Helping You Understand The Results of Your Blood Test

Here at Restoration Healthcare, everything starts with the blood work. If you think about it like a home remodeling project — with your body representing the residence requiring some improvement — you know the first thing we’re going to need is a set of blueprints.

And a blood test provides us with those blueprints — information that we need to get you started on the 5 Steps to Optimal Health. In fact, blood work is so important that it’s the first step on the above-mentioned five categories of care.

Step One is “assessment and targeted goal planning,” which means our doctors identify and measure specific risk “markers” in your lab work — markers that are disclosed as the result of a thorough blood test.

Blood work is extremely important because it enables us to be objective — with a starting point and a destination. It gives us the data we require in order to build a personalized plan for each individual and know when to progress or realign our approach.

Because the one thing you’ll never hear us say about your physical assessment is this: “Well, you’re actually well within the normal limits for a man (or woman) of your age.”

If you’re showing signs of age or a decline in health, we’ll not only tell you about it, we’ll offer you a plan to do something about it.

We practice a premise that’s not often utilized by general practitioners and internists. We ask ourselves what tests and measures we might implement that would help us in discovering the earliest signs that systems in the body are off kilter, instead of just measuring a disease.

It’s kind of like reverse engineering. We look at a disease, and then we look upstream to see what systems were affected. This allows us to be proactive and possibly prevent or reverse chronic disease.

We have a number of tests that we can run, depending upon the needs of the individuals. However there are two that have become faithful staples.

Our first test is a customized, in-depth blood panel. The one we prefer us is a customized cholesterol metabolic and overall health screen. For cholesterol, it goes beyond the usual estimation of cholesterol, instead performing a direct measurement of your cholesterol. The difference is like estimating the number of cars in a parking lot instead of counting the cars and the types of cars that are in the parking lot. This test breaks it down even further and looks at the precursors that allow the body to make the bad cholesterol — LDL. It also detects genetic markers that predispose someone to having abnormal cholesterol results leading to poor health.

Metabolic pathways are measured by the breakdown of substances that show up in the blood. This lets us know if the systems are not functioning normally. There’s also a measure of inflammatory and oxidative stress markers in the body. It is widely known that if we can control the inflammatory state of the body we can impact good health. Oxidative stress markers allow us to see how heavily the systems are being stressed.

We also take a look at hormones in this panel from all the different types of thyroid to the individual male and female hormones. How thorough is this test? The end result is a comprehensive report that runs about a dozen pages in length.

The other test in our office is the NutrEval by Genova Diagnostics that collects blood and urine. This test takes an in-depth look at the nutrient deficiencies in the body. That includes all of the vitamins and minerals to amino acids to toxic exposures such as heavy metals – mercury, arsenic and lead to name few. The best thing about this test is that it outlines the exact nutrient needs of the individual.

On the second page of this report is a breakdown of the specific vitamins minerals and amino acids that the patient needs in order to return to good health. There’s no more guessing or joining the “supplement of the month club” touted in the media or by the water cooler. Heavy metal or toxic element results can give us an idea of where to begin the specific detoxification for the patient.

We also do a G6PD simple blood test that screens for tolerance to high doses of vitamin C. This can determine if up to 50 grams of Vitamin C can be added to the system, which is highly anti-inflammatory and oxidative. This helps the immune system fights viruses and is used as an adjunct for cancer treatment.

There are many other tests in our toolbox, depending upon the needs of the individual. For example after a complete medical history and examination, we can order test to determine what might be causing your poor health. We also offer a panel of tests to determine if molds are a part of the poor health equation. Research has shown that in some cases, what’s inside your home has become more toxic than what is outside. And if someone is showing signs of failing health, molds might be an area to investigate.

The bottom line for us is this: Nearly everything we do here at Restoration Healthcare starts with blood work. The stories our blood tells are far more fascinating and true than anything else available to us in medicine today. Once the truth is known, only then can a proper plan of care be recommended and implemented. If your doctor doesn’t start with a blood draw, don’t be afraid to ask why. It’s your blood after all!