Health Innovation: What do we really WANT?
I saw this new tech product that’s essentially a pill dispensary. I assume created for people who take a lot of meds or the elderly. I like where it’s going, but it misses the mark.
As a career entrepreneur and married to an Entrepreneur-In-Residence for a $50B company, I love to see how innovation can solve problems and make life simpler. But what I TRULY DESIRE is MORE.
How can we give more power/choice/flexibility to the people who want to better understand root cause of their health and optimize?
I’m so tired of hearing a conventional medical provider say, “your lab values are in range…” that’s total bullshit. They are right, they are ‘in range’ of other people getting labs drawn at that space in time and in your age group. But why would we put up with being “in range” with a snapshot of other often “unwell” people in our country.
There’s so much more to the story. Everyone deserves to feel AHHMAZING.
“Dear Scott (my sweet husband): I’d like your next innovative product to look like this. Please see my Wish List below. Thank you.”
✨✨MY WISH LIST✨✨
A) Analyze blood, urine, stool, breath samples monitoring for the most common functional med testing focusing on OPTIMIZING our health.
B) Coordinate with the Doc and Pharmacy for refills and order them, including supplements (because the nutrient density in our food supply is not what it was 100 years ago. Conventional farming doesn’t regenerate the soil, or let fields rest between seasons, or grow alternating crops that add nutrients back into the soil… which all results in healthy food. I’ll save that for another entry…).
C) Allow for input for how the patient PERSON feels maybe daily or at a different interval, that can be monitored or fine-tuned by the Doc.
🌟How about we start with these tests?🌟
Organic Acids Test/OAT (urine): this is an amazing test that provides a metabolic snapshot of overall health. People dealing with mood disorders, fatigue, digestive complaints, or weight issues often find answers here. Evaluating organic acids in urine often includes markers that show intestinal yeast and bacteria. Not all OAT testing labs are created equal… some also offer additional value measuring vitamin and mineral levels, oxidative stress, neurotransmitter levels (which can be correlated with many chronic illnesses).
GI Effects® or GI-MAP (stool): the gut plays an essential role in our health and this test is important whether you are complaining about your gut or not. Looking at biomarkers for digestion/absorption, inflammation, presence of parasites and worms (gross but really occurs), gut microbiome, bacteria (including dangerous ones like C-Diff)… give a clear understanding of current health. This is root cause… incredibly important for understanding they why and where to go from here. Also a great baseline for future testing and fine-tuning.
DUTCH Plus (dried urine and saliva): this test is the most comprehensive hormone panel. Evaluating sex hormones and their metabolites is important because it’s not just whether the hormones are on or off, but how they are working together. Conventional medicine testing referring to good and bad levels of hormones in isolation is not helpful, but what most people are used to.
There’s so much more to the story, including understanding your cortisol awakening response. This is key to understanding your adrenal functioning by understanding bio markers from hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Adrenal fatigue is real and can be healed. People deserve to feel good, dammit!
Sibo Breath Test (breath): this test stands for Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth which occurs when bacteria enter and colonize the small intestine and can cause a variety of GI problems. Who knew that simply measuring the release of hydrogen and methane in the breath can tell you if you have SIBO.
IgG Food Sensitivity Panel (blood): food sensitivity is top-of-mind these days and sometimes hotly debated, yet pretty straight forward. When you are sensitive or allergic, it causes inflammation in the system. No bueno.
In conclusion … If you aren’t seeing a medical provider who looks at root cause, I suggest you add more people to your care team. Sometimes the difference in feeling ok and amazing is adjusting your levels by a whisper. Functional Medicine is the healthcare of the future.
There is so much more to life when we truly feel great.
Ps. Be prepared to pay cash for real health, because our country doesn’t value it.
XO, Erin