People with neurological conditions are searching for alternatives to conventional care, and over half of them are actively utilizing integrative therapies. Integrative medicine takes a whole-person approach, considering aspects of lifestyle that contribute to health or disease and using integrative therapies to improve health and well-being.
Utilizing integrative medicine laboratory tests is an integral part of diagnosis and management to monitor treatment effectiveness for individuals with neurological conditions. This article will cover the top laboratory tests utilized in integrative neurology.
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What is Integrative Neurology?
Integrative neurology is an approach to identifying and treating neurological conditions that incorporate evidence-based integrative evaluation methods and therapies with conventional medicine. Neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and others, are often complicated and conventional treatments are limited, opening the door for integrative modalities with therapeutic potential. Integrative neurology utilizes treatments with evidence showing benefits for the nervous system, such as nutrition, acupuncture, mind-body practices, exercise, and nutraceuticals.
Integrative neurology also emphasizes a root cause, whole-person approach for evaluating and treating patients with neurological conditions to promote health and well-being. This necessitates looking at genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors that impact the brain and nervous system and utilizing labs that look beyond those used in traditional medicine.
Importance of Running Integrative Medicine Lab Tests on Neurology Patients
In any health condition, laboratory testing is an essential aspect of correctly identifying the root cause of the problem and monitoring treatment effectiveness. Integrative medicine labs take testing a step further than just the basic labs commonly run in conventional medicine.
Integrative medicine tests seek out the underlying cause of conditions and look for imbalances in areas such as nutrient status, the gut microbiome, neurotransmitters, and hormones. This helps integrative medicine practitioners tailor effective treatment plans to an individual’s unique physiology.
Re-testing labs is vital to properly monitor a patient’s progress and ensure the treatment plan is appropriate and effective for each stage of the healing process. Re-testing offers an opportunity to dig deeper and run additional tests when treatments appear to be ineffective or to adjust nutraceutical dosage or therapies when a patient is progressing.
Top Integrative Medicine Lab Tests Used in Integrative Neurology
Integrative medicine practitioners utilize various integrative medicine laboratory tests in addition to comprehensive foundational blood tests (such as CMP and CBC) to identify the root cause of a person’s neurological condition and monitor for treatment effectiveness. Here are the top integrative medicine lab tests used in integrative neurology.
Neurotransmitter Testing
When evaluating a patient with a neurological condition or neurological symptoms, Neurotransmitter Testing is a vital and foundational starting point.
This urine test assesses neurotransmitter levels and measures the precursors to these neurotransmitters. This information can be extremely helpful in identifying the cause of low levels of a particular neurotransmitter.
This test also measures the metabolites of neurotransmitters, providing additional information about the levels of neurotransmitters and how they are metabolized. Certain diseases exhibit impaired neurotransmitter metabolism; for example, impaired tryptophan metabolism is associated with neurological and psychiatric conditions. This data helps integrative medicine practitioners make accurate neurological diagnoses.
Neuro Autoimmune Testing
Testing for neurological antigens can provide early indications of a patient’s risk for specific neurological conditions, as well as how well a person is responding to treatment.
This test is helpful when evaluating patients with a family history of neurological autoimmunity, patients with positive autoimmune markers (such as a positive ANA blood test) and neurological symptoms, or those with neurological symptoms for which a root cause has not yet been identified.
Certain autoimmune neurological disorders are thought to be caused by infections such as viral infections. A Virus Panel evaluates antibody levels of the 7 most common viruses associated with neurological autoimmunity. This test would be helpful in patients who develop neurological symptoms after getting sick or when an ANA test is positive in conjunction with a CBC test that indicates the immune system is fighting an infection.
Hormone Testing
The endocrine and neurological systems often work hand-in-hand, as is the case with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The HPA axis is the body’s neuroendocrine mechanism for regulating the stress response. Chronic stress, issues with sleep, inflammation, and a person’s nutritional status can all impact the HPA axis and would be cause for further evaluation of this system.
The DUTCH Plus is a comprehensive urine and saliva test that evaluates sex and adrenal hormones and markers for melatonin, various nutrients, neurotransmitters, and gut dysbiosis. This provides extensive data on the neurological and endocrine systems and various factors that impact their health and function.
