The type of lab tests you really need
Most of us don’t think much about blood work tests — they’re something your doctor periodically orders for you, and that’s that. But there are actually tons of different types of laboratory tests that can tell you important information about your body and help you feel your absolute best. It can be confusing to figure out which tests you need, and how to interpret the results,
We’re all familiar with getting blood work tests done at the doctor’s office, and it’s natural to think that lab work is lab work, right? Why does it matter if it’s performed by a functional medicine practitioner or a conventional doctor? Well not all blood work tests are created equal.
First of all, there’s the fact that routine blood work tests just don’t cover very much. If you’re experiencing health issues — hair loss, fatigue, brain fog, whatever — and go into a conventional doctor asking them to run a full panel, they’ll do something called a CBC, or complete blood count. Though a CBC looks at your red and white blood cells and gives you some good information, Dr. Jones explains that it’s not super helpful unless you’re outright anemic or have an outright infection.
Still, many doctors stop at this point. Some might run a CMP — comprehensive metabolic panel — which gives kidney and liver markers, as well as glucose, potassium, and calcium levels. Again, this is a quick screen that provides some good information, but isn’t all that useful. Usually, Dr. Jones says, conventional doctors will see that the results come back within normal range for these tests and declare that everything is fine. Unfortunately, she says, these one or two tests are generally not enough. Doctors need to look at more specific and subtle indicators, things like the thyroid, for instance.
Dr. Jones’s second irritation with routine blood work tests has to do with the ranges given for various tests. She explains that most ranges are WAY too large, and conventional doctors are quick to say that someone is healthy if they’re anywhere within the range. For instance, with TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone), the healthy range might go up to 4 or 5, “but, functionally, we might want it down around 2.0 or 2.5. But if you’re at 4.9 and 5 is the cutoff, you might get told you’re fine, and you’re not fine,” says Jones. “You’re almost out of range. You’re almost abnormal. Why wait to get to abnormal?”
Another example she cites is the range for ferritin, a marker for iron storage, where the range is anywhere from 10 to 200 — that’s a 190-point spread that’s still considered healthy and normal by most doctors. The way Dr. Jones sees it, it’s not a good idea to accept a particularly high or low number as normal, just because it’s technically within range. “We can optimize this,” she says. “Why wait? Why wait until you fall off the cliff to do something about it?”
So while MDs and NDs might be running some of the same blood work tests, and even sending them off to the same labs, they’ll read them very differently. A conventional doctor will just look at the literal range and deem you normal or abnormal, whereas a functional medicine practitioner or natural medicine doctor will optimize the results for you and what you’re looking for.