What tests should I have done to find out how my health is?

This is a question that at first seems easy to answer, but I'm going to explain how its assessment, interpretation, and conclusion are a true art.

Just as we can put dozens of foods on our table and not know what to do with them when it comes to cooking, the same thing happens with analytical parameters. We can see them in an analysis and not know what to do to understand what they're trying to show us.

Next, I'm going to show you the true art of analytical interpretation. I'll explain it with a food analogy so you can understand it better.

The art of analytical interpretation

A true professional of analytical interpretation could be considered a chef, but with different ingredients, analytical parameters instead of food.

You open your refrigerator (in this case, an analysis), evaluate all the foods you have (in this case, analytical parameters), and begin to build something with them that will help you understand what is happening inside the person, and in this way, plan and develop the best therapeutic approach (nutrition and supplementation).

It could be said that the analytical chef knows and understands each and every one of his ingredients (parameters), knows the reason for their alteration, and, in addition, knows how to relate those same parameters with others that may be altered, in order to give a deeper and more complete interpretation.

Isn't it true that when you combine several foods and cook them, you usually end up with dishes that are more nutritious and tasty at the same time?
The same thing happens with analytical parameters: only one can tell us something, but when we interpret them with all the others, we can reach incredibly interesting places at the level of internal knowledge (physiological, biochemical, macro and micronutritional).

Now, what do we need to consider when evaluating a blood test to understand our physical and mental health?

The most important thing:

Knowing which analytical parameters are most appropriate for each person, since each person is unique and requires specific and personalized analysis.

We could make the same analogy with food;

Each person needs a specific diet, specific foods, and specific quantities, and the same applies to analytical parameters. Each person has specific health circumstances and requires specific, personalized analysis.

"What I need is not the same as what you need, and what you need is different from what your neighbor on the fifth floor needs." By understanding this basic understanding, we can plan the best analytical strategy, which will be the most concrete and relevant for each person.

But, even so, I often get asked, "But Dani, could you tell me or show me an analytical recommendation with the parameters that you think are the most important for us to take into account?"

Since my intention and my main purpose in life is to be able to help all those people who need it, I am going to show you a biochemical profile that I have established as the most important to take into account as a starting point, and in this way you can tell it to your doctor or therapist who is treating you, since in this way they will be able to extract a lot of information (as long as they know how to interpret it - which is another point -, one of the most important).

• BLOOD SYSTEM:
  • RED SERIES
  • WHITE SERIES
  • PLATELETS
  • PROTHROMBIN TIME, FIBRINOGEN
  • VSG
• BIOCHEMISTRY
  • VITAMIN B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, B12 (HOLOTRANSCOBALAMIN)
  • VITAMIN A, D (CALCIDIOL, CALCITRIOL), EY K1+K2
  • GLUCOSE, INSULIN, GLYCOSYLATED HEMOGLOBIN, FRUCTOSAMINE, PEPTIDE C, ANT GAD, IAA,
  • CHOLESTEROL, TRIGLYCERIDES AND PHOSPHOLIPIDS (ISOFORMS)
  • LDL, OXIDIZED LDL, HDL, VLDL
  • AMYLASE, LIPASE, LDH (ISOFORMS)
  • URIC ACID
  • UREA, AMMONIUM, CREATININE + CREATININE CLEARANCE
  • GASTRIN, PEPSINOGEN
  • GOT, GPT, GGT, LDH (ISOFORMS), CK (CREATIN KINASE ISOFORMS)
  • ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE (ISOFORMS)
  • BILLIRUBIN DIRECT, INDIRECT, TOTAL
  • FERRITIN, IRON, TRANSFERRIN, TRANSFERRIN SATURATION, HEPCIDIN
  • CARNITINE, ACYLCARNITINES
  • PROTEINOGRAM
  • CORTISOL
  • TSH, T4, T3, REVERSE T3,ANTI-TPO, ANTI-TG, TRAb
  • FSH, LH, PROGESTERONE, PROLACTIN, ESTRADIOL, TESTOSTERONE, SHBG
  • ANT. ANTITRANSGLUTAMINASE, ANTIENDOMYSIO, ANTIGLIADIN
  • HOMOCYSTEINE, METHYLMALONIC ACID
  • PTH, CALCITONIN, OSTEOCALCIN
  • CERULOPLASMIN, CUPREMIA, ZINC
  • COMPLETE IONOGRAM+ ERYTHROCYTE MAGNESIUM+ LITHIUM+SELENIUM
  • OXALATES
• VENOUS BLOOD GAS TESTING
  • 24H URINE:
  • COPPER, OXALATES, UREA, CREATININE, PROTEINS, GLUCOSE, LEUKOCYTES, URIC ACID, CALCIUM, SODIUM,
    POTASSIUM, CARNITINE, ACYLCARNITINE, NITRITES

Well, it might seem that this would be enough, right?

