The K6 Wellness Revolution
A podcast for those searching for wellness alternatives and answers delivered by caring and capable experts. The K6 Wellness Revolution will always share trustworthy, helpful information in our passionate pursuit of better health and wellness for all.
The K6 Wellness Revolution
Beyond the Basics: How Advanced Labs Can Transform Your Health
If you’ve ever been told your lab work is “normal” but still feel exhausted, anxious, or not quite yourself, you’re not alone. Conventional medicine often uses lab reference ranges based on an average of sick populations—not what’s truly optimal for health. Just because something isn’t bad enough to diagnose doesn’t mean it’s good enough to thrive.
In this episode of the K6 Wellness Revolution podcast, we break down why standard blood work often fails to tell the whole story and how a deeper look at your labs can reveal what’s really going on with your health. We’ll explore how conventional lab testing focuses on diagnosing disease, while functional lab testing helps identify imbalances before they turn into something more serious.
Take thyroid health, for example. Many people experience weight gain, fatigue, and brain fog for years before conventional medicine sees a problem, simply because their TSH level hasn’t crossed an arbitrary threshold. We explain why looking at a full thyroid panel—including Free T3, Free T4, Reverse T3, and thyroid antibodies—can detect dysfunction early, giving you the opportunity to address issues before they spiral into a full-blown diagnosis.
We also discuss how vitamin D is one of the most critical yet misunderstood markers in conventional medicine. While most doctors only test for extreme deficiencies, research shows that optimizing vitamin D levels can significantly reduce the risk of infections, autoimmune issues, and even severe COVID-19 outcomes. Understanding what “optimal” really means could be the key to boosting your immune system and overall resilience.
Beyond the basics, we dive into more advanced testing that uncovers hidden factors contributing to chronic symptoms. Environmental toxins are a major, yet often overlooked, contributor to fatigue, brain fog, and hormonal imbalances. The Total Toxic Burden test helps identify these underlying stressors, giving you clear action steps to detox and heal. We also discuss hormone and genetic testing—powerful tools that can provide insight into why certain symptoms won’t go away, why some treatments work for some people but not others, and how to create a truly personalized health plan.
If you’ve been searching for answers but keep hitting dead ends, this episode will empower you with the knowledge to take charge of your health. Your body is always communicating—it’s time to learn how to listen.
Listen now and discover how deeper testing can uncover the missing pieces of your health puzzle. Learn more at k6wellness.com.
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This is not medical advice – we do not diagnose or prescribe. This conversation is for educational purposes only. Please seek advice from your health practitioner.
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Welcome to the K6 Wellness Revolution podcast. I'm Sharon, owner of K6 Wellness Center in Dallas, texas, where we blend trusted expertise, compassionate care and a passion for helping you achieve optimal health, because wellness isn't just a goal, it's a revolution, and today we're exploring the importance of lab testing and blood work in maintaining your health. While many are familiar with basic vitals like heart rate and blood pressure, lab work goes way deeper, providing insights that can reveal subtle imbalances before they turn into chronic health issues. Most conventional providers use labs to find acute problems, and at K6 Wellness Center, we take a more proactive approach. We're focusing on optimal health rather than just disease detection. That's why we rely on comprehensive blood, urine and saliva tests to assess nutrient levels, inflammation, hormone balance, so much more, all of this giving us a clearer picture of what your body truly needs. In this episode, we're going to discuss some of the core lab tests that we use and how they help us guide our holistic, naturopathic approach to wellness.
Speaker 1:If you've ever wondered how lab work can empower you to take control of your health, this episode is for you, so let's get started. Of your health, this episode is for you, so let's get started. Okay, so for me, I got started with lab work. Probably, you know, just being a young, married, pregnant person, that was the only labs I ever had and so I really never knew anything about it. But through my journey in functional health and functional medicine, I've come to understand the importance of urinary hormone testing, which has got to be one of my favorite things, and really just taking people's basic labs from their PCP or their regular provider. That's in network and going all right. Well, let's look at nutrition now and they're like how can you tell? Because nobody's ever gone through the labs with them. So those are things that I really love to use labs for. How about you?
