The Dr. Josh Axe Show - What Your Doctor ISN'T TELLING YOU About Your Bloodwork

Starting point is 00:00:00 You've been doing everything right, eating clean, exercising, but somehow you're still not feeling your best. Your energy's dragging, your memory is slipping, and it's frustrating because you know there's more to your potential. Well, what if the issue isn't just in your routine, but it's deep down inside your cells? You know, you're investing in the best supplements working out regularly and sticking to a clean diet. But if your cells are stuck in what's called cell danger response, all the hard work might not be paying off as it should. Think of your cells like a house under renovation. You can bring in the highest quality materials like the best supplements in clean foods. But if the workers inside the house or are on lockdown because of a storm, nothing gets done.

Starting point is 00:00:48 The materials just pile up unused. That's what happens when your cells are in CDR. They can't fully use the good stuff you're giving them. Getting out of CDR, the cell danger response, is the key to unlocking your body's full potential. When your cells are no longer in protective mode, they can finally use the nutrients, hormones, and energy you're working so hard to provide. That's when everything starts to click. Your energy improves. Your workouts become more efficient and you start to feel like yourself again.

Starting point is 00:01:22 Go to beyondbloodwork.com to learn how to break free from cell danger response and make the effort pay off. Hey there, welcome the Dr. Josh Axe show. I am your host, Dr. Axe. And each and every week on this show, we dive deep into the science and principles behind how to grow in body, mind, and spirit and take your health and your life to the next level. On today's show, I'll be talking about how your blood work is likely deceiving you and the type of blood work you should do instead or listen to your body. and follow what it's telling you. You know, many people today are getting things like hormone panels or cholesterol tests or other exams and they think, well, okay, my blood work says I'm normal and so I don't need to do

Starting point is 00:02:09 anything else, even though you don't feel well and you know something's wrong. Today I'll explore what blood tests actually show you what they often miss and why understanding cellular health is crucial for your well-being. Before I dive in, though, make sure to subscribe here to the podcast and join my weekly newsletter at the link in the show notes. Here's the reality. The U.S. spends approximately $95 billion annually on clinical lab tests, and it's expected to reach 110 billion by 2029. These often cost hundreds to thousands of dollars per year, especially for those with chronic conditions requiring frequent testing. I can tell you from having a mom who's had cancer, my mom spent thousands and thousands of thousands of dollars every year on blood work and other

Starting point is 00:03:05 types of medical exams. And so think about this. Anytime you go to your doctor, they're making money anytime they recommend another blood test. Now if you're a person who is going into your doctor and they're just recommending test after test, medication after medication, you're not in a health system, you're in a system that's created to keep you sick and just make a lot of money for pharmaceutical companies and testing companies, and it's not benefiting you. Around 14 billion lab tests are performed annually in the U.S. with tests driving around 70% of the medical treatment decisions. Now, listen, I'm not against lab work. In fact, I've recommended many labs myself over the years, But what I try and do with patients is have them only do the lab tests that are necessary

Starting point is 00:03:54 and spend more of the money on food, lifestyle changes, and other things that are natural so they can save money and actually get better results. Because the reality is the testing, listen, in certain cases you want to do testing. But the reality is a lot of the tests today aren't actually looking for the right thing. They're not actually looking for what's at the root of what's making you sick. And listen to this, a recent study or exam was done by Avalon Healthcare Solutions, and they determined that at least 30% of lab tests are unnecessary or even inappropriate leading to wasted spending and potentially misleading results.

Starting point is 00:04:34 So think about that, 30%. I think that number could be as high as 50% in some cases. The tests that are being recommended are unnecessary or inappropriate. And so people might be spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on lab tests. and throwing their money down the toilet. I want to walk you through right now some of the most common blood tests that are done on a regular basis.

Starting point is 00:04:56 And I just want to go through and just a couple of them, some of the deficiencies that they have and why they might be a little bit misleading. The first one here is a basic metabolic panel. This test blood sugar, calcium, electrolytes, and kidney function. One of the issues here is that oftentimes these things don't get out of range

Starting point is 00:05:16 until something is very, very off. Also, when you look at blood sugar, for instance, there are more accurate. A continuous blood glucose monitor is so much more accurate and would be so much better for every patient than testing for blood sugar in this way. Because, again, it's not giving you the whole picture. It doesn't tell you what foods are impacting your blood sugar, how stress is impacting your blood sugar. It doesn't tell you any of that. So what I would much, much rather have someone do is a continual blood glucose monitor than a test like this. The other thing is a CBC.

