Specialized Lab Testing in Tucson

Doctors often rely on one tool that is usually the first choice when trying to find the underlying cause of any health symptom, and that is ordering the right tests. We have partnered with Vibrant, leader of specialized lab testing. Their specialized lab testing is developed under rigorous, ongoing research performed by top clinical experts, doctors, and scientists and it helps assess genetics, body systems and environmental factors to guide you in your path to wellness.

Effortless experience

Your symptoms may have different causes that require specific treatments. By running diagnostic tests, your healthcare provider can identify the exact issues and tailor the best solutions for you. You are a unique individual with your own genes, chemistry, and lifestyle; therefore, specialized lab tests can help reveal the underlying root causes of your symptoms. 

Get to the core of personalized wellness solutions with the most advanced testing available.

Specialized lab testing spans various categories:

• Gut Health
• Nutrients status
• Food sensitivities and allergies
• Longevity
• Neuroendocrine Health
• Cardiovascular health
• Toxins
• Autoimmune
• Infections

A full selection of comprehensive, specialized lab tests to reveal the root of a patient’s symptoms is available. Our providers will use these lab tests to provide you with a comprehensive assessment of biomarkers to help you identify the root cause of symptoms and set you on a path toward wellness.

Our partner Vibrant makes sample collection easy. If your test requires blood draw, a mobile phlebotomist will provide this service in the comfort of your home or our office. We also offer an array of tests that can be done at home (*These tests only require collection of saliva, urine, or stool). *Blood-draw and At-home options available.

Specialized lab testing is not covered by insurance; however, you can use the following payment methods:

• Debit card (Pay Now)
• Credit card (Pay Now)
• Afterpay (Pay Later) – Third-party payment plan
• Klarna (Pay Later) – Third-party payment plan
• Flexible Savings Account (FSA)
• Health Spending Account (HSA)

Eastwest Integrated Care has created a protocol that will save you time and money, and Vibrant’s partners (Klarna and Afterpay) allow you to make payment installments securely online. ASK YOUR PROVIDER!

Understanding Lab Testing

Standard and Advanced Specialized Laboratory Testing

Lab testing provides data about your body which then often needs to be interpreted by a qualified provider. The way your provider interprets this information can make the difference between prevention and treatment for individual patients.

In the conventional setting, lab testing is part of a protocol that helps providers match symptoms and lab values with the proper pharmaceuticals and/or nutraceuticals among other approaches. We initially order a standard set of tests to determine your liver and kidneys’ function, blood sugar regulation, lipids (cholesterol), and other markers. It is an effortless way to determine your current baseline*. 

*Your annual physical should include all the recommended tests. 

If a patient’s symptoms persist or testing results do not match the symptoms of your current diagnosis, additional testing may be justified, thus, your provider will recommend specialized lab testing. For this reason, it is important to collaborate with a qualified integrative provider who will evaluate your results from a holistic perspective.

And because each person is a completely unique mix of genetics, chemistry, and individual lifestyles, these lab tests provide invaluable data to find the underlying cause of your symptoms. That is why they are often the first choice of action for your providers. 

Regular laboratory tests may include:

CBC w/ diff, CMP, Lipid panel, A1C, Thyroid panel, Iron panel, CPR and ESR markers, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12 and Folate (B9), among others.

The importance of a Complete Blood Count (CBC)

• Diagnosing health conditions: It can help find the cause of symptoms such as weakness, fatigue, fever, swelling, pain, bruising, or bleeding.
• Monitoring health: It provides information about how medications or medical conditions are affecting your body, and about the health of your immune system.
• Detecting blood cancers, anemia, infections, and other conditions.
• Checking bone marrow and spleen functioning.
• Monitoring existing conditions or treatment that affects blood cells.

Metabolic Markers A basic metabolic panel will normally be covered at your yearly physical or at a primary care visit. It is important you work with a qualified integrative medicine provider who will look at your results holistically and follow through with recommendations if anything is not within an optimal range. Metabolic panels measure how your body is regulating blood sugar, cholesterol, and insulin. This tells your provider how your body is metabolizing the foods you eat, as well as your risk for certain diseases if the values are less than optimal.

Vitamin and Minerals including Iron, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, Magnesium, etc. are involved in fluid and electrolytes balance, which is vital for your nervous system, muscles and maintaining an optimal internal environment.

C-reactive protein (CRP) or a high-sensitivity CRP allows your doctor to examine the general inflammatory status of a person. Even slight increases in hs-CRP in an otherwise healthy person are associated with an increased risk of serious health consequences like heart problems or depression.

Thyroid Panel A full panel is essential because it provides a comprehensive assessment of thyroid function, so your provider will not miss early thyroid dysfunction. Testing for antibodies will provide a view of your autoimmune risk. Early detection of thyroid disfunction is crucial, especially if you experience fatigue, depression, or anxiety.

Important Specialized Lab tests you may need

If you are seeking optimal wellness, it is important to have an internal picture of how your body is functioning. When symptoms are broad and unexplained by basic labs like unintended weight gain/loss, severe fatigue, or insomnia, digestive disturbances, and mood dysfunction, specialized lab testing helps get to the bottom of the underlying cause.

Here are the most relevant areas your provider will assess:

• Nutrient deficiencies (or excesses) 
• Gut function 
• Food sensitivity and/or allergies
• Neuroendocrine function
• Hormone imbalances
• Inflammatory processes
• Toxin burden 
• Oxidative stress (Longevity)
• Autoimmune disfunction

These types of tests can help you and your integrative healthcare provider have a better picture of your overall health.

