Two Must-Have Tests for ‘Mystery’ Symptoms

It’s 2024 and you’ve waited long enough to feel your best.

You’ve tried finding support for your lingering or mystery symptoms through Western medicine only to find a push for more medication.

You’ve tried every supplement and your supplement graveyard is living proof that picking supplements based on marketing and branding instead of your own health data were disappointing at best (counterproductive to your health at worst).

You’ve had the discipline to eat all the right things, do the hard workouts, and sleep enough hours but the results you were looking for never showed up.

Is it possible you’re missing something and your efforts are misplaced?

This is what I help clients from all over the world discover with two simple sets of nutrition data.

The Secret Tests You Need to Optimize Your Health

Nutrient Blood Labs:

Nutrient blood labs are conducted through a traditional blood draw at your doctor’s office or at your local Labcorp office (this is where I send my remote clients to get blood labs).

Must-have nutrient blood tests (most people have never had these tested with the exception of iron + ferritin):

• plasma zinc (think liver detox, fertility, skin health, hormones)
• serum copper (think mental health, poor detoxification, hormone imbalances)
• iron panel (think energy, fertility, liver health)
• ferritin (think energy, fertility, liver health)
• vitamin A/Retinol (think mystery health issues, weight gain, poor detox, chronic skin issues, fatigue, gut issues)
• whole blood histamine (shows methylation status)

  *it must be THESE specific labs. Don’t let someone order you something similar (i.e. there are a few different labs for zinc, histamine, etc. make sure you are getting exactly what you ask for)!

Interpretation notes: it’s very important that whom you choose to interpret your blood work knows how to do so. This is because the ‘standard lab ranges’ are far too wide to detect imbalances such as copper overload, vitamin A excess, zinc deficiency, iron issues and methylation imbalances. If you have someone reading your blood work and it all comes back in the ‘normal’ standard lab range, you’ll miss the data you need to know to make changes to your health.

Because of this, it’s common for my clients to request these labs from their doctor so they can get insurance to pay (as long as the doctor visit and co-pays doesn’t exceed the price of ordering the test through me) and then bring these results to a new client consultation. That way you can get the best of both worlds.

How to order: if you are located within the US and not don’t reside in New York, Rhode Island or New Jersey, you can order these through me as an add-on to any consultation service for under $180. However, insurance doesn’t cover nutritional therapy, so this will be an out of pocket expense.

You are also free to take this list to your *open minded doctor* and request that they run these labs for you. That way, your doctor can bill your insurance. However, most doctors won’t be too keen on running labs they don’t understand or know how to interpret, so don’t be surprised if you run into some resistance. Also take note, that your doctor won’t be able to interpret these labs for your correctly unless they are trained in nutritional therapy and the training on the specialty areas I discuss on the blog regularly.

Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (35 different mineral levels):

Hair tissue mineral analysis is a hair sample that you collect at home and drop in the mail with the help of a simple test kit I send you in the mail. It uses a very small amount of fresh hair growth (first inch) from the root of the head typically in the half ponytail area (this is needed to get ‘fresh’ data) . Hair from other parts of the body can be used in the absence or unavailability of scalp hair, but contact me for those specific details and instructions. Those who color their hair are typically instructed to collect the sample right before their next coloring to ensure the maximum amount of virgin hair growth in the sample.

Most important minerals we pay attention to on hair analysis:

• calcium






• magnesium






• sodium






• potassium






• zinc






• copper






• selenium






• molybdenum






• heavy metals






• and more!

Interpretation notes: it’s very important that whom you choose to interpret your HTMA knows how to do so. There are many different ‘schools of thought’ in the hair analysis world and your advice will wildly vary depending on who you choose. Choose someone who you trust, is trained, and aligns with your own approach to health. It’s not uncommon for me to speak to people who have gotten bad advice from from the cheapest person they could find on the internet to get hair analysis from, and their health has paid the price.

How to order: hair analysis is available for purchase from my office to clients around the world with the exception of those who live in New York state. You can find package options here.

Traditional doctors will not run hair analysis labs and they will likely look at you sideways if you ask them about it (don’t say I didn’t warn you!). Some functional medicine doctors and naturopathic doctors may offer these services if they are trained in hair analysis and see the value of mineral data in their practice.

If you already have these results (should be recent within the last 3-4 months) and don’t need a new test, you can always bring them to a new client consultation and we can review them together.

The Importance of These Test Results *Together*

Having either one of these data sets when I work with a client is extremely valuable. When a client has both of them together, it’s a gift so that I can give them the very best insight into their health and they can get the best results out of our work together.

Find the hair analysis + blood labs consultation package here.

Have a question about testing? Leave a comment or use the contact page to send me an email.