functional medicine labs

ELIMINATE THE GUESSWORK: How At-Home Functional Medicine Lab Testing Complements Conventional Medicine

Did you know…

you can learn more about your health than your doctor - right in the privacy of your home? Functional Medicine Lab Testing is an increasingly popular approach to healthcare used by Integrative Health Practitioners that is designed to complement conventional medicine. This approach aims to identify the root cause of chronic health symptoms by evaluating and assessing the body’s toxicities and nutritional deficiencies.

We, as a society, have made amazing improvements in conventional medicine that has saved many lives. However, at-home Functional Medicine Lab Testing has become such a popular alternative to conventional lab testing for chronic health symptoms because it eliminates the guesswork, provides a more personalized approach, and serves as a preventative approach to healthcare. Here are some ways that at-home Functional Medicine Lab Testing can complement conventional medicine.

  1. Identify the root cause of chronic health symptoms

Functional Medicine Lab Testing is designed to identify the underlying causes of chronic health symptoms by evaluating and assessing the body's systems and processes. Unlike conventional medicine, which typically focuses on treating the symptoms of a condition, Functional Medicine Lab Testing aims to identify the root cause of a problem and bring the body back into balance. This approach can help to prevent further complications and improve overall health outcomes.

2. Personalized approach to healthcare

No two bodies are the same. At-home Functional Medicine Lab Testing provides a personalized approach to healthcare that is tailored to the individual's needs. This approach takes into account the unique biology, genetics, and lifestyle of the individual to provide personalized care. With this information, Integrative Health Practitioners can create a plan that is uniquely designed to improve the individual's overall health and wellness, because healthcare shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all solution.

3. A more accurate picture

At-home Functional Medicine Lab Testing provides a more narrow range of values, making it easier and quicker to pinpoint the cause of one’s symptoms. Conventional medicine’s broad window of ranges means patients may only receive treatment once their values are past the point of disease. However, symptoms can and do occur much sooner than that. With a more narrow focus, Functional Medicine Lab Testing can catch values outside of the “optimal” range before they become more problematic. If you’ve ever been told your labs look “normal,” but you feel anything but normal, this is why. By combining the two approaches, healthcare providers can provide a more effective and well-rounded approach to healthcare.

4. Convenience and accessibility

At-home Functional Medicine Lab Testing provides convenience and accessibility that is not available with conventional lab testing. Patients can collect samples from the comfort of their own home and send them to a laboratory for analysis. This approach eliminates the need for multiple appointments and reduces the time and cost associated with conventional lab testing.

Functional Medicine Lab Testing can complement conventional medicine by providing a more personalized approach to healthcare and offering preventative care. This approach can help to identify the root cause of chronic health symptoms and improve overall health outcomes. With its convenience and accessibility, at-home Functional Medicine Lab Testing is a viable alternative to conventional lab testing for chronic health symptoms that can complement conventional approaches.

To learn more about how Functional Medicine Lab Testing and Integrative Health can help you return to a state of balance and gain your energy back, book a complimentary consultation at your own convenience today.

 Jeffrey Mort is a certified Integrative Health Practitioner (IHP) Level 1 & 2, a certified High Performance Health Coach, a National Guild certified Consulting Hypnotist, and the host of the "Breaking Boundaries for Entrepreneurs" podcast.  Neither the podcast or this blog claim to provide any medical advice, medical diagnosis, medical treatment plans or medical cures.

Jeffrey specializes in helping female entrepreneurs reclaim their energy in the healthiest way possible so they can better serve their clients, their families, and themselves. You can learn more about him, Integrative Health and schedule your complimentary consultation at loveenergywellness.com.

Functional Medicine Lab Testing Explained

While a personalized nutritional plan, restorative sleep and supportive supplementation are three core foundations that go a long way to support our health, there is something even more powerful at your disposal: Functional Medicine Testing. This is a tool that gives you the deepest insight into your individual health data. Real-time, accurate information about what is going on inside your body holds the key to helping identify the underlying root cause behind any symptoms or health conditions you may be experiencing.

There is Always a Reason

When you experience any sign or symptom, it is not your body faltering, but rather a sign it needs additional support. Functional Medicine testing helps to identify nutritional deficiencies and accumulated toxicities in your body that are the reason you might not be feeling well. Once you understand these imbalances, you can then replenish any deficiencies and reduce toxicities through personalized diet and lifestyle adjustments to restore balance and embark on your path to wellness.

The Consideration With Most Laboratory Work

Anyone who has visited a doctor's office has probably been subject to lab tests at one time or another. Running your annual blood work is recommended, or other one-off tests may have been completed based on your current health concerns. But once the results were in, there's a good chance you didn't get to look at the raw data. Instead, your doctor probably gave you their interpretation of the data, with proposed treatment options – often in the form of pharmaceutical medication. There may not be anything inherently wrong with this, especially in the short term. Still, if you continue to experience symptoms after the prescribed recommendations, or where medication is often used to mask symptoms given to your diagnosis, you could be missing out on the invaluable piece you need on what the root cause of your symptoms are and how you can get well -- and that is possible through Functional Medicine lab testing.

Blood testing only looks at the blood at a specific time, and while there are certain blood markers that do hold valuable information about your health, and do form part of functional medicine testing – it is only one small part. Functional medicine testing also includes testing the urine, saliva, and hair samples that take your health data to a whole new level. Blood is a homeostatic fluid that always tries to maintain balance in the body and the range that may suggest "dis-ease" can be far off the optimal range you should try to maintain for your body to function at its best, so you feel your best.

The "Don't Guess, Test" Approach

Functional medicine testing enables you to take an in-depth look at any deficiencies in vitamins and minerals levels, hormone imbalances, gut and digestive function, how your body is coping (or not coping) with stress, overall metabolism and mood. It also identifies accumulated toxicities and when you have all of this information at your disposal, it can clearly outline the underlying reason why you may be suffering from brain fog and low mood, have difficulty losing weight, experience extreme tiredness, headaches, skin issues, digestive upset, reproductive imbalances like menstrual irregularity or low libido and any other health issue.

Take Control of Your Health

Disease is defined as a collection of symptoms and based on a diagnosis you are often given a treatment plan to mask the symptoms instead of identifying the root cause of why this has happened to begin with. At EquiLife, we have seen over and over again how quickly our clients' lives can turn around once they have completed the appropriate Functional Medicine lab testing. When you understand how your body has become imbalanced in the first place, you can then learn what you need to do to restore balance and get well. This is why Functional Medicine lab testing is one of the most popular and effective services we offer – right from the comfort of your own home.

Every test comes with a one-on-one coaching call with one of our certified health practitioners so that you can fully understand your lab results and armed with this data, begin to implement a comprehensive individualized wellness plan that best supports you. After following the recommendations, you have your initial base point and can do follow-up tests that assess your progress and any further adjustments that may be needed.

And if you aren't sure where to start, we have you covered and offer a Free Lab Selection call where you can explain your primary health issue and have the expertise of one of our certified coaches to guide you in the right direction. After your call, you will get the total value back as a credit toward the purchase of any lab or protocol recommended because our aim is for you to take back the control of your health, with the information you need to rebalance your body and live longer, stronger for life.

If you are ready to take your health to the next level – running the Big 5 lab tests will give you the most comprehensive look at your overall health and wellness. You can learn more about why using at-home lab tests to uncover your hidden health issues is so powerful from Dr. Cabral in this podcast. (Blog source)

Ready to learn more? Schedule a complimentary consultation here and we can discuss which lab is right for you!