Speaker 2:Well, you know you talk about your experiences with labs. You know my first memory of labs is seeing a doctor who just said you're fine, and I didn't know what the blood work was. I didn't even think for a second hey, I should know what this means. Now, obviously, this was years before I got really deep into this world of alternative health and now I mean I'm in so deep, you can't get me out. But I just remember not understanding what these numbers were, and I remember when I started working in this field also not knowing what these numbers were. And I remember when I started working in this field also not knowing what these numbers were. But then, as I began to understand them, I mean it could unlock so many answers for people and it was just.
Speaker 2:It got fun and it's still fun when someone's blood work comes in, to always see, okay, what's it going to be this time? I think it's this Is it that you know, to see where do we need to start? Because it gives you an actual number and something that you can track and I think that's really helpful. So I love when we get to have that concrete information that we can then turn around and use it for the clients, because lab tests are an important part of the information gathering process in healthcare, and this can include getting temperatures, heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation. Most people have had this done when they go to their doctor's office. Other labs, such as urinalysis, blood work, urine and saliva tests, can be done for so many reasons and, again, beyond finding gross abnormalities, there are so many subtle findings that can have huge implications on a patient's health, and a lot of it depends on who is reading the labs.
Speaker 1:Right, and today we're going to focus on several of those labs that we rely heavily on at K6 Wellness Center. Now there are way more tests that we order beyond what we're going to discuss today, but the ones we discuss today are really the backbone of our information gathering besides, you know, getting vitals in our office. So let's start with blood work. We really like to have people come in. Either bring your own or we'll do an in-house blood draw. Here we use CPL laboratories. We really like normal blood work. We get a complete blood count with differentials. We get a complete metabolic panel. We look at lipids. We look at iron and ferritin. We do a full thyroid panel, including antibodies, because autoimmune thyroiditis is the most common autoimmune disease in America. So we want to see you know where everybody is. We also look at fasting insulin. We look at your hemoglobin A1C. We're going to look at C-reactive protein and homocysteine. Now, these tests you can get anywhere. They're widely ordered by healthcare providers in many areas of medicine. They're very valuable for detecting abnormalities in basic physiology like kidney and liver function. Are you anemic? Are you insulin resistant? Do you have metabolic dysfunction? Are you a high risk for a stroke or a heart attack? Does your thyroid work? Do you have an infection? So those are basic things. But a functional medicine doctor or a provider like us is going to go even further with those very same tests.
Speaker 1:It's important to understand the role of reference ranges. We don't like them. We don't live and die. If you you know out there, listeners, viewers, if you have labs and you look at your labs, on the left side it's going to say what the test is. Then in the middle there's your score and then on the right there's a reference range. And those reference ranges most of them there's a few exceptions are established by the population of people getting tested. So if we think about who goes to the lab to get tested, it's not usually the real healthy people. So where do you rank among the sick people? That's kind of how I like to look at it. Now, hemoglobin A1c it's a standardized range that is set and same with cholesterol, no matter what lab you use. Those ranges are set by governing medical associations but they're generally accepted, normal ranges for determining is somebody healthy or not healthy.
Speaker 1:But the thing is, when you go to a functional medicine doctor and I've had people say how come you don't care that this is bad. I'm like well, it's actually good because the ranges, like with cholesterol, I feel like we've limited it too much, so we don't worry about coinciding with that column on the right. I don't live and die by the reference ranges and I think when we look at some things more in depth in people's one-on-one appointments they start to understand why. So cholesterol, I think, is the one example that I tell people. You know, 50 years ago cholesterol at 250 was fine. We need cholesterol to make sex hormones and to make cortisol. And if you don't have sex or cholesterol, how are you going to make hormones? You're, you know, not operating fully.
Speaker 1:But now we know well we can give you statin drugs and we can lower that cholesterol. And people who have heart attacks have high cholesterol. So we get it thrown in our face all the time. Correlation is not causation. But in pharmacy it seems to happen a lot that correlation will equal causation and that's not the case. And statin drugs come with their own set of problems which we're not going to go into in this episode. But there you go. Iron and ferritin is another example. We really care about these ranges and you know, for instance, for us a high level of ferritin is really anything over, I mean 150, we're looking at it pretty hard because we see that as stress, as inflammation, but I don't think labs really consider it abnormal until it's in the mid 200s maybe, and so that's a big difference.
