I hear this a lot:
“I followed X, Y, Z (controversial) diet, and my doctor said my blood is fine!”
Firstly, what do we think doctors are testing our blood for? Most standard blood tests look at cholesterol, check for anemia, and to see if our kidneys are failing or not.
If you’re lucky, your doctor might test your iron levels, B12, and thyroid function (using one hormone measure, TSH, which often fails to pick up cases of under-active, or autoimmune, thyroid).
Your doctor is likely not looking at inflammation levels, vitamin levels, hormone levels, insulin resistance, or delving into the nuances of your cholesterol levels. Standard blood tests do not provide a comprehensive analysis of your health status. Rather, they rule out the presence of serious disease.
Your blood tests are “fine” because the markers that might actually be negatively (or positively) impacted by your diet and lifestyle are simply not tested for.
Secondly, let’s challenge the notion of “fine”.
For most practitioners, “fine” means, “You don’t qualify for a diagnosis of X disease, which would justify the prescription of Y medication.”
I meet a lot of patients whose B12 levels aren’t “fine”, or whose thyroid levels are certainly not “fine”.
Sure, they are not deficient to the point where they have dementia (from low B12), or where they need thyroid hormone replacement medication, but their bodies are not working optimally.
If we dig a bit below the surface, we find that they are insulin resistant, they have elevated anti-thyroid antibodies, their B12 and iron levels are suboptimal, or their ovaries are not making progesterone.
Someone with these lab markers may not get a disease diagnosis from their medical doctor, and they may not need medication yet, but they’re not “fine”.
Oftentimes your blood tests are fine for decades—until they’re not fine.
This is a classic problem for those who are diagnosed with diabetes. I believe that for many patients, if we had done some exploration of their symptoms and blood 15 to 20 years earlier, we could have detected insulin resistance simmering below the surface of the conventional lab tests. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16627374)
Perhaps we could have prevented their diabetes, and subsequent cellular and metabolic damage, altogether.
I love it when we can do more in-depth lab testing based on your individual signs, symptoms, and risk factors. We take a full inventory of your lifestyle and health history and really dive into the nitty-gritty when it comes to preventing the diseases that your doctor looks for when ordering lab tests.
With the right approach, we might be able to keep those lab tests looking “fine”.