This analysis, to all the people to whom I have recommended it, they comment that when they have gone to the laboratory, the person who performed the extraction has been surprised, seeing so many parameters, and having to take so many blood bottles, since 99% of the time they usually perform the simplest analyses, with only a few analytical parameters of interest.

Well, this analytical adventure has only just begun. This would be (using the same analogy as food) like the starter on a menu, with the first course, second course, and dessert still missing.

The human body is incredibly complex (I like to call it a micro-universe), given all its mysterious and incredible functioning (physiological, biochemical, genetic), so being able to study it in its maximum depth should be the main objective before recommending a certain diet, supplementation, and even exercise or sports activity.

What else can we do, besides the study on that biochemical profile that I have shown you?

We need to perform even more specific and concrete tests, which are usually done in private laboratories, since conventional laboratories don't usually perform them.

Since there are hundreds of special tests (outside of the conventional biochemical profile), I would like to focus on the 3 main ones, which I usually recommend to almost all patients and athletes who come to my office:

The three superheroes are analytically driven, as they open up a world of incredibly interesting information, enabling us to understand what might have been the cause(s) of all that internal imbalance that has led the person to become ill, to have a functional disorder, or to not be able to perform fully in sports. It's important that you take into account all these tests I've shown you, because they'll shed light on what's happening internally, and thus help us understand the cause(s) that have led the person to lose their health.

Only in this way can a judicious therapeutic approach (dietary and supplementation) be established, which will allow us to help the person restore their health as quickly as possible.

Unlike other types of therapies, which only address the sign or symptom (whether through medication or natural products—it doesn't matter if it's the little red or green pill), the patient becomes an eternal patient, unable to solve their problems, overmedicated and oversupplemented.

I mention this because in some situations I've heard the following comment: I can't afford to spend all these tests (and in most cases, this comment is from someone who has been to several therapists and has taken or is taking more than five supplements daily, and the funny thing is, it's still the same).

If we were to conduct an economic study of everything spent on consultations and everything that has been spent and is being spent on supplements, I'm sure it would be 20 to 30 times greater than what it would take to conduct a complete and exhaustive analytical study, assessed and interpreted by a well-trained professional in scientific (orthomolecular) nutrition.

After more than 15 years as a therapist, specializing in this type of orthomolecular therapy, I've been able to reach the following conclusion: If you conduct a comprehensive study like the one I've just shown you, if you know how to interpret the information provided by the tests and lab work, if you plan a correct and optimal dietary and supplementation plan, and if the patient applies everything I've proposed in this therapeutic approach, the number of consultations should not exceed six, meaning they should recover their health in less than six months (keeping in mind that there will be very complex and difficult situations that require more time).

NOT obtaining data and information (through analytics) leads us to carry out a therapeutic approach towards the consequence (the symptom or sign), because unless the therapist is a fortune teller, he will not know where the cause or origin is that has led to the destabilization of all his organs and systems, and, consequently, it will be approached from a simplistic and reductionist perspective, in which the person being treated can prepare to be a long-term patient.

We have at our fingertips something wonderful in terms of what science has brought us (tests, analytics, diagnostic methods, etc.), and if we are smart enough and capable of harnessing all this knowledge and applying it from an integrative perspective (something that conventional medicine doesn't do), we can go much further and obtain much better therapeutic results.

Always remember this when you're going to try any type of diet or supplementation, and ask yourself the big question: Have I done enough lab work and testing to know what's happening to me, what my situation is, and to know in detail which diet and supplementation are best for me at this particular moment in my life, so I know what strategies (nutritional and supplementation) to follow that will allow me to be at my best, physically and emotionally?

I would like to know what was the first thing that came to your mind after asking yourself this question, but regardless of what you felt and thought, I invite you to reflect on everything I have just explained to you in this article, because if you are open-minded enough to allow new ideas and different approaches to the ones you have been doing until now to flow, you will most likely enter a new path that will take you to where you have always wanted to be, to that place of complete health where you will be able to enjoy life with greater satisfaction and fulfillment.

If at any time you feel the need to undergo a complete analytical study, and for it to be assessed and interpreted from a much more complete and in-depth perspective than what you have obtained elsewhere, I invite you to be seen by any of the therapists at Scientific Nutrition Barcelona, or to access the new service called Analysis and Report.

I personally provide this new analysis and reporting service.
I study each and every one of the tests that the person (or therapist who wants to understand their patient's condition in greater depth) has until I reach a conclusion about what could have been the cause or causes that could have led to the illness or functional disorder, and in this way I can understand what is happening to them in order to address it therapeutically.

A report that will not only help you understand what's happening internally, but will also provide a series of recommendations (dietary and supplemental) that will help the person achieve optimal health.

Access the Analysis and Report service