Starting point is 00:05:51 This measures red and white blood cells. It measures hemoglobin and platelets. And this can be good to know, but it's not the issue with most people. I see constantly people doing tests for this. And I guarantee that this is one of those tests that is oftentimes inappropriate. I know, for instance, I know quite a few doctors from the past that every patient that came in, whether it's indicated or not, they had every patient do a BMP and a CBC, every single one. And they'd also have them do a lipid panel, which is looking for cholesterol levels,

Starting point is 00:06:26 even if it wasn't indicated at all. So people are spending hundreds or, in some cases, thousands of dollars on these tests, when there are better tests available. The other thing is a thyroid test, TSA, T3, T4. Sometimes we see that there's not a, we're kind of missing out on, what's the conversion of some of these hormones? Now, by the way, again, I do want to say some of these tests are valuable. The problem is, is that a lot of these tests are not showing you the things that are most important

Starting point is 00:06:57 or what's causing the imbalance in the first place. Let me give an example. If you go and get a thyroid test and you notice that one of these markers is off, okay, then what do you do? Well, right now, what happens is somebody just gets prescribed to medication? Now, for certain doctors who know more of what they're talking about, they'll understand, well, we need to support the conversion of T4 to T3. And so there's some very specific things we need to do in order to do that.

Starting point is 00:07:26 But most doctors today are just, hey, here's synthroid and that's it. And so in a lot of cases, these tests are created to sell medications. Remember that. So I want to walk you through just a few of the most common blood tests and why they fall short. The first is a BMP, a basic metabolic panel. And this tests things like blood sugar, calcium, electrolytes, and kidney function. The real problem here is that it can be influenced by temporary conditions like dehydration and even recent meals.

Starting point is 00:07:54 And it doesn't give you a real detail on metabolic health, heart function, or even hormone imbalance. That's why if we're going to test blood sugar, I really like a continuous blood glucose monitor that tells you exactly how every different food impacts your body, how stress impacts your body, and what it's doing to your insulin and blood sugar in real time. So if you have a choice, of course you're going to do a continuous blood glucose motor. Here's the reality, though, most doctors today are still recommending BMPs for nearly everybody, whether they need it or not. And a similar test is a CBC, a complete blood count.

Starting point is 00:08:32 And this measures red and white blood cells, hemoglobin, and platelets. And this is good for indicating if somebody has, has a general infection. The problem is it also doesn't necessarily indicate the range of different types of infections or if it's stress or even inflammation. And the reality is it doesn't pinpoint the actual cause. And that's what I want to say about all these blood tests I'm about to get into. They indicate that maybe something's off, but not what's at the root cause of it. Like the other tests I'll talk about here in a minute of what you should do instead. Or in a lot of cases, you don't need blood work at all.

Starting point is 00:09:11 You just need to work with a good practitioner and make changes yourself. Number three here is a lipid panel, checking for total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, and triglycerides. Now, this provides really limited information about your cardiovascular risk. In fact, there are several studies that show that these blood tests are nearly completely useless, that a lot of the things people are looking for, such as total cholesterol, do not coincide. with mortality at all. And so I think it gives you a really incomplete picture. And typically this test is just used

Starting point is 00:09:47 to drive the sale of statin drugs in most cases, as I've seen. Number four here is liver and kidney function tests. I think the big thing here is it doesn't give us any real long-term insight into liver or kidney health, which is what we'd want to see. And the fifth thing here, which I do recommend in some cases,

Starting point is 00:10:07 but it's a hormone panel looking at estrogen. estrogen, testosterone, and other hormones. I do think in most hormone panels that are run, they're not specific enough, especially for women. Women's hormones fluctuate constantly throughout the day, and oftentimes we can't necessarily pinpoint where the actual problem is. But I do think in some cases doing some type of hormone panel that's looking at things specifically and then taking that blood work and going to a functional medicine doctor