Speaker 1:That really is, that's the difference between knowing what optimal human function is and what the lab says is normal for the population of people coming in to be tested.
Speaker 2:Well, that brings me to vitamin D3. That's a great example of what a lab will call fine, and it could be really low.
Speaker 1:And that's one of the standardized ones 30 to 100, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 30 to 100,. You're within range. You're fine, and I'm sure you can attest to it as well, sharon. So many people I see are close to 30, or even in the teens, in single digits.
Speaker 2:I mean I can't tell you how many times I have someone come in with depression or anxiety and their vitamin D is super low and get this. It's never been tested yet they have been prescribed an antidepressant. If you can help a client get their vitamin D levels up above 60, that's going to help with mental health, but it also improves immune function. During COVID it was shown that those with vitamin D levels above 60 were 85% less likely to end up hospitalized from COVID complications. So that's what I like to see a little higher, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and thyroid function is another major issue that we deal with in functional medicine and it goes undertreated to me, in my opinion. Take this as educational entertainment if you want, but I think it goes undertreated in mainstream medicine. The clinical guidelines for diagnosis of hypothyroid are pretty crazy and it's not necessarily that people need more prescriptions for thyroid hormone. But if you ignore suboptimal thyroid function, right, and we look at trends over time and if somebody's trending in the wrong direction, we're not helping them. If we just wait for the moment that it goes out of range, we can do so much.
Speaker 1:If we don't ensure the necessary cofactors that are needed for the entire hormone pathway, then we're causing people to suffer needlessly and sometimes for years before their thyroid finally poops out and they end up on medicine. And it's worth noting that long-term use of thyroid hormone increases your risk of osteoporosis. So if we were to care about early intervention, we could help people, maybe prevent or delay the need for thyroid hormone for years. And differentiating between optimal and diagnosable really best describes how we look at all the blood work Hanging out on the border. You know, like just because your vitamin D is 30 doesn't mean that you're not depressed. It doesn't mean that you have great immune system function. It means you fit somebody's random, not random I. The studies are so flawed Um, some criteria that they're applying to all ages, both genders and different cultures, with different amounts of melanin in their skin.
Speaker 1:Right, there are a lot of variables that go into things like that. So, um, if the reference range is skewed from what's known to be optimal, are you really going to be able to trust any clinical diagnosis or lack of awareness that a problem even exists?
Speaker 1:So, having a provider who can critically examine your labs and monitor trends. It's very important and I think we do a dang good job of it here. But I am encouraged because I am getting more people coming in with their labs and saying well, my PCP said I should start watching out for blah, blah, blah, and I love that because it's like, all right, good job.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, they're starting to look at these numbers a little more critically or a little more specifically for optimal health. Right, and you know, when it comes to health there's a lot of things that we have to work through, like toxic exposures it's become such a reality in our daily lives. But toxic overload, it can stress our systems and manifest in a variety of ways that I think a lot of us can dismiss. These toxins can lead to elevated oxidative stress Think rust. Rust in your cells and a bigger burden on the body's detoxification pathways, particularly in the liver, is a result of toxic burdens, because when the liver can't adequately eliminate toxins or infectious byproducts, these toxins can clog up normal detox pathways and lead to a whole range of symptoms. So if you're experiencing multiple chronic symptoms and can't lose weight despite diet and exercise, you know you could be carrying a high toxic burden. You know toxins build up and remain in the body for decades. They break down real slowly and some of them don't break down at all, which leaves you vulnerable to other toxic buildups or susceptibility to infections through impaired detoxification, compromised immunity and increased oxidative stress. The total tox burden test that we like to do here is a urine test that assesses the total toxic burden in the body and with this test we're not measuring absolutely everything under the sun, but we're measuring a lot of the big ones. Not measuring absolutely everything under the sun, but we're measuring a lot of the big ones. It tests 29 different mycotoxins, 20 heavy metals and 38 environmental chemicals. Knowing your toxic burden is the first step to creating a personalized detox and wellness plan to achieve better health.
