Why do you need my blood work or labs?

Blood chemistries and labs can reveal tremendous amounts of information about how well or unwell your body is functioning, with great detail & accuracy. This helps me assemble a more effective and safe integrative health program to achieve your health goals.

I review blood chemistries or other labs from a functional perspective, which helps to reveal functional imbalances with the goal of preventive care and optimizing health.  Most naturopathic doctors (ND) and functional medicine doctors  interpret labs in this fashion. This approach differs from the way conventional medical practitioners interpret labs. They are typically concerned with disease diagnosis & treatment, interpreting labs from that perspective & goal in mind, which makes sense since they diagnose & treat disease. Since, I don’t diagnose or treat diseases, its not appropriate for me to interpret blood chemistries in this fashion. I instead use labs to assess your overall health status and functional status of various organs & systems of the body (e.g. Digestive, Cardiovascular, Kidneys, Liver, etc.) helping me see where the body can use support.

Interpreting labs from a functional perspective, takes much longer to do, making it prohibitively time consuming in a conventional medical setting, where appointment times are much shorter. On the other hand, I have the adequate time to read the blood work in this fashion.

Let me give you an example of how this could be useful. After interpreting your labs, I might uncover functional imbalances in your gastrointestinal tract, such as decreased HCL production in your stomach, which in turn could be affecting your nutrient status.  Using traditional tongue assessment, the same imbalance could show up on your tongue and this could further be supported by signs & symptoms indicative of such an imbalance.  This gives me enough confidence that this imbalance could exist and should be addressed via your Integrative  Health Program.  The program could include the use of herbal formulas, mindful eating practices and/or particular foods that stimulate & restore normal HCL production. This type of a holistic approach moves you towards more optimal health, gently & safely, while at the same time helping to prevent the onset of serious health challenges in the future.