Starting point is 00:10:37 that really knows what they're talking about, that knows what herbs and vitamins and in some cases, things like peptides are needed to be recommended in order to bring the hormones back into balance. And again, as I said earlier, I think that many of these blood tests are run too frequently in order to make money off the blood work itself and then to prescribe a medication

Starting point is 00:11:04 rather than helping somebody get to the root cause of their problem. And that's why there are tests that I like much more. Here's some things that we often miss on blood work as well that I want to mention that if you want to get healthy, you have to pay attention to. The first here is we need to look at cellular health. Blood tests focus on what circulating in the blood, not necessarily what's happening inside the cells where actual nutrient use and energy production occur. Issues at the cellular level are typically not reflected in standard blood markers. Here's another big one, mitochondria function. Your mitochondria, these are the powerhouses of your cells. They produce energy in your cell and for your whole body. These are crucial for overall health.

Starting point is 00:11:49 Most routine blood tests don't assess mitochondrial health or energy production. Toxins and heavy metals, common blood tests do not usually detect environmental toxins or heavy metals that can be impacted. And then other things like inflammation. You know, now some, doctors will, and more in the functional medicine space, will do a C-reactive protein test, testing for inflammation, but oftentimes it's not being done. And what's even better is what's known as a high C-reactive protein test, which is even more sensitive. And then micronutron deficiencies. This is one of the biggest things that are missing today. Let me give you an example of why this is important. You might go in and you might get a hormone panel done. Let's say

Starting point is 00:12:33 you're feeling tired and we notice that your hormones are off, specifically your thyroid hormones, and then you're diagnosed with hypothyroidism. And then what most doctors will do is they will then prescribe you a drug like synthroid. Well, why do you have hypothyroidism in the first place? Why is your, you know, why are your T3 and T4 levels? Why are those low? Why are those off? That's a good question, right? Well, what we might be able to tell more from is a micro, nutrient test, which we, let's say we do the test and we notice your B12 levels low, and your folate is low, and your B2 and your B6, and selenium and iodine and zinc, we actually see all these nutrients are low. And then we get you on all the right nutrients.

Starting point is 00:13:22 We get those levels up every single time I've done that nearly, almost every single time, I've seen improvements in hypothyroidism. By getting the root cause, by just taking vitamins and minerals. what happens is, again, a lot of the blood work today is catered towards prescribing medications, not vitamins, supplements, and herbs and things that are natural. So this is where the real deficiency lies with the blood tests. Now, I want to walk you through the test that I most commonly read in practice, but I also do want to mention this. In a lot of cases, I don't necessarily do blood work up front.

Starting point is 00:13:58 And the reason being is, it's not always necessary, and it's oftentimes, I can save my patient's money by not doing a blood test first. Because oftentimes if we could go, let me say this. If I have somebody come in and they just, there's a lot wrong. The diet they're doing is not right. They fill out a health history. And I notice just certain things are off. What I typically like to do sometimes the first 90 days is make radical changes in the diet and the lifestyle and give some supplements.

Starting point is 00:14:28 And then afterwards, if certain things aren't better, then we run blood work. And then we can tell what's going on. But typically, if you want to optimize what you're doing financially, you don't always want to do it first. Now, listen, in some cases you do, but in a lot of cases, you don't. Because you might see massive improvements with things we do in the first 90 days. And then sometimes it's better to do blood work. But it really depends upon the person.

Starting point is 00:14:53 This is why most people want to work with a practitioner in order to, and here's the thing. You want to work with a practitioner that is practiced. functional medicine or cellular medicine or some form of natural medicine to help you with this. Okay. If you're working with a conventional medical doctor who has not been trained on nutrition, they get zero hours in school, they don't know anything about diet, they don't know any of this. The only thing that's ever going to happen is they're going to do more blood work, more blood work, more

Starting point is 00:15:23 blood work, and prescribe more and more and more medications. And it's going to take years off your life. It's going to harm you not help you. And so the problem with a lot of this blood work today is it's part of the conventional medical system. And it literally keeps you in that same medical system rather than breaking free of it. But if you're going to do tests, here's one of the first ones I like it. It's a micronutrient test, also known as an organic acids test. And this test measures your levels of vitamins, minerals, in certain cases, amino acids and antioxidants in your body.