Speaker 2:When a client comes in and they're saying hey, I have symptoms such as fatigue and weakness especially, but brain fog is another big symptom, we get curious. It's like what could that toxic burden be? Because there's usually a toxin driving those symptoms and some of the symptoms I just want to go through. Some of them that might suggest a high toxic burden include chronic burning in the throat and nasal passages, constant clearing of the throat and nasal passages, coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, balance loss or dizziness, and there's depression or anxiety. These are huge.
Speaker 2:But also eye irritation, watery eyes, headaches, light sensitivity, sensitivity to chemicals and foods, metallic taste in the mouth, irregular heartbeat I see that one a lot too or morning stiffness, joint pain, mood swings, muscle weakness I mean the list goes on and on. There's sleep problems, poor memory difficult, concentrating, skin problems, abdominal pain, diarrhea, digestive issues I mean really, we could go on and on, but many of these symptoms are very common. But remember, common is not normal. So if you're listening to this and you can identify with even a couple of these symptoms, you should talk to us about doing this particular test, because you might have an unknown toxic burden that you're carrying about and you're struggling to just get your digestive system balanced or to have that energy.
Speaker 1:There could be something that's stealing your nutrients and keeping you from optimal health and that is definitely one that has solved many a mystery in our practice, because it's not one that you find in mainstream medicine. So definitely worth doing. And the way we test hormones is kind of different too. Now, this is not to say we don't use blood work for hormone testing. And here's a little pearl, ladies if you only want to do blood work in your pre-menopausal meaning you still cycle you have all your parts. In order to really get the best idea of hormones, you should always test at the same time, and it's recommended that you test seven days after ovulation On a 28-day cycle. It's usually going to be somewhere between day 19 and 23. And that is just so that we have, because if you just spot test at any point, if you don't remember your cycle, if you don't know your cycle, your cycles are irregular. If you didn't ovulate, we're not going to know, you know, we're not going to be for sure where you're at.
Speaker 1:so if you don't know when you ovulate, that's another episode that we haven't done yet, but there are ovulation test kits that you can buy so that you can tell when your LH spikes and you'll know when you've ovulated. But the urinary hormone test is what we want to talk about today. Specifically, we love HUMAP and HUMAP stands for the Hormone and Urinary Metabolites Assessment Profile. It's a mouthful HUMAP. It's a really good look at all the steroid hormones metabolites which are waste products, and how efficient the enzymes are that help use up these hormones and get rid of them. And that includes, like pregnenolone, DHEA, testosterone, the estrogens and progesterone. And it looks at cortisol over a 24-hour period, which is amazing. So it can be a very useful tool because, again, if you're measuring cortisol and you went to the lab at 2 o'clock in the afternoon and you've already had breakfast and lunch, that is useless, they say in blood work. Really you have to be fasted and do your cortisol before 9am to have any idea, but that still only tells you if you had normal cortisol at 9am. It doesn't tell you anything about the rest of the day and your cortisol levels should change throughout the day. So we like the urine and it's a lot easier to collect urine four times than blood in one day or saliva. It takes a lot of saliva, Um, but this can really be helpful for figuring out cortisol abnormalities or symptoms related to your menstrual cycle, fertility, even dealing with why is my perimenopausal symptoms so bad. So if you have skin health issues, hair changes hair changes are a big sign that you've got thyroid issues or testosterone or estrogen imbalances. So this is a really nice way to do it. But also people who have mood swings, hot flashes, night sweats those could be explored using this test. And also humap is used to monitor certain bioidentical hormones.
Speaker 1:And it's not just about how much hormone you produce. I think it's important that we realize that it's really essential that you understand how your body uses these hormones and then how they get out of your body. For instance, a woman who's entering menopause and wants to use hormone replacement therapy well, it's going to be important for us to understand how does her body use estrogen. There are three pathways it could go down, and one of those is very desirable the two-hydroxy pathway. But then we should see the majority of her estrogen go that way. But then there's the four-hydroxy pathway that is prone to causing DNA damage. So if most of your estrogen is going down that pathway, you're going to have a whole array of problems. And then there's a 16-hydroxy pathway which, if you have too much going down that pathway, it tends to lead to very estrogenic type problems.
