If you have ever go in for your yearly checkup with your doctor, there is no doubt that at some point you have gone through some diagnostic tools, such as blood tests, to see your nutrient and hormone levels. Many times this is a Comprehensive Wellness Panel, and will tell you information such as your red and white blood counts, lipid profile, and some minerals.
When you start to have some health symptoms, your doctor may order some other tests for further information. The idea to dig deeper is great, but many times these tests aren't looking in the right areas, or the doctors aren't using them to figure out the root causes.
For instance, if you show signs of a thyroid issue, the doctor will typically run a TSH test, and if you are lucky, they may even check for T4 and T3. However, these are only a small part of the puzzle as there are other hormones associated with the thyroid, and this still isn't incorporating the results into the big picture of the body!
Using Diagnostic Tools to Find Root Causes of Health Issues
We can learn a lot of valuable information from the results of tests, but in most cases, you may be prescribed a medication for the diagnosis. The problem here is that we call this type of treatment “symptom chasing”, meaning when a symptom arises, a pill is thrown at it to knock it down. When another symptom pops up, then another pill is thrown at it.
This is not how protocols should be designed, and it does not look for the root cause to the issue.
Wouldn't you rather find out why your lab results are not within the ranges they should be in? Don't you prefer to take care of the issue now, instead of having more symptoms pop up later on?
That is exactly what Ryan Monahan and I discuss in this week's episode:
»How Ryan chased symptoms for years in his own health issues before looking into the root causes
»The 7 main tests he likes to use in his practice
»How testing gives you valuable information to then build protocols off of
»Where to start on your health journey once you have this health information
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Shownotes
- [4:30] What got you into nutrition
- [7:00] When you were going from practitioner to practitioner with your health issue, they spent more time chasing symptoms than looking for root causes
- [11:15] At what point did you learn to find the root cause of your illness instead of chasing symptoms
- [15:45] What would you tell someone who just received their diagnosis to take matters into their own hands
- [18:45] Talk about some of the tests you like to run
- [21:00] What do these tests tell you about the body
- [27:00] Once you receive all the information from the labwork, then where do you start with the protocols
- [30:15] What are your first labs you would order if someone can't afford all the labs at once
- [35:30] When running all of these lab tests, have you found any patterns that seem to be common in most people
- [38:30] Do you have any favorite foods or herbs that work well with most people
- [40:10] What are 3 practices you do routinely to take care of your own health
- [43:15] What are some final thoughts about using tests to find the root causes to health issues
Learn More About Ryan Monahan
Website: themindfulnutrivore.com
Social Media: Facebook , Twitter , Instagram