Starting point is 00:15:57 and it provides insights into deficiencies or imbalances that can impact your energy production and your organ function. And so being able to tell the exact nutrient you're deficient in is so helpful. If you're deficient in selenium or B12, that's going to impact your energy and you're aging in a really big way. And so being able to tell that to me is so much more helpful than getting a cholesterol test done. Okay. So micronutrient test is typically one of the most common ones I recommend. The next one is a gut microbiome test, looking at the good and bad bacteria in your gut. This test analyzes the composition of gut bacteria to assess your digestive health, your immune function,

Starting point is 00:16:38 and your risk of inflammation or disease. It helps in balancing the gut microbiome, which of course is important for digestion, immunity, mental health, IBS, obesity, autoimmune disease, almost every health problem you can imagine. So a gut microbiome test is another one I like in certain cases. I also like a longevity test such as glycan age. Glycon age tests and measures your glycons. These are sugar molecules attached to proteins, which change with age and reflect your biological age more than your chronological age.

Starting point is 00:17:08 You could also test for your telomere length, right? So we're looking at your aging markers. And now let me say this about this test. This test is less prescriptive, but at least it gives us a gauge to, to strive for. For instance, if I have somebody come in and they do a glycan age test, and let's say they're 45 years old,

Starting point is 00:17:34 but it says they're 50 years old. Well, now we want to make some major makeover changes and do some things specifically supporting longevity in cellular regeneration, and then we want to do that test again. Let's call it six months from now, a year from now, see what they're at, and hopefully get them from 45 age down to 40 or 35. but we want to take years off their life. That's the goal, right? What's our goal? We want to be healthy

Starting point is 00:17:56 in our 80s, running around with our grandkids. And so that's why I like this test is it's less prescriptive, but it's more letting you know where you're at and it gives us to something to strive for in the future. I also like methylation tests in certain instances being able to tell, especially if somebody is not turning folate into methylfolate, the usable form of folate properly. So I think that can be a good test. Hormonal panels that are more specific, looking at estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, progesterone, these levels, I like in a lot of cases, oxidative stress test can tell you what's causing inflammation in the body. Maybe you're antioxidant deficient. So I kind of would say that's very similar in its benefits to a micronutrient

Starting point is 00:18:42 test. There's a fatty acid test in a similar way that'll tell you where your omega-3s to omega-6s are. There's a high C-reactive protein test, which I like for inflammation. That's looking more at cellular inflammation in the body. And so if there are tests that I like, these are the ones I like the most. But again, I want to say this. For many, many people, you don't need to spend money on blood work. You need to spend money and invest in your time more than anything is what you need to invest in doing things that help heal your body at a cellular level. Investing. Invest. Investing investing in the right foods, the whole foods, investing in things where you can get more exercise

Starting point is 00:19:23 and better exercise. Those are the things that you first and foremost want to invest in is things that reduce stress, things that help your diet, things that help with exercise. That would oftentimes, your money would be put to better use in that way. Now, I want to talk about three key principles. They're important to remember as we talk about

Starting point is 00:19:43 how to truly heal your body, and that, that are really important than even knowing about your blood work. The first is, if you want to be healthy, you need to support cellular energy production. Your body needs something called ATP. And the primary energy source for yourselves is ATP. It's what helps your body heal and function optimally. And without sufficient ATP, recovery and overall health can be compromised.

Starting point is 00:20:07 Now, I want to give you an example of what this is akin to. When you look at the oldest form, or let me say one of the oldest forms, but probably what I believe is, the most impactful form of ancient medicine today. It's traditional Chinese medicine. And traditional Chinese medicine, the biggest thing they focused on was typically something called Chi. That's spelled QI, Chi.

Starting point is 00:20:31 And this is the acupuncture. This is what it's founded off of, is moving chi and energy throughout the body, helping bring balance to body. And there's other things as well. They look to treat. But that's one of the primary factors. The word for chi in Chinese medicine

Starting point is 00:20:46 is going to be, or in Western medicine, is going to be ATP synthesis by your cells, or it could also be akin to the health of your adrenal glands. But it's very, very similar, but it was probably the number one thing that acupuncturist and ancient medical doctors in Asia looked at in order to bring somebody's health back. For instance, it's one of the key factors at reversing hypothyroidism. It's one of the key factors at reversing diabetes. It's one of the key factors at boosting your energy and just making you mentally strong. And your body requires a lot of energy throughout the day.