In addition to melatonin, the DUTCH Plus test also offers a nighttime cortisol sample for those with insomnia and measures cortisol awakening response (CAR), which provides a window into the health of the body’s circadian rhythm. Morning sunlight signals the brain to increase cortisol production to trigger wakefulness, whereas, in the evening, the lack of sunlight signals the brain to increase melatonin production to help the body sleep. As you can see, this test would provide very relevant data for patients suffering from dysfunction in their sleep-wake cycles.
For patients that suffer from chronic stress and exhibit neurological symptoms but aren’t having issues with sleep, a test like the Sanesco & NeuroLab HPA-G Complete Profile may be a good alternative. This is a urine and saliva test that measures sex and adrenal hormones in addition to neurotransmitters.
Micronutrient Testing
The body’s nutrient status significantly influences neurological health and function. A number of micronutrients are necessary for neurotransmitter production and overall healthy neurological function. A micronutrient test assesses extracellular and intracellular nutrient status to provide comprehensive data on a patient’s micronutrient levels.
This blood test measures 31 different minerals, vitamins, essential fatty acids, and amino acids to inform clinical decisions surrounding which micronutrients should be included in a patient’s treatment plan. Measuring intracellular micronutrients indicates what a person’s functional nutritional status is over the previous 4 to 6 months, which is a more accurate indicator of what nutritional deficiencies or insufficiencies truly need to be addressed.
Vitamin D is vital for optimal health and has been implicated in various neurological disorders. Vitamin D controls the genetic regulation of the production of numerous neurotransmitters, making it an essential nutrient to evaluate in patients with neurological issues. If a full micronutrient panel is not ordered, vitamin D can be tested individually, along with a basic blood workup.
Comprehensive Stool Testing
It has become increasingly evident how vital the gut microbiota is in overall health. The trillions of microorganisms that make up the microbiome are involved in almost all aspects of human health, influencing gut health, inflammatory markers, cardiovascular disease, metabolic pathways, hormones, and immune function. The microbiome also significantly impacts neurotransmitter production and neurological function, and an increasing body of evidence links the microbiome to neurological disorders. This makes a strong case for evaluating the gastrointestinal system in patients with neurological symptoms or conditions.
Comprehensive stool tests, like the GI-MAP + Zonulin test by Diagnostic Solutions and the GI Effects® Comprehensive Profile from Genova Diagnostics, assess the functional health of the gastrointestinal system by measuring markers of digestion, absorption, inflammation, and immune reactivity and analyzing the microbiome. These tests provide data on the abundance of various microorganisms, the overall diversity of the microbiome, and whether there is an overgrowth of pathogenic microorganisms.
Additional Labs to Check
In addition to a physical and neurological examination, additional testing may be required to fully evaluate a patient’s neurological health. A physician may choose to order an MRI or CT scan to evaluate for brain pathologies, an electroencephalogram (EEG) to assess the brain’s electrical function or a nerve conduction study such as an electromyogram (EMG).
Patients experiencing neurological conditions that may or may not knowingly struggle with sleep may also benefit from a sleep study. A sleep study, or polysomnography, is the gold standard for evaluating sleep disorders. Sleep disruption can significantly disrupt neurological health and often precedes neurodegenerative diseases by decades. Often people that suffer from sleep apnea are unaware that they have it, making testing a vital tool in identifying this issue. These overnight tests monitor a person’s movements, brain waves, and other vital signs to evaluate a person’s sleep cycles and stages and determine whether sleep patterns are disrupted.
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Summary
Integrative neurology takes a whole-person approach to evaluating and managing patients with neurological conditions. An integrative approach for evaluating patients with these conditions focuses on identifying the root cause of the condition, which requires thinking outside the box and considering tests like a comprehensive stool test or a test to evaluate the HPA axis.
Identifying the underlying cause of any condition is imperative for optimal health and well-being, and integrative medicine lab tests allow practitioners to dig deeper.
If you are experiencing neurological symptoms or have a neurological condition, talk to your integrative medicine practitioner about which lab tests may help get to the bottom of your health struggles.
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