Just Guessing? The Case For a Good Blood Test

We See Many, Many Incomplete Blood Tests

A Case Study

A friend had been on Armour Thyroid for many years. She wondered what else she might take to feel better. I said I would need some numbers and that meant a full blood panel. She told me that her MD had recently run a blood test. This case as with most cases I review, the blood test was very minimal so I told her I would need another test. She complained and then procrastinated for several months before finally going to the lab. Once I had her complete profile, I told her that her lab test results were consistent with a pre-diabetic state and a viral infection. She said her last doctor told her that her lymphocyte to neutrophil ratio was probably always that way and not to worry about it. I disagreed. I put her on several anti-viral and immune boosting herbs along with more herbs to help balance her blood sugar. After the first retest, the white cells were looking better but not quite in range. I told her to stay on those a couple more months. Since her blood sugar was looking better, I said it might be time to start lowering her thyroid meds. She took herself off the Armour Thyroid over a few weeks without having any adverse reactions. Her last blood test showed all of lab values within the normal range. She is working a new job that requires 10 hours a day and is doing great.

Incomplete Data Often Leads to Diagnosis Mistakes

The moral of the story is that with a partial blood test, the ability to diagnose decreases dramatically. So where do you start? How do you determine what will be effective and what is just a waste of time and money? Many doctors give their patients a basket full of supplements to take. If you don't have numbers, you are just guessing. By numbers I mean lab testing of blood, urine and/or saliva or all of these depending on what gives us the greatest probability of finding a solution to the person's primary complaint.

Getting A Third-Party Opinion

A lab test is asking a third party with no personal interest in the outcome for an opinion. We then treat what we find and retest. If the treatment was applied properly, we expect to see the numbers improve. As any competent physician will tell you, you must examine, treat and then reexamine. Blood testing has been a medical routine for decades. Lately we have seen an alarming trend. Medical doctors are under pressure to contain costs so instead of running a full panel, most test just a select few markers, mostly to see if they should prescribe Lipitor or Synthroid. This misses some very important clues and makes the testing more dangerous than useful. With a complete blood panel, we get important clues to all basic physiological functions. Treatment can be very specifically targeted and then changed as the body responds. This is in sharp contrast to the shotgun approach of adding several supplements to blindly treat symptom patterns. A specific symptom such as fatigue can be the result of so many factors that picking the right one by guessing is just not practical. If you want some numbers, give us a call. We have deals worked out with many labs to give us the information we will need for $100 to $200 or so. We will talk about urine tests in another article. We can order tests directly in California and Nevada (where I have a license) and can direct you to Direct Labs to order your own. 1-877-465-0844.