Starting point is 00:21:25 In fact, your brain alone takes up 25% of all of your body's energy on any given day. So thinking a lot or if you're emotionally imbalanced or going through stress in life or have some sort of fear, that takes a major, major toll on your body. Have you ever been, let's say you didn't work out, you maybe even slept okay at night, but you get to the end of the day. because you had to think a lot or you're going through an emotional, stressful time, and you're just exhausted. And maybe it didn't happen for one day. Maybe it's been going on for months or years.

Starting point is 00:21:53 Your body is just depleted. That's because cellular energy can be impacted by emotional stress just as much as it can physical stress. And if you don't have the energy to get through the day, your body doesn't have the energy it needs in order to heal, in order to power your organs properly, and in order to regenerate and reverse disease. So my point here is this, is that if you are going and getting blood work done, you get your CBC done, you get your hormone panel done, you get your cholesterol level done, okay, you get that information.

Starting point is 00:22:30 Okay. And it all comes back normal. Well, then what do you do? This is why, again, just educating yourself and learning more about these principles is much more beneficial than getting the standard tests done today in most cases. But again, first principle you want to focus on is you want to boost your cellular energy. And you're going to do that by taking adaptogenic herbs. You're going to do that by supporting the health of your adrenals and thyroid, by getting more green leafy vegetables, more berries, by more meats and organ meats and bone breath, more nutrient dense foods in your diet. Exercise and doing things that you love to do, hobbies that you enjoy, that boost cellular energy, having a purpose in life, growing spiritually,

Starting point is 00:23:13 connecting with God, all of those things actually help boost your chi, according to Chinese medicine, or in Western medicine, your ATP and your cellular energy. So that's the first thing you want to focus on. The second is oftentimes we need to detoxify ourselves. We are exposed to so many toxins on a regular basis, especially from chemicals like glyphosate. These chemicals, and sometimes forever chemicals, kill the good bacteria in our gut, damage our gut microbiomes, then burden our liver, which then affects every part of your body. And so clearing toxins from ourselves by drinking more green juices or eating more steam vegetables, getting more fruit, drinking more water and staying better hydrated, detoxifying

Starting point is 00:23:57 negative emotions is healing to your body. And the third is making sure you're getting essential nutrients. Providing your body with the right nutrients, vitamins, and minerals, support cellular energy and overall health. And so if you're saying to yourself, okay, I don't know what to do with my health right now. maybe I should go get some blood work done. The first thing I would say is let's change your lifestyle first. Let's get you on the right diet that's right for you.

Starting point is 00:24:22 By the way, here's something, this is why I recommend so many people find the right type of practitioner. You are a unique individual. Let's say your friend did a carnivore diet. Well, that might have worked for them, that 1% of the population that that diet's right for, that might work for them. It may not work for you or your friends are vegan. and if they feel like it works for them, it probably doesn't.

Starting point is 00:24:45 But let's say they feel like it works for them, okay? And then you try it. That might be the worst diet you can ever be on. I'll tell you this. I have had so many patients over the years who their friend was, again, going vegan, and they decided to do it. And they did it for a year or two, and they absolutely destroyed their health because of it. I mean, I've seen this far too often.

Starting point is 00:25:06 And then they got pulled in the medical model because it's, well, now I'm going to run a bunch of blood work and see what happens. and it's all the wrong blood work. So they don't know what's going on versus in the first place saying, okay, I'm going to go and see somebody who's the right type of doc for me. And they're going to be able to tell me exactly what to eat, what to do, lay out a plan that's personalized. Did you know that throughout history, as I talked about Chinese medicine, everybody that went in to see a Chinese medicine practitioner, they would look at their tongue. It's called tongue mapping.

Starting point is 00:25:33 They'd look at their skin. And they would also look at all their symptoms. Their history, see what's going on, spend time doing that. And then they would say, okay, I'm going to customize a plan for you. It was personalized medicine. That's what you should be getting. Oftentimes you're going to doctors today.

