I can assure you that when I suggest clients do functional blood testing, it is not to rip anyone off. As I already feel the majority of people are getting ripped off for their healthcare, with a lot of people paying high taxes which goes towards public healthcare costs and some people even pay for private medical care on top of this – and at the end of the day, all are still getting inadequate healthcare for their true needs. The conventional healthcare system model urgently needs an overhaul to help patients better and this is partly why I prefer my clients to do functional blood tests.
Not Doing Blood Tests Is Like Only Getting A Partial Health Story
When a client books in for nutrition and lifestyle coaching with me they will have already filled in a very comprehensive health questionnaire. And this will give me a very good starting point of where to look and what health and wellness plan to put each individual on.
However, if no blood tests have been done, and clients are unable to, then this is like only getting a partial health story. Of course, a client’s symptoms are part of the health story, but functional blood tests can fill in the other side of the story as they show exactly how their body is currently functioning and what areas need the most urgent support.
Would You Do A Partial MOT On Your Car?
Quite simply put – no you would not! Because you know that driving a car is important and perhaps the most dangerous thing you do every day, so it is important to have the car that gets you and your family around from A to B in tip-top condition to do this in a safe manner. Well, the same is true of your body.
Your body is your vehicle in life, for daily life to happen and for what type of quality of life you experience. So, put yourself first and your health and you will enjoy a great quality of life. Put yourself second (or in a lot of cases – last) and you will find yourself walking into unchartered territory when it comes to your health, that may be paved with many unwanted surprises along the way such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, an autoimmune condition and more. Surprises that could have to a large degree have been prevented if applying the functional medicine healthcare model. And if not prevented totally, had more tools available when a disease or condition is diagnosed in the early stages.
Avoid An Unwanted And Costly Healthcare Crisis
So, the method to my madness of asking clients to invest in a full comprehensive blood test panel during their time working with me is so I can help them to achieve their goals faster and in the most comprehensive way.
If comprehensive blood tests are not done (such as a thyroid panel, a lipid panel, inflammatory markers, full blood count, a diabetes panel and essential nutrients) then we may never get to achieve a clients health and wellness goals because we do not know how the body is functioning truly.
These tests also serve as ways to monitor even when good health starts to change, especially if my yearly comprehensive blood tests are carried out yearly – this methodology has the power of picking up issues before they become severe or very hard to manage. Even in terms of serious health issues like autoimmune conditions which are not reversible, there is the power to catch it in the early stages and reverse it or put them in remission.
Functional blood tests are very important for people who have had long-term symptoms, as this means something is going on and the correct lab tests take out a lot of the guesswork. The upfront spend for correct and personalised functional blood tests might seem large at first but this ends up being far cheaper than ‘specialist hopping’ to try to get to the root of your health problem. This is when patients visit specialist doctors who might even want to do procedures or invasive surgery to try and ‘solve’ your health issue. These specialists (unless they are functional/integrative) generally see the body in ‘parts’ and not as a ‘whole’. The latter is how functional medicine works and is what gives functional medicine its greatest success for patients that use it.
Remember that some diseases are also silent killers, which means there can be no symptoms for a long time until a disease condition has been there for a number of years and some can have no symptoms at all. This is another reason why functional blood tests can have so much power and value.
Don’t Wait For Conventional Medicine To Catch Up
Conventional medicine can offer some important blood tests but these are not always done in a whole-body approach and sometimes only limited tests will be carried out which misses a health issue instead of doing a full profile. For instance, when checking for diabetes in a patient, conventional doctors may only test for fasting blood sugar levels whereas functional medicine trained practitioners like myself will test fasting insulin, fasting glucose and HBA1C.
Studies also show that it takes 17 years on average for successful new research evidence to be used in clinical practice. This is part of the reason conventional medicine is so behind, but the other reason is many doctors are just not constantly updating their knowledge on their own with the latest scientific studies. If they did, it would be helpful to the cause of making functional blood testing and functional medicine the norm and more people would be walking around feeling healthier than they do sick because these types of testing are so through and functional medicine practitioners (whether doctors, nutritionists, chiropractors etc) also focus on dietary and lifestyle interventions which are largely missing from the conventional healthcare model. Overall if functional testing became the norm, this would then help make the blood tests cheaper.
Even when blood tests cannot pick up the root cause, this then gives a person (or practitioner who will make the referral) good enough reason to then suggest deeper investigation with a specialist doctor. This would then warrant the time and costs of looking at one particular organ or system in the body.
Your health is far too precious to wait for conventional doctors and the conventional healthcare model to catch up, so in the meantime look at the advances in the health and wellness field that functional medicine has played, look at patients who have visited healthcare practitioners that use the functional medicine model and find out what there experience was firsthand. If you then feel it resonates, be sure to seek to use it for helping you become your healthiest version.
I am also known for helping clients understand the art of self-investment and how it pays off majorly when done properly, even if it means sacrificing your yearly holiday or a new car to have comprehensive functional blood tests (as just one example) or whatever might be needed (good quality supplements and in some cases seeing a functional doctor to receive an important diagnosis as I am not allowed to diagnose a condition or disease).
There is no price on health and I do not want my clients to find that out when it is too late. Having optimal health also means you get to truly enjoy your life including that holiday (or other lavish expense) when you rebook it, especially if you have long-term health issues that require some attention and unravelling.
If you have any questions at all about functional medicine, functional blood testing or functional medicine nutrition, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me.
