Food Sensitivities:
There is no one “perfect” diet for everyone because we are all unique. We use food sensitivity testing to determine what might be the best way for you to eat. Our test uses 88 different foods and looks at 4 different parts of the immune system to understand what the body may be reacting to and how this reaction may manifest, namely as an allergy or a sensitivity.
Sometimes reactions to food can be vague and seemingly not related to diet, such as joint pain or headaches or brain fog. In other circumstances it seems like you are reacting to everything you eat. To make things even more difficult, it can take up to 3 days for symptoms from a food sensitivity to manifest. Food sensitivity testing helps with the ambiguity in these situations and speeds up the process by giving you an idea of what foods are likely culprits, rather than relying solely on trial and error.
Stool testing:
The majority of your immune system resides in your intestinal tract, and so a thorough investigation into this system is a critical part of any wellness plan because inflammation stems from the immune system. Symptoms like gas, bloating, constipation or burping can all be linked to multiple factors like diet, microbiome, digestive enzymes, and you can’t always determine what the main factors are just based on symptoms.
Thus, we use stool testing to inform us about this system. So much more than a standard stool test, we look at the bacteria, yeast, parasites, digestive enzymes, inflammatory markers, and more to determine if your digestive tract could be a source of inflammation and address any and all GI symptoms.
Thyroid panel:
The thyroid is one of the most undervalued systems in the body. Most doctors just look at one marker, TSH, to determine if you thyroid is functioning. However, there is so much more to thyroid function than this one marker, especially because inflammation, lack of sleep, stress, and starvation can impact TSH and throw off the conversion of thyroid hormone into its useable form. That’s why we designed a comprehensive panel to look at all of your thyroid hormones, not just our favorite one.
Additionally, thyroid reference ranges are historically very poor, because like all reference ranges they are created based on statistics from all the patients tested, sick and well alike. So these reference ranges actually place sick patients in the normal range, when their function is actually far from normal! We at Ideal Human believe that if you’re tired with dry skin and thinning hair and other symptoms of low thyroid function, then you probably have low thyroid function and we investigate so we know how best to support you.
Adrenal Test:
Do you ever feel like your energy is low or like it ebbs and flows throughout the day? Do you wake up during the night? Do you have blood sugar issues? Do you have difficulty losing weight? All of these may be symptoms of cortisol dysregulation.
Cortisol is a stress hormone secreted by the adrenal glands. It should be high in the morning and go down gradually throughout the day. This pattern can get disrupted in times of stress resulting in symptoms like fatigue, weight gain, and sleep issues. Commonly referred to as “adrenal fatigue”, it is the result of communication between the brain, the pituitary gland, and the adrenal glands, and your doctor more accurately calls it HPA-axis dysregulation.
RBC Magnesium:
Did you know that magnesium is involved in over 350 enzymatic processes in the body? Insomnia, depression, anxiety, brain fog, fatigue, muscle cramps, heart palpitations, high blood pressure, and constipation are just some of the conditions that may be a result of magnesium deficiency. Because electrolyte levels in the bloodstream are very tightly controlled, we test the magnesium levels in red blood cells to determine whether it is deficient.
Nutrient analysis:
This test takes your white blood cells and grows them in different dishes. Each dish is missing one critical nutrient. Based on how these white blood cells respond, we can gain insight into your stores of that nutrient. Our test looks at B-vitamins as well as minerals. This test can be helpful for anyone with a history of poor digestion and thus poor absorption, fatigue, brittle/thin nails or hair, skin conditions, chemical sensitivities, and anyone who wants to optimize health.
Want to learn more? Check out the articles section of our website or schedule a 15 minute free consult to discuss with a doctor whether any of these tests would be right for you.
All of our lab tests are for educational purposes only, and are not meant to diagnose or treat disease