Reviewing Blood Work with a Functional Medicine Lens

When I work with clients, I typically recommend that they get some functional lab testing done; I always recommend HTMA testing and sometimes DUTCH testing. I feel that these tests give us the necessary data to make a truly customized plan for them to reach their goal of being hormonally balanced.

But, what I’ve heard from several members of my community is that the cost of functional lab testing prevents them from working with me inside my program.

I’ve also heard a strong desire to be able to utilize insurance to cover part of the costs.

This is where the use of blood labs can be so beneficial. A client is able to take a list of blood work I provide them, to their provider of choice and request the labs be ordered. In this scenario their insurance is billed for the blood work (coverage is unique to each health plan) and clients pay the remainder of what is not covered by insurance, their deductible, or their co-pay (whatever is specific to their health plan).

After the results of the blood work come back, they are able to submit the lab work to me where I can compare the results to optimal ranges and then give them a report of the results and what their lab work is indicating as well as how to move forward with diet & lifestyle changes.

Optimal ranges are evidenced-based ranges associated with the lowest risk of disease and mortality. The normal ranges that conventional providers compare your results to are sometimes created using a population of people that are unhealthy, leading to ranges that do not reflect optimal health.

With this in-depth review of blood work results, I’m looking for things like optimal thyroid function, blood sugar control, insulin resistance, cortisol imbalance, adrenal hyperactivity, certain vitamin deficiencies, inflammation, decreased protein intake or absorption, liver stress, heavy metal stress, indications of autoimmune disease, gut infections, or chronic infections, and of course imbalances within the sex hormones.

If you’d like access to my list of recommended labs & potentially have me review your lab results, click here.