Your Pain, Your DNA: The Missing Piece Doctors Overlook

Are your labs “normal” but you still don’t feel right? Discover how your DNA may hold the answers doctors often overlook.

In this episode, Dr. Lawful uncovers why so many women are dismissed when their labs appear fine but their bodies say otherwise. She explores how genetics can reveal the missing pieces behind invisible illnesses like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, interstitial cystitis, and even long COVID. From genes like MTHFR, COMT, CLOCK, and FTO, to the role of immune dysfunction and gender bias, you’ll learn how DNA bridges the gap between standard labs and lived experience.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why “normal” labs don’t always mean optimal health
• How genes like MTHFR, COMT, CLOCK, and FTO shape energy, stress, and pain
• The hidden biology behind invisible illnesses such as fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue
• The role of stigma and gender bias in women’s health dismissals
• Practical steps to validate your symptoms and seek precision care

 Special Message from Dr. Tamar Lawful: Discover the InHer Glow® Concierge Wellness Experience , a precision health program designed exclusively for high-achieving women ready to lose weight, boost energy, and reduce medications without guesswork. Spots are limited! Apply today at thelyfebalance.com/concierge

Chapters

• 0:00 Rethinking Pills And Personalization
• 1:37 Show Welcome And Mission
• 2:37 Fibromyalgia’s Validation Breakthrough
• 4:04 The Gap Between Symptoms And Labs
• 4:24 Genes That Change The Story
• 7:01 Beyond Fibro: CFS, IC, Long COVID
• 9:11 Bias, Invisible Illness, And Science
• 10:45 Action Steps And Next Moves

Transcript

SPEAKER_03: 1:00

Medications certainly have their place, but what if there was a way to support your body naturally by working with your genetics?

SPEAKER_02: 1:09

We are a pill for an ill society. We take 18 pills per person per American per day.

SPEAKER_03: 1:15

It was so hard to find somebody who took my insurance. And for me to get well, it took thousands of dollars. And I thought, what do regular people do? This is not right.

SPEAKER_01: 1:24

Despite my best efforts, I wasn't actually reversing disease and helping people to heal in the way that I thought I would.

SPEAKER_00: 1:30

We want to empower yourselves to take care of this root cause. We don't just want to cover it up.

