74: Why You Still Feel Like Crap Even With "Normal" Lab Tests

Ever wondered why your doctor does your blood work and tells you that it’s “normal, even though you still feel like trash? 

This is because "normal" reference ranges do not mean "optimal". 

We’re talking about the difference between “normal” and “optimal”, how you can easily understand your blood or other lab results without going back to school to become a doctor, and what other options there are to see what’s actually going on, so you can truly understand why you feel like crap.

TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• Normal vs Optimal 
• How to easily understand your blood work and other lab tests
• What other tests you can do that are actually useful
• How to compare "optimal" or "functional medicine" ranges vs what your doctor calls "normal"
• Alternative options for help with your health

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Transcript

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Have you ever wondered why your doctor does your blood work in other labs and tells you that they're normal even though you still feel like trash? Today we're talking about the difference between normal and optimal. How you can easily understand your blood or any other lab results without going back to school to become a doctor. And we're going to talk about what other options there are so you can see what's really going on inside of your body and in your health to truly understand why you feel like crap. Contrary to what your doctors told you, Crohn's and colitis are reversible. Now I've helped hundreds of people reverse their bowel disease and I'm here to help you do it too because inflammation always has a root cause. We just have to find it. This is the reversing Crohn's and colitis naturally podcast. Now I do these live trainings in my Facebook group every single week and put the audios here for you to listen to. If you want to watch the video versions of these episodes just click the links in the show notes to get access to our Facebook group and YouTube channel. And for weekly updates, information, tips and tricks, you can sign up for our email list by clicking the link in the show notes below. Now if we haven't met yet, my name is Josh Dech. I'm an IBD specialist, physician's consultant, and researcher in bowel disease. I'm here to help you understand how to heal yourself naturally. And any questions you have, we're going to get to the end. If you're asking a question, what is that noise in the background? I've got a little puppy chewing a new toy we just got her and she won't let it go. She's chewing quite vigorously actually. So anyways, that's the noise in the background. It's yeah, you're hearing joy of a dog who's caught her prey. Anyways, we're getting right into it. We're talking about your labs from your doctor and they're saying you're normal even though you're not. We're splitting the difference between normal and optimal. That's the first piece of the conversation to have this entire time. So the conversation we're actually having is normal versus optimal. Let's talk about what normal really means. Normal, every state, even cities or provinces, they're going to have different ranges that they use. If you get your blood done in Pennsylvania and go to New York, for example, even though they're close together, they're going to be different. And what your doctor might flag in one state versus another is going to be different. The problem is right now we know that 92%, this is data, 92% of the population is metabolically unhealthy. That's an issue. Now if 92% is metabolically unhealthy, I'm going to turn an overhead light on here, that should help. If 92% is unhealthy, what do you think normal means? Normal takes these people, plots their data into a chart and says, what is the normal range? Because 92% are unhealthy. The 8% that you want over here, they're not even considered in the chart. So when your doctor looks at normal, they're looking at the average of your population in your area, not what is best for you. And if 92% is metabolically unhealthy, you are already sick by definition if you're quote normal. And this is a problem. As the population gets sicker, there was a time when it was probably 10% who was metabolically unhealthy. So these numbers would have been a lot wider rather than everybody being so sick. It would have been a very different range. But here's the problem. As the population gets sicker, we've gone from say 10% to 30% to what we now know today is 92% of them are metabolically unhealthy. Their system, their body is not healthy. And that means that the reference ranges actually keep adjusting. So we get a wider reference range of what we're accepting as quote normal, when it would have used to have been very narrow. This is the issue. So you can actually get sicker over time. And your doctor will keep telling you that you're normal, provided the population around you continues to also get sick. And that's messed up. This is the issue now. Medicine, healthcare, it's the conventional model. This is why functional medicine exists. The conventional model will take these numbers and continue to stick you in this box of normal when those ranges get wider and wider and wider and say