Dr Libby: When Your Blood Tests Come Back As ‘Normal’ But You Don’t Feel Right

You’ve had blood tests and it looks like nothing is wrong. Now what?

Blood tests play a valuable role in evaluating health, offering a window into the intricate workings of the human body. These tests can provide indispensable insights into our health, aiding in the early detection and management of various conditions.

By analysing components like hormones, nutrients, enzymes, blood cells and other biomarkers, blood tests can help identify a range of health issues, from nutrient deficiencies to more complex diseases. They are particularly useful in diagnosing conditions that may not present obvious symptoms, allowing for timely intervention.

Furthermore, blood tests can be used to monitor the progression of a disease and the effectiveness of treatments, making them an essential component of ongoing healthcare management.

Yet, it is also common for people to be sent for blood tests when they’re feeling “off” and for the results to come back as normal.

Often, these people leave their doctor’s office with reassurances that there is nothing wrong – even though they still don’t feel right. How does this happen?

‘Normal’ isn’t one-size-fits-all

The way we identify problems within the blood is to set “normal” ranges that serve as guideposts and offer a cut-off point that helps to indicate when something may be abnormal.

This means that you’re either inside or outside the “normal” range and, if your health professional doesn’t account for where you sit within this range, you may be told that everything looks fine.

The symptoms the body presents are a guide, just as normal ranges are a guide, and it can be helpful to have a health professional bring all this information together to gain a broader picture to help determine what might be going on for a patient.

A hypothetical example

Consider, too, when we typically undergo blood tests. We tend to resort to them only when we’re feeling unwell.

But let’s say for a moment that we had our blood tests when we were feeling our best, at our optimum level of health.

Imagine we are 26 years old when this occurs, and we get our thyroid hormones tested, as an example. We find out our TSH is 1, fitting easily inside the normal range, which tends to be 0.4 to 4. We also learn our T4 is 15, within the normal range of 10 to 20. These are our “normal”, or our individual ideal.

Then, when we are 46, we don’t feel like ourselves. The fatigue has become worse, our clothes are tight despite no changes to how we eat or move, our skin is drier, our hair and nails are somewhat brittle and we’re the first person in the room to put a jumper on – all classic signs that the thyroid may not be working as well as it could.

So, you have some blood tests to investigate.

You find out your TSH is 3 and your T4 is 11. You’re told your results are normal and there’s nothing wrong with your thyroid function.

Sure, they are in the normal range, so it’s great news that you don’t have a thyroid disease. Yet your results are not normal for you.

It is as if the pituitary is having to shout at the thyroid (with 3 units of TSH) to wake up and make its hormones now, and it can produce only 11 units of T4 in response.

How to listen to your body

This is just one example of how relying solely on blood work can compromise overall wellbeing rather than optimise it and it is why I advocate for using the body’s symptoms as a guide alongside any blood work.

If your results are within normal parameters but lingering near the edges of the reference ranges, you may be exhibiting some or many of the symptoms of those who fall outside of them.

Our bodies are unique and respond differently to nutrient deficiencies or insufficiencies. All of this is to say that if you’ve had blood tests and been told everything is normal and yet you still feel as though something isn’t right, listen to your body and pursue answers.

It’s not normal to experience symptoms like aching joints, temperamental hormones, recurring sicknesses, stubborn body fat, hair loss, ongoing anxiety, weekly headaches, insomnia, an underperforming thyroid, IBS or persistent fatigue.

It can be helpful to ask for copies of your blood tests, look for any results being skewed to one end of the “normal” range and then work with a health professional who will support you to address this.

Yet, it’s just as important to listen to the symptoms of your body and let them guide you on what needs to change.

Dr Libby Weaver PhD is a nutritional biochemist, 13 times best-selling author and international keynote speaker. Visit Drlibby.com

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