SPEAKER_03: 1:37

If you're ready to break free from outdated, one-size-fits-all health care, you're in the right place. Welcome to Raise the Script with Nutrigenomics, brought to you by Inner Glow by Life Balance. Here's a literature from we're all unique, right down to our DNA. So it's no wonder we respond differently to the same medications, foods, and environments. How do you discover what your body needs? Which medications, foods, supplements, or exercises are right for you? How can you manage chronic conditions without piling on more prescriptions? That's what we're here to explore. I'm your host, Dr. Tamar Lawful, Doctor of Pharmacy, Neutrogenomics Specialist, and your partner in reimagining how we personalize care for better outcomes. Whether you're a patient or a practitioner, let's raise the script and bring health care to higher levels together. Because the future of health is personal. Welcome back to Pivoting Pharmacy with Nutrigenomics, where we raise the script on health care together. I'm your host, Dr. Tamar Lawful, Doctor of Pharmacy and Nutrition or Genomics Specialist. You know, I wanted to talk about the episode that we aired last week. We had this powerful conversation with Dr. Bruce Gillis. He shared how fibromyalgia, a condition that affects an estimated 4 million U.S. adults, or about 2% of the population, according to the CDC, was brushed off for decades as if it didn't even exist. Patients, mostly women, were told their pain was all in their head. But Dr. Gillis and his team proved otherwise. They discovered measurable immune abnormalities in fibromyalgia patients and even developed the world's first blood test to diagnose it. That breakthrough gave patients something they had been denied for years, validation. Now, I want you to sit with this for a second. Imagine waking up every day in pain, exhausted, foggy, and being told, your labs are fine. Maybe it's stress. That dismissal, that disbelief can actually deepen the suffering. Research shows people with fibromyalgia have higher rates of depression and suicidal thoughts compared to the general population, and stigma plays a big role in that. But here's the thing fibromyalgia is just one example. There are millions of people out there who are told your tests are normal, nothing's wrong. And yet they know in their bones something is off. That's the gap we're diving into today. And the missing piece, it might just be in your DNA. Here's the problem. Standard labs are designed to detect disease when it's already obvious. They're reactive, not predictive. Let me give a few examples. Blood sugar. Your fasting glucose might look normal, but that doesn't mean your metabolism is working optimally. By the time your A1C flags prediabetes, your body may have been struggling for years. DNA can show if you carry genes like TCF7L2, which raise the risk of insulin resistance long before it shows up in labs. Cholesterol. Maybe your cholesterol panel looks fine, but you still have a family history of heart disease. Standard labs don't tell you if you carry the ApoE4 gene, which increases risk for both cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's. That's information you'd want to know today, not 20 years from now. Then there's thyroid. You might have fatigue, weight gain, or hair loss. But if your TSH is in the normal range, many doctors stop investigating. DNA can reveal variants that affect how your thyroid hormones are converted and used, explaining symptoms even when labs say you're fine. Then there's vitamin processing. A blood test may show adequate folate, but if you carry an MTHFR variant, your body can't officially convert it into the active form your cells need. That leaves you tired, moody, or foggy despite a normal lab result. See the pattern? Routine labs are like waiting for the smoke detector to go off. DNA tells you whether their wiring is faulty, whether the house is prone to overheating, and what you can do to prevent the fire in the first place. That's why so many people hear everything looks normal while their bodies are screaming that something is not. Let's dig deeper into how genetics explains what standard labs miss. Going back to the MTHFR gene, up to 40% of the population has some form of this variant. If your MTFR gene isn't working efficiently, your body may struggle to activate folate and B vitamins. That affects energy, detox, and even mood. Labs might say your folate is fine, but your cells aren't using it properly. Then there is a COMT gene. This gene affects how quickly you clear stress hormones like adrenaline. If you're a slow metabolizer, stress sticks around in your system longer. You might replay that heated conversation at work all night, feel tension in your muscles for hours, and over time, this increases pain sensitivity. Research has linked C OMT variants to greater risk of chronic pain disorders. Third, we have the clock gene, C L O C K. This gene regulates your circadian rhythm, your sleep-wake cycle. If it's misaligned, you may have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up refreshed. A review in Sleep Medicine Reviews highlighted that circadian rhythm disruptions play a major role in both chronic pain and mood disorders. And last, the FTO gene. Sometimes called the fat mass and obesity gene, it influences appetite and how your body responds to calories. People with certain variants may feel hungrier, crave higher calorie foods, or struggle more with weight management, even if their thyroid labs look perfect. Here's the bottom line. These genes don't determine your destiny, but they do explain why some people feel sick, stressed, or stuck despite normal labs. And once you know what your blueprint looks like, you can finally stop guessing and start making choices that fit you. This is where Dr. Gillis's research becomes so important. It showed us fibromyalgia isn't imaginary. It has a biological fingerprint. That alone changes story for millions of people. But fibromalgia isn't the only condition with this pattern. Let's talk about a few others. There's chronic fatigue syndrome. Patients live with unrelenting exhaustion that no amount of sleep can fix. For years they were told to just exercise more or see a psychiatrist. Now research shows mitochondrial dysfunction. Their cells literally can't make energy efficiently. There's also evidence of immune system abnormalities that keep the body in a state of chronic inflammation. But because standard labs don't measure mitochondrial health, patients were dismissed. Then there is interstitial cystitis, or IC. This is a painful bladder condition that makes people feel like they need to urinate constantly, sometimes every 10 minutes, with severe pelvic pain. Many patients, mostly women, are misdiagnosed with recurring urinary tract infections. Dr. Gillis shared research showing that up to 80% of IC patients share the same immune abnormalities found in fibromyalgia. Again, invisible on standard tests, but very real in lived experience. Then there's long COVID. This is a new frontier. Millions are still experiencing fatigue, brain fog, and shortness of breath months after infection. Yet their labs and imaging often look normal. Early studies in Nature and Lancet suggest viral infections can trigger long-term immune dysfunction and even alter gene expression. This is strikingly similar to what we see in fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. Patients with long COVID are now walking the same road fibromyalgia patients walked for decades, dismissed because the right test didn't exist yet. And let's not forget gender bias. Research published in Pain Research and Management found that women's pain is consistently underestimated by physicians compared to men's. Combine that bias with conditions like fibromyalgia, IC, and chronic fatigue, which disproportionately affect women, and you get a double dismissal. First, because of labs are normal. Second, because of gender stereotypes around pain. Here's what all this means. Invisible illnesses aren't imaginary. There are biological conditions that require us to look deeper at the immune system, at DNA, at the microbiome. And the more we connect these dots, the more we move from stigma to science, from dismissal to diagnosis, and from silence to solutions. Okay. So what can you take from this conversation? First, validate your experience. If your body is telling you something is wrong, believe it. Symptoms are signals, not weaknesses. Second, look beneath the surface. Normal labs don't mean everything is fine. Ask, could this be genetic, nutritional, or immune-related? And last, seek precision, not guesswork. DNA testing and nutrigenomics can help identify what your body actually needs. Whether that's the right form of B vitamins, targeted stress support, or strategies for better sleep. You don't have to live in limbo. There are ways to move forward once you understand your blueprint. So here's a takeaway, friend. Just as Dr. Gillis proved fibromyalgia has a measurable biological fingerprint, your DNA holds measurable clues to your own health story. If you've ever been dismissed, told your pain isn't real, or been left frustrated by normal labs, it doesn't mean you're broken. It means we haven't been looking in the right place. If this episode spoke to you, I'd love to help you uncover your own genetic blueprint. You can schedule a consultation with me at thelifebalance.com. That's t-h e l-y-f e balance.com. The link is in the show notes as well. Together we'll design a plan that works with your DNA, not against it. And please share this episode with someone who's been told it's all in their head. Sometimes validation is a first step to transformation. Thank you for joining me today, friend. Talk to you next Friday. Until then, always remember to raise the script on health because together we can bring healthcare to higher levels.