it's okay. The issue now is that the reference ranges are being adjusted to meet the population who is sick, not the information we give to the population to get them back to healthy. The policies, the institutions, the systems, the information they give doctors to actually get you back to healthy does not change. They simply open the range to say this is what's acceptable. Therefore, we have a population in decline. We have chronic disease epidemics on the rise. It's becoming more and more acceptable for everyone to feel like trash because medicine isn't changing its advice. It's only changing its acceptable range. That's a problem. Give me an example. I've used this one many, many times. It's such a great example. I had a client many years back and she came in. She had thyroid issues, looked at her blood work. And the reference range at the time, okay, I'm in Alberta, Canada. And the reference range at the time was 2.0 to 4.0 for a hormone called TSH. It's Thyroid Stimulating Hormone. Basically, when your thyroid gland is underproducing thyroid, this hormone in your brain, it's a pituitary hormone, says we need more. Go ahead and make more. On the other hand, you might be producing plenty, but it maybe isn't converting properly. And then your brain will still say, oh, we're not getting in on the receptors. So, make more. It tries to flood those receptors. So, here's what happens. You have this reference range of 2 to 4. My client was 4.1. Her doctor said, well, yeah, it's definitely a little on the high side, but let's keep an eye on this. And if it gets worse, we'll address this. This was, mind you, in December. So, she came back three months later. Here she is at the beginning of March. And she was a 5.7. Well, here's an interesting conversation to have. Her doctor said, you're normal. Why? Because between December 2022 to March 23, whatever year this was, the reference changed from 2 to 4. They adjusted the data and said up to 6.5 is normal. Can you see the problem with this? What used to be considered illness is now widened. The range was 2.0 to 4.0. My client clocked in at a 4.1. They said, you're a bit high, but let's keep an eye. If it gets worse, we'll deal with it. In that time, the reference range opened up. She went to a 5.7. They added 67% onto the reference range to say this is what's acceptable. 67% greater margin of error. She comes in at 5.7. When 4.1 was caused for alarm or caused for at least to watch it, 5.7 would be alarming. Now, it's normal. And you know what happens? When your doctor gets it, and if your doctor's not truly analyzing the blood labs, you're skimming to see did the system put an H or an L? Did it go green or did it go red? If the system looks at blood work now and says 5.7 and it doesn't mark it H for high or L for low or doesn't go green or red, they don't worry. It's like, oh, well, no big deal. They just skim it. They're not analyzing your actual data. Here's why this is such a big deal. In the functional health space, for those who understand optimal health, the reference range is not 2.0 to 6.5. It's actually 1 to 2. It is 6 times less, 3 to 6 times less than what's considered the high end of normal now, at least here in Alberta. This is the issue we run into. Look at testosterone levels. You ever wonder why, especially for those of you men and women who are on, we'll say, the Gen Xers or older, you'll notice that men in the 70s and 80s typically were a lot more muscular, a lot more facial structure, bigger jaws, more facial hair at a younger age. Today, a lot more men are on the feminine side. Why? Well, back in the 70s and 80s, the reference range for testosterone would have been between about 600 and 800. They measure that one in nanograms per deciliter here. So, you have 650 to 800 was the reference range. Today, if you're like 300, they're calling it normal. So, you can have almost 30% of the high end of normal testosterone. They're still calling it normal because as the population gets sicker and sicker, there's more microplastics. There's more estrogenic compounds in the water. There's more hormone disruptors. Your ranges are getting worse and worse. Well, this doesn't just apply to sex hormones. This applies to everything, even white blood cells. Your doctor might look at them and go, yeah, they're normal. They have like a seven. They're going to call that normal. What if the high end of healthy is actually three? But because 92% of the population is chronically inflamed, we see white blood cell counts at five and seven and nine much more often when it should be like a two or three. Now, they look at two and three and go, oh, that's too low. It's a problem. Uh-uh. No, you're just not chronically inflamed, but the rest of the world is. So, the data you're actually getting is completely... I don't have a word for it. I'm sure there's one. My brain's getting stuck because the level of frustration. I'm in my bedroom. It's me, two dogs, and my wife, and I'm frustrated. I mean, imagine if I was on stage in front of 500 of you. I'd lose my marbles. That's why I do this on the other end of a camera. So, this is the issue we're running into. Normal is a statistical average, not optimal ranges for health. If you are, quote, normal to either the high or the low