Chronic Illness Tests | Herb Sources | Additional Practitioners

Chronic Illness Tests

Mold Toxicity

VCS (Visual Contrast Sensitivity) a.k.a. FACT (Functional Acuity Contrast Test)
Great Plains Laboratory mycotoxin testing urine test
RealTime Laboratories (uses ELISA)

Lyme / Co-infections

Galaxy Diagnostics
Advanced Laboratory Services (Borrelia)
IGenX (Regarded as best)

Mast Cell Activation Syndrome

Tests That May Clarify Diagnosis

Total serum tryptase: A positive test would be above baseline or “normal” during or within four hours of symptomatic episode.

Plasma herparin and/or histamine: Dr. Afrin has shown that using a cold centrifuge to measure histamine makes this testing much more accurate.

Antibodies to IgE (anti-IgE IgG) and antibodies to IgE receptors: currently, these are not seen as being diagnostic of mast cell activation syndrome, but rather a hint that autoantibody mediated mast cell activation may be present.

Magnesium

Accurately measuring magnesium levels can be more difficult than you might think. Magnesium is primarily found within the cells (intracellular), so blood tests for magnesium deficiency may not detect a significant deficiency because they measure what is outside the cells (extracellular). Despite this fact, most physicians measure magnesium with a simple blood test, and many patients are informed that their levels are normal. To get an accurate reading, you need to measure intracellular magnesium levels, which can be obtained by testing red blood cells (which can be done, if ordered, by most laboratories) or, even more accurate, skin sells. The later can be achieved by scraping some cells from the tongue and smearing them onto a slide that is sent to a lab that can analyze the contents for magnesium. Intracellular Diagnostics is the most accurate assessment to date.

Endocrine / Hormone Defficiencies

See functional medicine specialist. Organizations that train specialists: Institute for Functional Medicine, International, Society for Environmentally Acquired Illness, International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society, Forum for Integrated Medicine, Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine, American College for Advancement of Medicine, American Academy of Environmental Medicine.

Adrenal Hormone Deficiencies

DHEA (precursor to estrogen, progesterone and testosterone): unconjugated DHEA test – relevance of results determined by age.

Cortisol: Salival Testing, Cortisyn Stimulation.

Minerocorticoids (regulates blood pressure): Regular blood pressure readings of 110/70 mm Hg or less indicate minerocorticoids deficiency.

Thyroid Hormone Deficiencies: TSH, T3 and T4 testing for full picture.

SIBO

Hydrogen breath test by Genova (augment with UBiome home test kit for microbiome picture)

Food Allergies

Five main indicators of allergies called immunoglobulins; IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG, and IgM. Triggered by immediate and time delayed sensitivities. Elimination diet is the gold standard for self-diagnosis.