Learn What Your Blood Tests Haven’t Been Telling You With Functional Blood Chemistry Analysis
Have you gotten your annual exam and the doctor just says all your labs look fine?
Enter Functional Blood Chemistry Analysis – an easy, cost-effective way to have your test results analyzed to discover what is truly going on inside your body.
If you’re like most people, you trust your doctor to identify disease through lab tests. What you don’t know is that the majority of lab tests are interpreted only to find the most serious, outlying results. Here’s the shocker:
Most people who feel unwell have lab tests that fall in the “normal” range.
And it’s not your doctor’s fault. Blood chemistry is meant to be an easy, effective, and inexpensive tool to identify imbalances in the body. The fact is, for years we’ve interpreted lab results like this:
I’m sure you’ve seen this type of graph before – it’s a bell curve. You may have even had teachers that graded on the curve. Remember how awful that was? No matter how well you did, the teacher would average the scores, and assign the grade C to the middle score, and then distribute the rest of the scores along this curve. This would make most of the tstudents get a C, fewer get a B or D, and only a handful get an F or an A.
It was supposed to make sense – a bell curve (or normal distribution graph) is a common feature in nature. In data sets, most data points are around that middle area, and only a few are high and low.
But it never felt that way. Why artificially move grades around based on how many people did well? It didn’t seem right.
And it makes even less sense when it comes to your health. We aren’t just a set of data points that should make a pretty graph.
And the biggest truth – “average” doesn’t mean “optimal.”
How Functional Medicine Is Different
Looking at labs through a functional lens opens up a whole new level of insight. We also like to watch for “trends” on how individual biomarkers progress over time- we look at the relation across multiple labs.
Your PCP has received medical education and uses a standard of care that’s highly informed by acute disease and emergency medicine science philosophy and strategy – which is great for emergency medicine, but misses the mark when you are interested in preventing or reversing chronic lifestyle disease.
We need to understand that the lab “reference range” is not a target range. When the PCP says your lab is “normal” they do not use the word normal to mean fine, healthy, or good. The word normal means a statistical norm, or the average – like that bell curve up there.
When you have an epidemic- a chronic disease dynamic going on in our culture- the last thing in the world you would want to be is “normal”!
Here is a better graph for blood tests:
Where you fall in “normal” matters!
Functional Medicine doesn’t look for red flags. We aim to prevent and reverse disease, not just manage it. Looking at labs through a functional lens opens up a whole new level of insight.
What is Functional Blood Chemistry Analysis?
FBCA is a review of your current labs already drawn and tested by your PCP.
How does it work?
We simply have you upload your most recent labs. (If you do not have a copy of your labs, we can request your Dr.’s office fax them to us). We review them with a functional lens, looking for ways to optimize your levels until we get to that “sweet spot” where your body can best repel disease.
What do I get?
You get a beautifully comprehensive digital report of your lab results, where they can be improved, and a true understanding of what it means in your body if you’re functionally low or high in any areas.
You also will get a 50-minute virtual consultation where we go over recommendations on what you can do to improve.
Will I need more testing?
We may recommend more testing from your PCP to get the whole picture, but often the complete blood count (CBC) or comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP) that are done at yearly physicals have a ton of info we can use to begin.
What if I don’t have a PCP?
While we require all patients to have a PCP and a recent full physical before you can become a full time patient with Whisper Health, for the FBCA, we can order the tests for you. We use LabCorp if you have no insurance or we may even possibly use your insurance to cover the cost of the lab. This will be discussed thoroughly prior to the appointment as each person’s situation is unique.
How is this different than becoming a regular patient with you?
FBCA simply a review of your current blood tests to identify where you might be functionally low or high, and some recommendations on ways to improve. It is significantly less cost, time, and arm pokes for you!
Yes, I want to get my FBCA!
Patient Success Stories
“The best way to heal your body in the most natural way from inside out!” – Amy
Yes, I want to get my FBCA!
Be Your Own Advocate
Imagine knowing and understanding the whole picture of how your body is working. Feeling educated and empowered, with the right words to tell your doctor exactly what you want and need from them. That’s the power that comes from an FBCA – you’re able to articulate what your needs are in a way that lets your doctor know that you understand the concepts behind what you’re asking for.
You’ll be in control of your health again. You’ll be ready to tackle any suboptimal levels in your body and start restoring wellness and health.
When we use a functional lens, we are specific for each biomarker and ask probing questions:
What does this marker measure?
What is going on in the range?
What does this marker represent?
What does it mean if it progresses?
What is the “sweet spot”?
We want to continuously optimize a marker even though it well falls in the normal range. We look at labs through a functional range to aim for a greater good- we want to move beyond the conventional medical goal of trying to find a disease. We want to prevent it! We don’t want to wait until the damage has been done.
Take thyroid labs for example, one of the most ordered tests today. Most doctors just measure TSH. TSH is a brain hormone that does have a target zone. There is an optimal zone- where clinical research has shown there is minimal dysfunction leading to disease. The optimal range for TSH is 1.8-3.0. But the typical reference ranges (what gets labels as “normal”) is 0.5-4.5.
With your FBCA, you’ll get a chart more like this:
You’ll see where you are outside the optimal range, and be able to make changes before it becomes a diagnosable disease.
Get Your Functional Blood Chemistry Analysis
It’s easy!
1
Simply schedule your one-time, FBCA appointment using our convenient online scheduling tool.
2
We will contact you and help you get a copy of your lab results (or order them for you).
3
At your appointment, get ready for amazing insights and “aha” moments as we go through your report and figure out how to finally help you feel your healthiest!
Monday 9:00am – 5:00pm
Tuesday 9:00am – 5:00pm
Thursday 9:00am – 5:00pm