side, there's a good chance you're actually sick, and it's not being interpreted. So, here's the thing. Your labs, whatever you're getting, be it blood work, colonoscopies, endoscopies, stool testing, imaging, like MRIs, CTs, ultrasounds, you name it. All of these things, not only is the blood range is completely out of whack, but all these things are telling you what is happening and where it is happening, even how severe the problem is. None of these tests actually tell you why you have this. Oh, yeah, we did a colonoscopy. You have ulcerative colitis, microscopic colitis, lymphocytic colitis, pancolitis, proctitis, whatever kind of itis they want to name it. Cool. Why? Oh, it's genetics. Well, if you've been listening to more than one or two episodes here, you know that's bullshit, right? It's not genetic. It's not autoimmune at all, and it's certainly not random. So, your lab tests are telling you what is happening, where it's happening in your body. Colonoscopy, you have inflammation. That's the what? Where? This part of your bowel. Why? I don't know. It's genetic, right? This is the issue with medicine. They're giving you information as far as they need to to put you in a box. They give you a label to give you a drug. So, what I want to talk about is how do you understand your labs? Because when you can understand your current labs, what you have from your doctor even, you can then take control of your health. I'm going to give you a very easy way to do it, okay? We have the power of AI. We have the power of Grok. You have Claude. You have ChatGPT. You've got countless, dozens, if not probably hundreds of AI systems now out there. You can literally drag and drop a PDF of your blood work or screenshots from your app on your phone, drop it into the system. I'm going to read word for word a prompt you can utilize. And I actually spoke to ChatGPT today. Feels weird to say that since it's a computer. God, we're living in the matrix. Anyway, I spoke to ChatGPT. I said, how can I get you to interpret traditional medical labs in a functional way that helps a user understand that this is a reference range and this is what it could mean, what do I look for, et cetera? So, I'm going to give you word for word. You can pause this. You can press rewind later. You can play it back if you're on the live. Just come back later and you'll catch it on the podcast or the YouTube video later. Word for word. I'm going to read it off of my sheet here. This is what you can tell ChatGPT when you drag and drop your blood work into it. Say to it, interpret these blood labs using optimal functional ranges. It's important. Optimal functional ranges, not just conventional reference ranges. Identify patterns that may relate to bowel inflammation, immune dysregulation, microbial imbalance, nutrient deficiencies, toxic burden, and stress physiology. Explain what each marker suggests, how they connect together, and possible root drivers for my condition. Keep it educational, not diagnostic, and then attach the labs. You just drag your PDF in. Now, if that feels like a lot to go back and type in, you can literally rewind this. Say, ChatGPT, I'm going to play you an audio clip. Transcribe it. You press play. It will just take my voice, put the information into itself, then you drag and drop the PDF. It is literally play and drag, and now you have some information. When you understand how to play with ChatGPT or Grok or whatever other AIs you're using, you'll have some information to be able to help yourself now. This will start giving you the why, not just the what and the where. The problem is, you have to be very careful. When you plug into AI systems, you do need to know that if you prompt it with anything, it'll often tell you what you want to hear. If you go into and say, give me a famous inspirational quote about underwater basket weaving, it'll give you a quote. Then you say, cite this for me. It's, oh no, I just made it up, but I told you to give me a famous quote. So, AI will get things screwed up. You have to know what you're doing. You get yourself in hot water. You can't ask it for medical advice, but at least you can start to get to some knowledge when you know what you're doing. This is why I say, drag and drop. Use AI and talk about functional ranges. If you're like, you know what, it's a lot of work. I'd rather just get some clean blood work. Here are some other options for you. You can go, Mark Hynan created what is now known as Function Health. I imagine it'll make him a billionaire, but Function Health is this amazing system where you pay a couple hundred dollars a year and you get what equates to thousands of dollars worth of blood work. It's really amazing and it's within the US right now. I'm not sure if it's other countries, but it'll give you ranges and interpretive information. Here's the ranges of your health, your blood cells, your nutrient status, whatever it is that you pay for. Here's the ranges. Here's what this may mean. Here's how to interpret and understand. It's very user-friendly. So, Function Health is a great one. You can get other systems. If you are, let's say you have a background or you're very well-read. I brought many clients in who have come to see me for help who arguably know more than