What does “normal” mean?

Before I dive in, I just want to say that I am not a medical doctor and I don’t diagnose or treat anything. As a certified Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, I look to find ways to support the body by identifying imbalances and supporting their correction from the inside out, allowing the body to do what it does best: heal.

I may go on a little rant here. It is really upsetting to me that as a whole, we are not empowered as patients to advocate for ourselves when seeking health advice from our doctors and it’s SO important to change this.

I cannot tell you how many times I’ll ask a client, friend or family member about a blood marker… often it’s something like Vitamin D or TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) and they’ll say “oh it was normal”. I’ll follow up asking them for the number and they don’t know what the lab value is. They don't know because they've been told it's "normal" and I don't know about you but it's a sigh of relief so no questions asked.

Honestly, prior to becoming a functional nutritional therapy practitioner and then studying functional blood chemistry I was right there with you! I totally get it. Why do I need to know this when I can trust that my doctor has me covered. Right?

In the best of worlds, your doctor does have you covered. That being said, the world of medicine has completely changed in the last 30-40 years. Doctors are rushed for time and in so many ways have their arms tied due to insurance requirements. So this is not about bashing your doctor. It's about being equipped with a little knowledge so you can help your doctor help you or find someone else who can.

Have you ever had your blood work come back normal but you don’t feel well? Or perhaps you know someone that went from being seemingly fine to being diagnosed with diabetes with very little to no warning from their medical provider.

If you look at the ranges on your blood work, you may notice that many of them are quite wide. One thing you should know about conventional lab ranges is that they don’t take into account who’s healthy and who's not when they create them.

Conventional ranges are set to minimal amounts to keep us healthy. This is quite different then what is required for optimal health and vibrancy. By the time your blood work is out of conventional lab range you will likely get diagnosed with a disease and offered a prescription medication by your doctor to help manage it. And then possible another to manage the side effects from that medication.

Now let me know tell you what a “functional” range refers to and how it differs from the conventional ranges on your lab report. The primary difference is that conventional lab ranges assess disease and look for pathology. A functional range, also called optimal range, is more narrow and assesses risk before disease develops. These ranges are taken from healthy individuals and are often much smaller ranges. Who doesn’t want to be in on that info?

What this also means is that when you are starting to be in a compromised state, often starting to not feel like your optimal self you may likely be told that everything is “normal”. If left unchecked, can develop into a disease.

A good example of this is when your blood sugar markers are starting to go low but are still within range. Now this is typically not something that a doctor would be concerned by. Typically the concern with fasting glucose is when it’s high perhaps approaching pre-diabetes or worse. I personally would be noting this as hypoglycemia is something that many of my clients struggle with (cravings for sweets and starches, stubborn weight loss, energy crashes) as this can often be quite uncomfortable and left unchecked can turn into metabolic syndrome and diabetes.

Conventional medicine thinks in terms of pathology. As a holistic practitioner, I have been trained to think about optimal function, to help identify imbalances that manifest as symptoms, address the imbalances and support the body’s ability to heal. When I review a client’s labs, I am looking for overall patterns that tell a story. With this information, my goal is to help steer the body away from disease by adding supporting it with diet, nutrients and lifestyle changes that address deficiencies and function so the body can do what it does best, heal. This is really where nutrition is so powerful and effective.

I had a teacher once who summed it up best when she said “Health is out to find you!”.

So next time you get your blood work back, even when you’re told it’s “normal” I encourage you to take a closer look. Start to see where they fall in the range and if you’re not getting the answers you’re looking for, find someone who can help.

If you would like help you with your labs and supporting your body with nutrition, reach out to schedule a discovery call. We can see if we’re a good fit to work together.