Your bloods come back ‘normal’ but you feel far from!
You’ve gone to your GP had your bloods done and everything comes back in range, your doctor sends you away telling you that you’re perfectly healthy!…
However you know there’s something more going on- you don’t feel good, exhausted and operating at a lower capacity than what you’re use to. Beyond that your body is sending you signals in the form of symptoms that are not ‘normal.’ Your gut, hormones, sleep and other areas of health are starting to feel ‘off.’
In this post I’m going to explain to you why you need to reconsider what you’ve been told about your pathology results being ‘normal’ and how you can start advocating for your own health investigations so that you are more likely to get to the bottom of what’s driving your health issues.
How Labs Set Their ‘Healthy’ Ranges?
It may shock you to know that each lab sets their own reference ranges- and these ranges are actually based on a random sample of the population.
Laboratories don't use thousands of optimally healthy subjects to determine their reference ranges. Instead, they use data obtained by testing patients whose doctors have already suspected have a problem in the area being tested.
That’s correct they take a sample group of likely already unwell people usually around 120 individuals who have already been referred for testing by their doctors and they obtain the ‘average’ range from those individuals and this creates the standard that most Dr’s will adhere to in practice.
An example of how this impacts the practice of medicine is that as a larger number of the population has been prescribed cholesterol lowering medications- Statins. The reference ranges for ‘healthy’ cholesterol levels on lab reports has dropped and so we could argue that because the reference ranges have come down then more individuals are being prescribed statins.
This is so problematic- as one of the most commonly prescribed pharmaceutical medications of all time this particular drug had significant side effects; body aches and pain, low energy, reduction in focus and brain fog, reduction in libido just to mention a few.
Lag Time In Medicine
We are living in a time where science and data has exploded- advanced technology and investments in health has meant that we have more scientific data to sort through than ever.
Let’s say a study is published today sounding the connection between low iron and low mood and symptoms mimicking mild depression in women. The study supports that many women especially of reproductive age may be misdiagnosed with depression due to the lack of investigation and understanding of iron levels in pathology by their doctors. So why then don’t we see the revision of reference ranges for women and a deeper emphasis on iron in GP’s surgeries?
Within each country medical governing bodies decide what data they are going to incorporate into their curriculum. They then also need to change standard policies and protocols around this new data for practicing clinicians.
It can take 5-7 years for new information to be incorporated into general practice.
Meaning that the support most people are receiving is 5-7 years out of date if it’s deemed important enough for the governing bodies to incorporate at all.
The current medical system is set up to be reactionary - it deals very well with the acute presenting health issue, heart attack- stroke- diabetes diagnosis and very poorly with catching these chronic health conditions before they develop, there is little emphasis placed on prevention.
When close enough isn’t good enough
If you are having symptoms that are subjective- ‘feeling tired’ ‘feeling brain fog’ ‘feeling achy’ it’s much more common that you’ll have ‘basic’ blood pathology tests run by your GP and who nothing major shows be dismissed or misdiagnosed with a mental-health disorder. It’s important to know how to advocate for your health and proper testing.
It’s also routine for me to see clients in my clinic who come in with a pile of pathology tests which are clearly showing markers out of range. When asked what their Dr has done about this the answer is often- let’s just wait and watch…
Some of the most common oversights happen in my clinic with the following markers:
GGT- ALT- AST- Bilirubin: These are all markers of liver and gallbladder heath- if you are out of range you should be advocating for a follow-up blood test to re-check and if these markers are out following on with an ultrasound of liver and gallbladder and further investigation into fasting insulin levels.
RBC- MCV-MHC- These markers when out of range or borderline may be indicative of low iron or B12, if these haven’t been looked at you should advocate for those to be followed up.
TSH- Thyroid stimulating hormone- This marker can be within range yet when we look at the actual thyroid markers themselves they can be out of range and a subclinical thyroid issue present.
Learning to advocate for your health…
Your health is important without it all other areas of life will struggle, so consider setting aside resources to invest in your health.
We have also been conditioned as a society here in Australia that everything to do with health should be covered- GP’s are stretched and often audited by Medicare. They also fear running tests they don’t fully understand themselves.
Offer to pay for tests your GP is unable to write for on Medicare. Naturopaths have access to labs that offer testing far more extensive than standard labs and they can take the time to explain these to you.
A naturopath can also help you navigate ongoing care and referrals for scans that are indicated from more in-depth testing.
Request copies of all your medical tests and reports for your own records so that you can share them and track them over time.
Get clear on which markers are borderline or out of range so that you can track them over time and ensure what you’re doing with lifestyle- diet and supplements are working.
Avoid falling into marketing traps- Taking the latest supplement/ peptide/ diet trend. Sometimes you need to slow down before you can speed up. You have unique genes and a unique health history - invest the money in proper testing so that you know exactly what you need and why so that you can track and achieve consistent measurable improvements in your health.
Build your healthcare team- find practitioners that support you and take your concerns seriously. If you feel unheard or dismissed don’t give up- just follow up with someone who is prepared to listen and test.
If you have questions about your pathology testing or anything else please feel free to book a discovery call to see if we can help.