How Well Do You Really Know Your Body?

Think back to the last time you visited your doctor’s office to address a concern you had.

How much time did they spend:

Discussing your personal and family medical history?
Reviewing your dietary habits and nutritional intake?
Analyzing your body as a whole to understand the root cause of your problem?

Chances are, your answer is “not much.”

Particularly during the winter months, doctors offices are packed and staff are pressured to fit as many patients in per day as possible.

This often means quick appointments, missed information, and “one size fits all” drug prescriptions. If you ARE lucky enough to receive more in-depth testing, the wait lists are likely months long. While medications can be a short-term relief of pesky or painful symptoms, they unfortunately don’t address the ultimate why they are happening.

Previously, we’ve discussed the first step in revamping your healing journey: identifying your rock-solid WHY is essential to staying on track and seeing real results and improvements. You must have an “I NEED this” mindset to make it through the moments you feel like giving up.

“I WANT this” will simply not suffice. Once you have your WHY, you need to find your HOW: a professional to partner with.

This professional will be responsible for creating a personalized plan specific to your needs and diagnosis. There are many elements they will consider, such as nutrition, supplements, or therapies. This strategy will be complex, not something that can be created by simply examining you with the naked eye.

The magic of data:

Our bodies are healing machines at their core. They are naturally designed to maximize performance with the environment it has, over or under compensating for nutritional deficiencies, toxin exposures, injuries, and imbalances (just to name a few). Because of this, when starting a new healing journey it is essential to perform the relevant testing to understand what is going on beneath the surface that our bodies are trying to hide.

Just because two people receive the same diagnosis (for example, Type II Diabetes), while their overall dysfunction may be the same (i.e their bodies are not regulating blood sugar within the bloodstream properly), the root cause of why this is happening can be vastly different.

For example, one patient could have developed the disorder as a result of a poor diet and lack of exercise, while the other because of untreated PCOS. These two patients would require unique treatment protocols, as they are dealing with entirely different root problems.

 

What tests should I expect?

A functional medicine practitioner will leverage a wide range of clinic testing protocols in determining what healing protocol is right for YOU.

If your medical practitioner suspects a Type II Diabetes diagnosis, you will likely receive:

• A fasting glucose blood test to determine how effectively your body is able to leverage blood sugar stores.
• An oral glucose tolerance test to determine how effectively your body metabolizes glucose.
• Hemoglobin A1C, a long-term blood test to assess blood sugar averages over a three-month span.

When these tests are performed, it allows your medical practitioner to determine the PERFECT carbohydrate, protein, and fat ratios to train your cells how to utilize sugars properly. Not only that, but this information drives a better understanding of proper dosing for supportive supplements such as berberine, magnesium, and or ginseng. If you are diagnosed with a medical condition that is acting as a precursor for blood sugar imbalances, then your healing protocol will need to address those deeper root causes to see success with blood sugar healing.

Thyroid dysfunction is a generally broad term that can be triggered by a number of root causes. If your medical practitioner suspects thyroid dysfunction, you will likely receive:

• TSH level assessment uses your blood to determine if your thyroid is over or underactive.
• Free T4 and T3 assessment to assess thyroid hormones floating free in the blood.
• A free thyroxine index blood test to assess how your thyroid hormones attach to blood proteins.
• A Thyroglobulin antibody test to understand how your body is responding to thyroid hormone.

Thyroid dysfunction can occur as a result of an iodine deficiency, underlying autoimmune disorders, or even pregnancy. All of these root causes require vastly different treatment protocols, and the above tests are essential to understanding what route is best to take. By simply performing a Free T3 and T4 test, you will quickly be chronically stuck on hormone stimulating (or depressing) medications that will never address your actual problems.

Time to get back on track

Guesswork does not belong anywhere near your health. Taking the time to understand your personal health data will set you up for a faster, more successful healing process.

If you suspect that your body has been silently struggling and you need some help, contact our clinic today. We will ensure you have access to the resources you need to get back to feeling the way you deserve.