their doctor about some things because they're very well-read over years of dealing with it. Then you can use systems like what's something called Optimal Diagnostics. It's Optimal DX or Optimal Diagnostics. You can put your own information. You have to type it in manually, but you can use all your blood information, punch it in, and then it gives you reference ranges and optimizations of certain things and says, these markers combined are indicators for early autoimmune or early Hashimoto. So, be cautious. Gives you things to start diving into. And guess what? You can take that back to ChatGVT or Grok or AI. So, you can use the free tools on hand. If you want other systems that are a bit more user-friendly, if you're not very well-read, InsideTracker, LabTestAnalyzer, WellnessFX. There's different things you can drag and drop your blood work into, and it'll interpret it not just with high and low, like your doctor's going for a range that's the width of the Grand Canyon, but it'll actually give you information you need to say, here's what is healthy and optimal, not just quote, normal. Because we've established now, normal is sick. Now, if you want to get some real information, because so far, right, all the stuff we've talked about tells you what, tells you where and how bad it is. It's not telling you why you're sick. So, when I bring clients in, sometimes we do testing, sometimes we don't need it. We can either skirt the system. Sometimes your history and your symptoms and all that tells us enough information. Sometimes, we will run other lab tests. I'd say one in five, maybe, end up getting some kind of lab test done to whatever degree. But there are lots of great labs that you either need a practitioner for, or you can just get yourself. And there's interpretive data on there. Now, again, it's not always perfect. So, let's say you go to a company that I use quite often. They're called Vibrant Wellness. Big fan. I utilize their stuff. I even have my own blood labs and stuff done from them. So, Vibrant Wellness. They're California-based, US-wide, and they ship to many other countries, like Eastern Europe, Australia. It's really cool. So, Vibrant Wellness. Let's say you go there, and you go in and get what's called the gut zoomer. This is a really comprehensive lab. It's like a 24-page report. It'll go through hundreds of different bacterium in your gut to see what's in and out of balance. It'll go through inflammatory markers. It'll go through and screen viruses, and parasites, and fungus, and all kinds of cool stuff. Not diagnostic, but a huge amount of information. And in there, it'll even say, this marker, MMP9, is a cytomatrix, this and that, blah, blah, blah. Try omegas, and here's some interventions. It'll go through and say, this bacteria is really low. It's typically a byproduct of this environmental issue. Try taking this probiotic. So, it'll actually give you actionable steps. Is it perfect? No. I'd say it's 40% to 60% good for someone with bowel disease, because context matters. But what I'm saying is, you can get labs done. I think they just raised the price, probably 550 bucks for this big report of everything going inside your body. But again, context matters. I'm not saying everyone should do a gut zoomer. I don't do them very often, because a screwed up microbiome is a symptom. It's like inflammation is a symptom. Your gut microbiome doesn't screw itself up, right? So, that's another conversation. But you can get other lab testing done. Here's a diagnostic test. It is called a total toxic burden. This one will measure mold. It'll measure heavy metals. It'll even measure environmental toxins. So, microplastics, and glyphosate, BPAs, all kinds of cool stuff. So, this total toxic burden will tell you, is there mold in my system that's coming out? Are there heavy metals that's coming out? So, just a simple urine test, right? Environmental toxins that are in my environment, things inflaming my body. This is the what, right? This is the why. This gives you information on the how. If you were to get a combination, it's a common one we'll do. We'll get both of these tests done together. They do a little bundle deal. The price just went up. It's about 800 bucks. But it'll get your entire gut microbiome profile, which is the symptom. But if you look at this and go, oh shit, I'm full of mold. I got pesticides and glyphosate and all kinds of chemicals and environmental toxins and all kinds of stuff in my body. Well, that could screw up my microbiome. So, now I know what is happening, but now I know the why. This is what matters. Going into your doctor, the information they give you only gives you information far enough to understand the what is happening, how bad it is, and where it is. This stuff tells you why. And that's what matters most when it comes down to actually getting the help. Now, if you want to go a step further, if you're working with a professional, there are all kinds of other stuff you can do if you're a health professional yourself or again are very well read. I'm not a medical doctor, but I'll smoke any doctor who wants to have a conversation about this when it comes down to what does and doesn't work because I spent so much time in it. And if you're one of those people, you