When your labs are “normal” but your gut doesn’t feel normal
Have you ever been to the doctor and gotten your labs run, just to be told everything is “normal”? Anyone who has a chronic illness has probably been through this at some point.
For the celiac folks I work with, it might have been in their journey toward getting a diagnosis. Or, it can happen when they’ve been gluten-free for awhile but continue to have persistent digestive issues. Either way, they are sent home with no satisfying answers as to why they’re constipated, bloated, gassy, fatigued, and planning their lives around the bathroom. It can feel defeating and frustrating, to say the least.
When this happens, it means the doctor or practitioner isn’t looking deep enough or they’re basing the patient’s health solely on a piece of paper without listening to them. Or both.
The tests run might just be skimming the surface, so the first step is to make sure you’re getting a truly comprehensive list of labs done for your situation.
This is where a functional medicine approach can be helpful. Functional medicine is about taking a holistic view to find underlying causes, and it’s more interested in getting to the root of health issues rather than putting a band-aid over symptoms.
Moreover, functional medicine uses slightly different reference ranges for labs. Functional ranges are narrower than the standard ones and are designed to show OPTIMAL levels rather than just the level needed to avoid frank disease. Bottom line: what appears to be in “normal” range for some labs, might not be ideal for you.
That said, it’s also important to work with a practitioner who understands both the benefits and limitations of functional testing, as some are more validated than others. For instance, food sensitivity blood testing is notoriously inaccurate, and there are certain stool test companies claiming that they can analyze your gut and give you recommendations for exactly how much fat, carbohydrates, and protein you need which is, quite frankly, hogwash (the science just isn’t there yet).
Using validated functional medicine testing can yield more answers, but it’s not the stopping point.
Labs give us a ton of quick insight on a level we can’t see, but they don’t tell us the whole story. Our symptoms and lived experience are just as important. Understanding our body and healing takes a combination of all that science has to offer along with a hefty dose of our own intuition. Humans are not textbooks and we cannot base health off of metrics and numbers alone.
I spent many years of my own journey with celiac disease being told “it’s just IBS” or that “everything is fine” when I absolutely did not feel fine. These moments of dismissal are still vivid in my memory, and I am grateful for the perseverance I found in the face of it.
If we are listening, our body will always let us know when something is “off.” May we stay fiercely trusting in this.