Speaker 1:And so we use this aspect of the urinary hormone test just to help women see what is your best option if you're interested in hormone replacement therapy, especially as it relates to estrogen and testosterone.
Speaker 1:What's going to be the best option? And then what help do we need to put on to make sure that you continue to metabolize estrogen appropriately and not put your health at risk down the road? So cortisol is is another one that I just mentioned, and we like to use this. Cortisol gets used so, like beyond Cushing's and Addison's, which are very extreme adrenal issues, this one helps with menstrual irregularities, sleep disturbances, anxiety, so things like that. But if we're getting detailed information about your hormone production and your metabolism as it relates to your sex hormones and your cortisol, you're going to have a much deeper understanding of why you feel the way you feel, why your body may be betraying you. But it enables us to give you a much more specific and targeted treatment strategy so that you can feel better, Because a lot of times we can correct these things and we can retrain your adrenals. We can help reset hormones.
Speaker 2:Well, and what I love about that test too, the HUMAP, is when you're looking at cortisol you're getting a picture of how your body's handling stress and so many times people come in and do the HUMAP and we get very valuable information on the estrogens. But I think that cortisol bit is as important, if not more, because a lot of people have cortisol imbalances more than they have the estrogen imbalances. We're all so stressed which is very valuable.
Speaker 1:It can play nicely or it can be really devious with thyroid dysfunction.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes. But then another test, my favorite, the genetic test. And anyone who's followed along and listened to us knows that we've done a whole podcast on the 3x4 genetic blueprint test. And anyone who's followed along and listened to us knows that we've done a whole podcast on the 3x4 genetic blueprint test. But we use this one because well many reasons. It's an easy at-home saliva test, so you just swab the inside of your cheek and mail in your sample and with this test we're able to look at nutritional needs, drug responses and potential health risks. Now you know this isn't a gene-based test. If you've heard me talk about it, I always like to clarify not a gene-based test, but rather a pathway-based test, and that means we're looking at the pathways in your body that have the greatest potential strength or weakness, versus fixating on a singular gene. And with this test, this specific one, it evaluates over 134 genes. Now it's not going to be all the genes. We're not looking at ancestry, we're only looking at the ones that give us useful information in regards to metabolism, inflammation, detoxification, fitness, body weight, hormones, brain function, nutritional needs, and the results for this test are presented in a really easy to use manner. The report looks like almost not a comic strip, but it has fun little pictures and actionable steps that you can take through diet, lifestyle and supplement nutrition. But it's especially valuable for disease prevention, whether you know this runs in the family or you want to see what pathway is broken that is contributing to this disease. It is so valuable. But it's also valuable in discovering the root cause of current symptoms or disease, because there's always the genetic component yeah, this runs in the family or there might be other genetic components that you just don't detox well and so it makes you prone to certain diseases and disease patterns.
Speaker 2:I prefer people to do this test sooner than later, and oftentimes it can be the last one people do. It was the last one I did. I spent money on all the other tests, all the other valuable tests I needed to know about hormones and toxins and just my blood levels, and I pushed this one out and just kept not doing it, and when I finally did, I wished I had done it decades before, because it provided the why for so many of my health struggles. And when clients choose to do this test, we're able to get the how-to for managing aspects of nutrition and fitness, illness prevention, weight management, stress reduction, and I mean so much more. You'll get the ultimate strategy for your health goals when you do this test, because it's literally a blueprint of your body. By analyzing your specific markers, we're able to equip each individual with valuable personalized interventions for your best health outcomes.
Speaker 1:So I wouldn't wait on this one and it's funny because it's the easiest test. It's literally a cheek swab, and so you run a Q-tip or whatever in your cheek and then you send it in. It could not be easier and it is. It's the one that we put off and put off and but it is so important and it does help um so much. And, and Elena really has dove in. That's not good grammar, but you went to the deep end.
Speaker 2:I sure did I go first.
Speaker 1:And, yeah, you just do so. You offer so much valuable insight and you show me areas in treatment plans where it's like, oh, but there's this, and so we need to change that, you know, and it just makes all the difference in the world for people's outcomes and helps us do a better job. Yeah, and we're here for good outcomes. That's, that's our goal. And and, and that's the thing, I guess this leads into the next point, which lab interpretation? We've touched on it right, we don't live and die by the reference range on blood work right.
