LAB TESTING
For your convenience, we draw blood in-house for most of our patients. Because we are an insurance-free practice, we work continually to negotiate the lowest cash prices around, and we pass those savings on to you**. We offer routine labs, and more sophisticated specialty labs, as detailed below.
**Please note that we are willing to provide you with lab orders that you may take to the lab of your choice so that you can use your insurance. However, we cannot guarantee the extent to which your insurance will cover your costs. If your insurance chooses not to cover the cost, then you will be stuck with the street price that the labs charge. In many cases, this is 4 or 5 times greater than what we would charge you for the same lab! Therefore, we generally recommend that you pay our cash prices and then submit the required paperwork for your insurance company to reimburse you. In this way, if something is not covered, you have at least saved a lot of money by paying our low cash prices.
Diagnostic and Routine Labs
We draw blood in-house for most of our patients, and results are available within 48 hours for most tests. We use the largest clinical labs in the world, to offer practically any laboratory test known, from the routine to the exotic. These laboratories are government inspected and approved, and their tests are generally covered by insurance. Using a small sample of your blood, the laboratory can perform the following tests:
These tests check for healthy bones as well as bone diseases. Tests for alkaline phosphatase, calcium, magnesium and phosphorous are some examples of bone tests.
The proper amount of iron in your body is required for good health. These tests include iron and total iron binding capacity, transferrin saturation, and ferritin. Iron tests screen for iron deficiency that can lead to anemia, or for iron overload (hemochromatosis), a potentially serious genetic disease.
These tests indicate normal or abnormal function of the kidney, the organ which filters your blood, preserving useful elements while discarding unwanted waste into the urine. Kidney function tests include albumin, creatinine, total protein and blood urea nitrogen.
These provide information about the fat in your blood which is very important in assessing your risk for heart disease. Lipid tests include cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL, or “good cholesterol”), low density lipoprotein (LDL, or “bad cholesterol”) and triglycerides.
These tests indicate normal or abnormal condition of the liver, a vital organ with many functions including the removal of toxic substances from your blood. Liver function tests include albumin, aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase, direct and total bilirubin, gamma glutamyltransferase (GGT), globulin, and lactate dehydrogenase (LD).
These tests include but are not limited to: glucose, which is useful in the detection of diabetes and hypoglycemia; and uric acid, which is useful in the detection of gout.
PANELS
Blood tests are sometimes grouped together in panels. These panels may be general in nature to help assess the overall state of your health, or they may be targeted to check for a specific disease or organ function. Although these panels include several tests, the analysis most often can be performed using a small sample of blood. Here are some examples of different groupings (panels):
The Chem-Screen Panel can screen for a wide variety of disorders. It contains tests useful in detecting bone, liver and kidney diseases. It may also assist in the diagnosis of diabetes, iron disorders and gout, and in assessing your risk for heart disease. When used for screening purposes, it provides the best value, as it reports a significant amount of information regarding your health to your physician. Chem-Screen Panels are often used as a tool by your doctor to establish your baseline (normal) and to monitor changes over time.
Maintaining water and salt balance is critical to life and good health. The electrolyte panel contains tests which are important indicators of the amount of water and salt in your body. Tests included are sodium, potassium, chloride and carbon dioxide.Some of the disorders that lead to imbalances of the electrolytes include dehydration from vomiting or diarrhea, and kidney disease. Certain drugs, especially diuretics used in treatment of heart disease, may also affect your electrolytes.
This group of tests extends the electrolyte panel to include measures of kidney function and glucose metabolism, associated with diabetes. The additional tests are creatinine, glucose and BUN.
This panel focuses on liver function. Conditions such as hepatitis (an inflammation of the liver) may be diagnosed and monitored. Gallstones may also be detected. These tests may be used to check for liver disease while you are being treated with certain drugs.
This group of tests combines most (but not all) of the tests included in the Basic Metabolic and Hepatic Panels. Bone health is also checked by evaluating calcium, phosphate and alkaline phosphatase.
Specialty Labs
Many of our patients suffer from conditions that are impossible to diagnose with traditional blood tests, and they come to us not knowing how to proceed. For these patients, we have access to a comprehensive array of specialty tests that can aid in the diagnosis and treatment for a wide range of conditions. These tests are often more expensive than traditional bloodwork, and some are not covered by insurance. We don’t want money to stand between you and the correct diagnosis, and therefore we work tirelessly to negotiate low prices with our lab partners and we keep our overhead low so that we can offer you the lowest cash prices available for these tests. Some of the tests we offer include:
Assessments of gastrointestinal function include the renowned Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis and several other tests and panels yielding important information about the ecology of the GI tract, including intestinal wall integrity, small bowel bacterial overgrowth, yeast presence, immune function, parasite activity, specific intolerances, Helicobacter infection, etc.
Assessments of immune function include the revolutionary Comprehensive Antibody Assessment, with its unique reporting of IgG antibodies for delayed reactions as well as IgE for immediate reactions to foods and other allergens.
Assessments of endocrine function evaluate the body’s ability to regulate itself through hormone action. Tests include evaluations of sex and regulatory hormones (including human growth hormone mediator IGF-1), the Bone Resorption Assessment, and a Glucose/Insulin Tolerance Test.
Metabolic assessments measure the body’s detoxification processes, oxidative stress and antioxidant defense capabilities, cell energy, and cardiovascular health (with a comprehensive array of independent markers). There is also a Cotinine Assay to identify the nicotine metaboline and pinpoint a cause of recurrent infections or allergy in children of smokers.
Nutritional assessments include the Spectracell Micronutrient Profile, Elemental Analysis (toxic and nutritional element levels), Amino Acids Analysis (of 40+ amino acids critical to healthy metabolism and detoxification), and Essential & Metabolic Fatty Acids Analysis (addressing the most widespread nutritional deficit in modern life).
Food Allergy and Sensitivity Tests
The Comprehensive Antibody Assessment is unique. It targets not only likely causes of immediate (IgE) allergic reactions, but also possible sources of delayed (IgG) reactions — the so-called “hidden allergies,” whose effects may not show up for hours or even days after exposure to an antigenic substance. Hidden allergies can trigger a wide range of symptoms in virtually every part of the body.
Using state-of-the-art ELISA technology, the Comprehensive Antibody Assessment identifies hypersensitivities to over 120 of the most commonly encountered types of food and environmental substances. Test results come with a personalized treatment plan for food allergy called True Relief: A medically advanced rotation diet guide. This innovative and flexible guide clearly explains the principles behind food allergies, rotation diet, elimination and reintroduction of foods, and allows patients to see at a glance what their problem foods and dietary choices are.
The Comprehensive Antibody Assessment is also valuable as a preventive measure for patients who are not currently experiencing the overt symptoms of an allergic reaction. It can reveal unsuspected food allergies which, if ignored, may place cumulative stress on the immune system over time — setting the stage for the development of more severe illness in the future.