can go to somewhere like Cyrex Labs. They have an amazing panel called the lymphocyte panel. It measures most of your entirety of your immune system, which identifies patterns. And it comes with, when you get your lab test done, they're about 400 bucks, and it comes with an option. You can actually get on a call with one of the doctors and they will interpret it for you and say, here's what I think is going on. It's amazing. I actually had one of my guys, we've gone through mold and all kinds of toxins in his system and found a ton of problems. And he's probably 85% better, but he's been stuck. So, I got this lymphocyte panel done. I got on a call with one of the doctors. We spent about an hour just going through everything. And ultimately, it came out, he says, it looks like there might be some kind of latent virus in here. Asked me if he's ever had a herpes virus. So, I called him up and I said, hey man, what happened here? I said, we think it's a herpes virus. He says, that makes sense. He says, when I actually got Crohn's, I kissed the wrong girl, got a cold sore, and within a week, it went to my bowel and I got diagnosed with Crohn's. I'm like, it's a lingering virus. So now, that's the last 15%. So, this information can be amazing. They also offer what's called an Array 12, which goes through viruses and mycobacterium. You can get organic acid testing as well, which some are better than others, but it tells you mold patterns and detox patterns and all kinds of reasons why you might be sick if you know what you're looking at. Here's the thing. This conversation got a little bit deep into the science and the nitty gritty of it all, but not every conversation can be topical, light, and fluffy. We need to give you some hard information, and today is that information. Your blood work and your tests from your doctor are only giving you the what, the where, and the how bad. They're not telling you the why. If you want the why, there are other tests you can go after. So, this is something to consider for you. Now, if you really want the help, again, go back to AI, ask it for help, but it's far from perfect. I would argue sometimes dangerous if you don't know what you're doing, so please be very careful. But if you want to get some help or to talk about how you can do that. Now, drop your questions in. I'm going to pop right over to those right away here. Any questions, now's the time to do it. And while you're putting your questions in the chat, I'm going to show you how you can get some help. If this feels overwhelming to you and you want to know the why, you're like, man, this whole thing, yeah, I spent a decade doing this. That's fine, and you're welcome to spend the time to. I'd encourage it. But if you want to skip that, you don't want to take it 10 years to figure out what's going on, here's what you can do. This is easy. If you're on Instagram or on Facebook right now, you're live, there is a two-step process to getting help. All you got to do, you're going to comment the word solution and send me a direct message. Drop into my inbox, send me a DM. Comment the word solution, I'll see it. 30-ish percent of those who comment the word, you may not even realize you have privacy settings on. You'll comment and you'll never hear from me and go, oh, what a jerk. No, I tried. We just can't message you because you have privacy turned off. So comment the word solution and send me a message. Just say solution and we'll talk about what we can do to get you some help. It's that easy. If you're watching on YouTube, you're on Facebook and you're looking for help right now, there are links down below. You can send me an email. You can reach out anytime. You can book a call with me directly. The call is free. All I'm going to do is sit down and go. Right now at the time of recording, I'm doing those calls and you'll talk to me about how you can work with my entire team to get you some help. And that conversation is just simple as, let's figure out where this came from. How did it start? And nine out of 10 times on those calls, I will be able to tell your exact story, how this started, how it got here, the layers that are involved and what we need to do to actually get you some help. And it's just going to click. You're going to go, holy, like if anybody just told me this years ago, you wouldn't have had to suffer this long. That conversation is free. If you're looking for help and you're serious about it, I'll take my time and do that with you. So now's the time I'm going to turn over to questions. Thank you so much. We're going to pop over to Facebook and Instagram. Karen is asking, what are optimal numbers for thyroid in testing? TSH, free T3, T4. TSH, I could use an example up here that I was looking at the optimal range, at least for Canada. What I would do is I would look at Function Health or other websites because Canadian numbers, US numbers are all different. And frankly, I get my metrics mixed up all the time. When it comes down to bloods, I still use my reference sheets. So I know what optimals are because I don't have the numbers memorized because there's different systems. US and Canada use different metrics and there's an imperial and a metric system and it's a whole thing. So I can't tell you