When beginning the journey toward health and healing, it's important to assess some of the body's main indicators of disease.
Blood work is a great first step, and it can often show us where to go next. For the purpose of health coaching, new blood draws aren't necessary. We can look at your most recent labs to get an idea of your unique profile.
Which labs will we use?
Anything you have available.
These are the most useful ones for our purposes:
CBC
Complete Blood Count
Also called a CBC with Diff
This looks assesses the number and type of cells in your blood, such as red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.
CMP
Complete Metabolic Panel
This test measures various electrolytes and substances in the blood, including glucose, potassium, sodium, proteins, and liver enzymes.
Lipid Panel
This examines the cholesterol and triglycerides in your blood.
Hemoglobin A1C
This test take a long-term view of your glucose level by assessing your red blood cells.
CRP (HSCRP)
C-Reactive Protein
This is an inflammatory marker. It's a protein made by the liver that increases when there's inflammation in the body. CRP shows inflammation quickly (within hours).
ESR
Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate
Also called a Sed Rate
This test can reveal inflammation in the body. The sed rate takes a bit longer (about 3 days) to show inflammation.
TFT
Thyroid Function Tests
These determine levels of TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone), T4 (free thyroxine), and T3 (free triiodothyronine). It can tell us a lot about the health of your thyroid.
It's also nice to look at:
Troponin
Lipase
Iron
Vitamin D Levels
Vitamin B-12 Levels
Food Allergies/Sensitivities
Urinalysis
Any hormone panels
Any kind of culture
Any other blood tests that have been run