Starting point is 00:25:51 Here's what they're doing. They get your health history. They look at it for about 30 seconds. And they say, oh, well, okay, well, you're having maybe some, you know, you're tired. Okay, let's run a horse, you know, let's do this panel or this person 70 and this. Okay, we just need to run a cholesterol test. Let's run these five tests. It's going to cost a few thousand dollars, but we'll make money doing it.

Starting point is 00:26:13 it's the only thing I know to do. That's the reality of what's happening most of the time versus you're going to see a practitioner who actually cares about you, who's going to look at your health history, who's going to take care of you like a family member, and they're going to customize something for you that's specific to you. That's what we need in most cases. Or, and then once they get some time saving you money by actually long term, typically, by creating the right program for you.

Starting point is 00:26:38 And then let's say you get three or four months in and your 50 or 70 percent best. then maybe they run a little bit of blood work that is very specific to what you have going on and then we find even more insights that we can change and modify and then see even better results from there. That's typically the way I think most people should work. Now again, there are times when I want to run blood work right away. Okay. Like I had somebody coming with mold recently and I thought, gosh, I really want to see what's going on their gut microbiome and make some recommendations there. But listen, in a lot of cases, if you just address. your cellular health via focusing on cellular energy, detoxifying your cell and supplying the

Starting point is 00:27:19 essential nutrients to your cell, that's what's truly going to help you experience a breakthrough. So here's the thing to know. Number one, most of the time, you don't have to have these complex conventional blood tests. Typically, they're not that helpful. They almost never get to the root cause of the issue. Number two, you need to focus on eating foods for longevity. More fruits like pomegranates and blueberries. More vegetables, typically that are cooked, that are nutrient dense, more organic meat. Doing those foods can be transformational for you and extend your lifespan. Number three, you want to take the right supplements to address nutritional deficiencies. If you know you're a poor methylator or you have low energy, take a food-based, be complex.

Starting point is 00:28:05 If you've got gut issues, take probiotics, take the right supplements for you. Number four, address mindset and emotional issues. it is just as important as the food you eat. If you can focus on building more of a purpose in your life, if you can focus on spiritual growth and getting rid of anxiety, if you can grow to the point when someone says something hurtful to you, you don't have to say something hurtful back. You can simply sit there and look at them

Starting point is 00:28:32 and have compassion knowing that hurt people, hurt people. And so you can just love them back unconditionally. Right? So addressing your mindset and emotional and spiritual health, That's number four, number five is work with a practitioner who can make a customized plan for you. Here's a key takeaway. Again, blood work is a helpful tool. Typically non-conventional blood work, though, things that are actually getting to the root of the issue looking at cellular health and the health of organs like your gut microbiome.

Starting point is 00:29:02 Pay attention to how you feel and consider additional evaluations such as mitochondrial health and cellular nutrient levels to get a fuller picture of. of your health. And by the way, I know I'm going to get questions about this. People are going to say, Dr. Axe, who do you recommend as a practitioner? I want to say I work with a group called the Health Institute where we, I actually train practitioners who see people and help them. And listen, there are a lot of great practitioners throughout the country. You know, you can go online and search for somebody who does functional medicine or there's a

Starting point is 00:29:35 group of chiropractors that do great care called Max Living Doctors. There's great acupuncturists out there. So there's a lot of different doctors out there that you could work with or health coaches or nutritionists that can walk you through what to do. But again, I think in a lot of cases, listen, the first thing you need to know is you need to be your own doctor. You've got an amazing doctor inside you that can heal, help you heal if you get it into the right environment. If you change your lifestyle, you get the right foods in, take a few of the right supplements. That is the biggest thing you want to do if you want to make a change. Again, blood work is great.

Starting point is 00:30:10 if it's the right test recommended by the right doctor that has more of a natural mindset, that's what you want to lean towards. And if you can do that, you're going to be healthier for it. I want to say, thanks so much for tuning in here to the Dr. Josh Axe show, where each and every week we explore the science and principles and how you can experience a breakthrough, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Make sure to subscribe, like, and share. We're on a mission together to change the health of this world.

Starting point is 00:30:35 I can't wait to see you next week.

The Dr. Josh Axe Show - What Your Doctor ISN'T TELLING YOU About Your Bloodwork

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