optimal ranges to look at for thyroid hormones specifically. That's not my specialty, but I would have to go back to my reference charts to look for that. But honestly, ask AI, what's the functional healthy range versus quote normal? Anything over at Instagram? Yeah, so there's a question about a test for viruses. Yeah, so if you're looking for a test for viruses, it depends on what kind of viruses you want. So the question is, is there a test for viruses? Got it. So easy enough. If you're looking for a test for viruses, yes, your doctor can screen for some. Sometimes we'll do viral testing in stool. That's helpful, but it won't always come up. Sometimes, again, that lymphocyte panel that I mentioned, it's from Cyrex. That's C-Y-R-E-X. That panel, it's about $400 and it screens your entire immune system, but doesn't check specifically for viruses. But a well-trained specialist will look at that and go, here are the patterns I'm seeing. I see this and these are that virus. That's helpful. They do offer what's called the Array 12, and that will screen for 12. Maybe it's more than 12. I just checked it out today. I think it might be like 20, but it checks for very common viruses, your Epstein-Barr, CMV, et cetera, herpes zoster viruses. Again, even mycobacterium, which are really thick cell wall bacteria, which tend to be resistant to drying and antibiotics and stuff. So it gets a lot of really interesting information. There are viral labs out there, but most of these are paid out of pocket. These functional facilities who do these, you typically ought to pay a couple hundred dollars out of pocket because your insurance isn't going to check. Your doctor may not screen. But if you can get enough rationale and go to your doctor and say, I'm worried about lingering viruses, they may very well do that for you. But here's the caveat. If you've got EBV, CMV, herpes zoster, even some Lyme bacteria or something floating around, our first job isn't to go with antivirals and try to kill the virus. Everybody, probably 90% of the population or more, depends on the doctors you ask, has Epstein-Barr. Whoop-dee. Why isn't it a problem for the 90%? Why is it a problem for you? Well, there are other things already burdening your immune system, which are combating your body's ability to actually handle or deal with that virus. So if that Epstein-Barr, that herpes, that CMV, whatever it is, is breaking through, it's because your immune system has its hands tied dealing with something else. Or your immune system has been compromised, the signals aren't getting there. So instead of trying to hammer with antivirals because you're going to get sick again in the future, figure out why your immune system is so bound up that it can't handle these very common viruses in the first place. That's where I go before I start trying to figure out what virus do we have. What is the top of funnel issue? A breakthrough virus is a symptom. Just like a gut microbiome that's all screwed up is a symptom. It's a downstream issue. We have to go upstream and figure out what's causing that dysfunction in the first place. Karen has a question. Parasite testing, which ones are best or are they even worth it? Should I assume that I have parasites and treat accordingly? Yeah. I mean, basically, if you're alive and breathing, you got parasites. The question is, are they pathogenic? Because not all parasites are bad. Right? Like bacteria, there are some that'll kill you, some that are very beneficial, like most of them inside of your body. Parasites, there are some that are highly beneficial, some that are highly toxic. So the question isn't how do I kill everything always? It's are they a problem for me and why can't my body regulate it? Are there infectious parasites in most of us? I would argue that everybody should do a parasite cleanse at least once or twice a year, if not three to four times like a lot of other countries do. That being said, with bowel disease, I would not start with a parasite cleanse. There's a lot of work to do beforehand and you can throw yourself in the hospital if you don't know what you're doing, especially if you go too hard too fast or you don't prep your body first to proper drainage, immune control. I've seen it dozens of times, everybody wants to get the $30 parasite cleanse and end up in the hospital. Not worth it and not always priority. There's other things to look at first. One of my favorite things to hear as an IBD specialist is something along the lines of, I learned more from you in 15 minutes than from my doctor in 15 years. And if this for the first time is really starting to click and it's starting to make sense, you're going, wait a minute, this might be reversible. I think there's more that I can do. This condition came out of nowhere. It happened to me out of the blue. I was healthy for 10, 20, 30, 40 years and suddenly I wasn't? And you're telling me there's no cause? If you're understanding finally that there is a cause, that something is driving this, I want to invite you to check the link in the show notes below. Send me an email, ask a question, see if a program is a right fit for you. Because I promise you, this doesn't have to be a lifelong sentence. You're not doomed to this and IBD can be reversed.