different diets and buying random supplements, it’s much more useful to invest in a test that can actually provide you some answers. Some real data that is specific to you and your body. It takes out all the guesswork, and ultimately saves you more time and money down the road.
Below are 4 of the most incredible functional medicine lab tests that can provide a personalized analysis of why you don’t feel well and make sense of the signs and symptoms you’re experiencing. The labs can be bundled together for a more comprehensive look at your health or bought individually based on preferences, needs or finances.
GI MAP
Most people are walking around today with some type of digestive or gut-based issue. The gut influences just about everything in the body from digestion to sleep to mood, energy, hormones, and metabolism. Hippocrates said it best “all disease begins in the gut”. The GI Map looks specifically at pathogens, bacteria, viruses, yeast/fungus, parasites, H. Pylori, inflammatory gut health markers & estrogen metabolism for a comprehensive overview at what’s happening inside the magical microbiome.
Type of Test: Stool Test, mailed to you & completed at home
hair tissue mineral analysis
The Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis Test helps you discover your important mineral levels as well as heavy metal toxicities. Your minerals levels include your electrolytes which provide you with energy daily, as well as buffer the effects of stress. Think of minerals as the “spark plugs of the body”. Without them, you would not function. Minerals also happen to be the co-factors of all hormone production and affect your digestion, as well as your metabolism & thyroid function. The HTMA also shows you an heavy metals in the body that could be contributing to less than optimal health.
Type of Test: Hair Sample, mailed to you & completed at home
DUTCH TEST
The DUTCH Test is my favorite test for looking at hormone levels & hormone metabolization. It is a dried urine sample that shows levels of estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA & cortisol levels. In addition to the values, it also gives detailed information on how the hormones are metabolizing, which is an essential piece to seeing what the hormones are actually doing. With the DUTCH we can make sense of many hormone-related symptoms & optimize your protocols for hormonal harmony.
Type of Test: Urine Test, mailed to you & completed at home
COMPREHENSIVE BLOOD CHEM ANALYSIS
A comprehensive blood panel read with a functional lens is one of my favorites for looking at the body as a whole. When you get your blood read from a functional view, as opposed to a conventional view, the results are always very telling. That’s because conventional blood ranges are based on the sickest of the population, not on what is healthy or optimal. My clients are always shocked to see what is revealed on their panels after hearing time after time ‘it all looks normal’, yet they don’t feel normal. The blood panel looks at everything from immune & infection markers to liver, cardiovascular & kidneys, electrolytes, hydration & blood sugar, thyroid, metabolism & adrenals, as well as various nutrients/vitamins & gut health/inflammatory markers.
Type of Test: Blood test, completed at any Labcorp location near you
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