Testing

Testing done @ Tucson Functional Medicine Clinic

1. ASI – Adrenal Stress Index
   
2. GI-MAP
   
3. Organic Acid Test
4. CBC Test
5. Osteoporosis Testing

– ASI (Adrenal Stress Index) – This test is looking at the stress in a patient’s life. The MD would do a blood test. MD’s are looking for disease in the adrenal glands. The functional medicine doctor would do a saliva test. Functional Medicine is looking at the function & reaction of the adrenal gland to stress. This test allows us to see how stress is affecting normal body functions. Stress puts us in the sympathetic (fight/flight) mode of our autonomic nervous system. When we are in the fight/flight mode we sacrifice

1. 1. 1. Brain function
      2. Sex hormones
      3. Thyroid function
      4. Digestive function
      5. Detoxification

 Understanding the level of stress the person is under is key in helping them get moving down the road to optimum health. 

–  GI-MAP Test (Stool test using DNA technology) –

Why Is Quantification Using qPCR Technology So Important?

Unlike other comprehensive stool tests on the market, the GI-MAP can provide practitioners with truly quantitative results. qPCR offers a much more accurate way to detect and quantify clinically-relevant organisms than standard PCR, culture, microscopy, or DNA sequencing-based methods. Accurately assessing how much of an organism’s DNA is present in a patient’s stool sample is essential for helping practitioners to determine the clinical significance of pathogenic organisms and dysbiosis patterns.

 The GI-MAP also provides consistently reproducible results. Reproducibility is of crucial importance to the practitioners and patients that rely on the efficacy of the GI-MAP. To achieve it, we perform rigorous quality control and have validated all molecular target quantification assays to meet or exceed FDA standards.

This test basically looks at three parts of the digestive system

1. The Gut Flora – this is the bacteria that is supposed to be in our digestive system. What we are looking for here is overgrowth and/or undergrowth
2. The function of the digestive system itself. How is the organs (gall bladder, pancreas, liver, microbiome working together for your digestion).
3. The Gut bugs that should NOT be there – these are the bugs that we do not want in our digestive system.
   1. Bacterial Pathogens
   2. Parasitic Pathogens
   3. Viral Pathogens
   4. H. Pylori
   5. Opportunistic Bacteria
   6. Fungi/Yeast
   7. Viruses
   8. Protozoa
   9. Worms

–  Organic Acid Test – This is an infrequently used test due to its complexity. But with a proper understanding of this test, it opens up an understanding of a person’s overall health picture, that can not be seen with any other test. This has become our go-to test. There are 46 markers on this test that gives us a look into many health systems.

This test looks at the following areas of the human body.

1. Fat metabolism
2. Sugar metabolism
3. Energy Production (Citric Acid Cycle)
4. B-Complex Vitamin Markers
5. Methylation markers
6. Neurotransmitters (Dopamine & Serotonin) metabolism markers
7. Oxidative damage and antioxidant markers
8. Detoxification indicators
9. Bacterial
10. L acidophilus / General bacterial
11. Clostridial species
12. Yeast / fungal

–  CBC (Complete Blood Chemistry) – This is the same blood test that an MD would run, just much more detailed. This test takes an in-depth look at what the blood has to tell us about a person’s health. Functional Medicine looks at the markers in the blood test from a health perspective not a disease perspective. We take a normal 3 – 5-page blood report and turn it into a 30 – 40-page report. Our report is to help you understand what it is telling you about your overall health. We are looking at the markers to help in the prevention of health issues not to react to them

–  Speciality Testing – If your case needs more extensive testing it will be done. 99% of patients in our Total Health Program have test 1 – 4 run during their 6-month intensive program.

OSTEOPOROSIS TESTING

One of the specialty testings that we do is for osteoporosis. The following tests allow us to see the cause of your osteoporosis. Once we know the cause, we can build a treatment program to restore the function & strength of your bones.

There are many causes of osteoporosis:

• Are the Osteoclasts (bone destroyers) breaking down too much bone?
• Are the Osteoblasts (bone makers) making good strong bone?
• Is Inflammation causing the osteoclasts to work overtime destroying bone?
• Do you have a deficiency of calcium in your blood causing the body to break down more bone to release calcium into the blood?
• Are you absorbing the Calcium in your kidneys?
• Do you have enough Vitamin D?
• Do you have enough Calcium?

1. Bone Density Test (DXA) – Most of our osteoporosis/osteopenia patients have already had this test run. If you have had one in the last year we do not need to rerun this test. This gives us your T-score. A T-Score of -2.5 or higher is Osteoporosis. A score below -2.5 is Osteopenia
2. CBC (our CBC is much more extensive than the normal blood chemistry run by your MD). If you have had a blood test that includes the following markers within the last year this test does not need to be run again.
   1. Electrolytes
      1. Sodium
      2. Potassium
      3. Chlorine
      4. Carbon Dioxide
   2. Kidney Function
      1. BUN
      2. Creatinine
   3. Liver Function
      1. Bilirubin
      2. Alkaline Phosphatase
   4. Others
      1. Calcium
      2. Cholesterol
      3. Tryglycerides
      4. Glucose
      5. Lactic Acid
      6. Phosphorus
      7. Total Serum Protein
      8. Uric Acid
   5. Vitamin D 25(OHD)
3. Bone Resorption Test (CTX, NTX, DPD) – This tells us if your osteoclasts (bone Destroyers) are working overtime
4. Bone Formation Test (P1NP) – This tells us about how active the osteoblasts (bone builders) is and the type of bone they are laying down
5. Urine pH – An Acidic urine pH tells us the level of inflammation you are under an that you may be using the CORI cycle instead of the Citric Acid Cycle.
6. Urine Calcium – We are supposed to be resorbing calcium in the kidneys. If we are not that might be contributing to bone loss.
   

   These tests tell us the approach that we should take in dealing with your osteoporosis or osteopenia. We must first understand the cause of your bone loss before we can plan an appropriate treatment strategy.

The Functional Medicine doctor works in tandem with the body