Speaker 2:On blood work.
Speaker 1:There are other things we do, but what how a practitioner looks at your labs and I guess some of that goes to what they know, what their philosophy of care is, what their education has been on the matter. That's going to directly impact what you end up doing about the results, because sometimes you do nothing about the results because your doctor didn't know enough to tell you one or two things you know. They just know. Oh, everything's good, there's no red on this, so we're good to go.
Speaker 1:But ask yourself you know, has your provider ever talked to you through entire lab results, no matter what the test is imaging, specialized labs, whatever have they ever walked you through, helping you to understand their reasoning and what all the data means, line by line? Because that's what we do and it's funny because I always have clients say, wow, nobody's ever walked me through that before. I feel like I actually know something now, and that's just. I think it's important. We always tell people you need to, you will always be. You should be your own best advocate. You care more about your situation than probably anybody else, and so you need to know a lot.
Speaker 2:Well, understanding your labs is a huge part of understanding your health. I mean, honestly, when you see a number, it can be a huge motivating factor to make the changes you need to make for improved health. Because there's a lot of cases when you know you and I, we can tell by a person's symptoms what their problem probably is. But then it's our recommendations and word for it and it's not as convincing as lab results sitting in front of them. And so it's just helpful for compliance and motivation and for tracking your progress when you have an actual number that you can compare it to although symptoms are pretty good tracking records too. But it's just it's helpful to have that lab.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And so all of this, you know, if you look at it all together, does everybody need to do all the tests? No, do we make everybody do all the tests? No, absolutely not. We will work with somebody even if they can't do any of the tests. But information provides knowledge. Knowledge gives you power and the power to change, the power to improve your health. That's what we're all about at K6 Wellness Center. So don't be afraid of the information. I think that's something sometimes we forget is that, oh yeah, these people are really stressed out, we're excited to tell them something or it's very run of the mill for us. But don't be afraid of what the test might show, because that's not the end of the story. That is never the end of the story.
Speaker 2:Good point.
Speaker 1:It is the starting point. It is now. What now? What do we do to make this better? So, no matter how hopeless you think your situation is, no matter how overwhelmed you may be by the name of your diagnosis, don't give up and don't be defeated by words and numbers, because we want you to feel better, we want you to live better, we want you to choose better so you can do better, and part of our byline is look well, live well, be well, and there's a lot to that. You're not going to look well if you're not living well. If you're not living well, you won't be well.
Speaker 2:Well, and that's, people can be information junkies, so that can be the person who wants to run all the lab tests but doesn't want to make any changes, because they think I did the test, so I did something, y'all doing a test doesn't do anything for your health if you don't take the information and apply it.
Speaker 2:So it's important to be ready to take the steps, but also I'm glad you mentioned that, sharon, that yeah, you know I have to do these tests. No one has to do all of them or any of them. It helps us do our job better. But there's a lot of people who come to us as well that they can't afford all this and they need help knowing, ok, what is the one thing I should do, and that's where we really try to be good at listening to what our clients are saying to us, to know where do we start you saying to us, to know where do we start you, because money doesn't grow on trees. Some people are able to come in and do all that, some can't. But we want to meet you where you're at and we will point you to the best option for you. That's right.
Speaker 1:Taking charge of your health starts with knowing what's happening inside your body, and regular blood work is bare bones and one of the most powerful tools to keep you on track. We're so glad you spent time with us today, and we hope this episode gave you valuable insights to support your wellness journey. If you would like to work with us, we have clients all over the world, and many of these tests that we've spoken about can be shipped to you for collection at home. You can also order some of our tests directly online. See the links below. If you're watching on YouTube, please be sure to like and subscribe so you never miss an episode, and if you want to keep learning and connecting with us, you can also follow us on Rumble Facebook and Instagram for more wellness tips and updates. If you're ready to take the next step towards better health, visit k6wellnesscom to learn more or schedule a consultation. Until next time, take care, be well and, as always, remember your health is worth fighting for.