Nutrient Status (Micro and Macro-nutrients)

Nutrient status is another category not usually checked at a routine primary care visit. Lifestyle factors, diet, stress, and medications can deplete different nutrient stores, or your body’s ability to absorb them from food. If low in certain vitamins and minerals, you can experience symptoms like brain fog, fatigue, autoimmune flares, and a risk for more serious disease.

• Micronutrient Panel and NutriPro Test (Blood analysis).  Nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and fatty acids play vital roles in energy production, hemoglobin synthesis, maintenance of bone health, immune regulation, and protection against oxidative stress. As nutrients play such important roles in various biological functions, a proper balance in nutrient levels is very crucial. A marginal lack of a particular nutrient could prove detrimental to the body and could lead to the development of health issues.

These tests assess the extracellular and intracellular levels of nutrients as well as genetic predispositions affecting nutrient levels, revealing the root cause of nutritional deficiencies.

Gut Function

Current research shows that most of modern societies’ biggest health concerns are linked with gut health. These include cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, mood disorders and development of dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease, among others.

If your gut is damaged because of poor diet, stress, medication, or genetic factors, it can create systemic inflammation that raises your risk of chronic diseases, but that goes undetected by traditional tests. As a result, malabsorption, bacterial overgrowth, or conditions like irritable bowel may occur.

• Gut Zoomer (Stool analysis). Your gut microbiome plays a critical role in optimal digestion, nutrient metabolism, your energy, how your body detoxes harmful chemicals and toxins, maintenance of structural integrity of the gut mucosal barrier, healthy skin and protecting you from infection.

This test looks for markers of malabsorption as well as a wide range of gut micro-organisms, gut metabolites, and relevant digestive and inflammatory markers which will give insights into your gut health.

Food Sensitivity

Repeated exposure to foods that aggravate your digestive tract and irritate your gut lining can negatively impact your digestion. Often, individuals do not recognize the signs of food sensitivity, especially if they do not fit common symptoms such as digestive upset or bowel changes. Food sensitivity testing allows your provider to see which foods are creating an inflammatory response and recommend dietary and/or lifestyle adjustments. 

• Food Sensitivity Test and Allergy Panel (Blood analysis). Food sensitivities and allergies are reactions that occur on ingestion of certain provocative food nutrients or additives. These reactions are intestinal but can also occur in other parts of the body such as the skin. Food-mediated reactions contribute to chronic inflammation and disease development. The symptoms associated may include abdominal pain, hives, bloating, bowel irregularity, brain fog, headache, fatigue, muscle, and joint pain.

Food and nutrition can be used as a key therapeutic intervention and can enable your body to reset, decrease inflammation, and decrease immune activation.

Brain and Neural Health

The nervous system is responsible for controlling and coordinating bodily functions such as movement, sensation, cognition, and emotion, meaning that any damage or dysfunction to the nervous system can significantly impact a person’s health and daily activities. Preserving optimal neural health is crucial in preventing cognitive decline and reducing the likelihood of neurodegenerative diseases.

• Neural Zoomer (Blood analysis). It measures immune reactivity to structures, tissues, cells, and chemicals in the brain and peripheral nervous system. This test can detect underlying inflammatory responses that may be causing symptoms related to mood, memory, aging, balance, nervous function, movement, pain, and more.

This test evaluates reactivity to neurological antigens associated with various neurologically related diseases.

• Neurotransmitters (Blood analysis). It measures levels of the most common neurotransmitters and metabolites in the brain and nervous system. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that facilitate the transmission of signals from one neuron (i.e., brain cell) to another target cell.

This panel aims to evaluate risk to disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and mental health conditions such as ADD/ADHD, autism, mood disorders or any symptoms related to neurotransmitter imbalances.

Hormone Balance

Sex hormones, plus cortisol and thyroid hormones, regulate your overall health, as well as how you think and feel. When any of these hormones fall out of balance, it is likely to affect the others, as well as cause an array of symptoms like weight gain, fatigue, acne, mood swings, depression, and so many others.

Hormones testing reveals key biomarkers involving the function of the HPA axis, as well as your adrenal glands, thyroid, and reproductive function.

• Hormones Panel (Urine analysis). Hormones are molecules produced by the endocrine system and regulate functions like growth and development, reproduction, metabolism, and electrolyte balance. Hormones are synthesized by the endocrine glands into the bloodstream. Hormonal imbalance can affect metabolism resulting in weight gain, fatigue, slow heartbeat. It can also accelerate aging.

These tests may help determine the status of reproductive, metabolic, and steroid hormones and metabolites and uncover hormonal imbalances and hormone-related diseases.

Cardiovascular Health

Cardiac health involves maintaining the well-being of the heart and blood vessels, which is crucial to prevent heart diseases such as heart attack and stroke. Heart disease is a leading cause of death worldwide, healthy lifestyle habits and regular cardiac testing are essential to maintain good cardiac health.

Poor cardiac health can lead to detrimental risks such as heart disease, heart attack, stroke, and even death.

• Cardiac Panel (Saliva and blood). Combines multiple markers to assess current risk of heart disease and to understand your genetic predisposition to various cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, insulin resistance, atrial fibrillation, stroke, and dyslipidemia.

If you suspect major cardiovascular or neurodegenerative diseases such as cardiovascular disease or Alzheimer’s, you may benefit from this panel.

• Methylation Panel (Blood analysis). Measures relevant genetic variations that can affect methylation and key nutrients to determine the status of methylation in the body and if it is inhibited by genetic abnormalities. Homocysteine is an amino acid that requires methylated vitamin B12 and folate to be cleared.

Elevations in this level are indicative of increased risk for stroke, heart disease, and may indicate reduced detox pathway function.

Detox Function

We live in a world where we are constantly exposed to a wide array of toxins from the environment such as heavy metals, pesticides, and other harmful compounds. Environmental toxins or toxicants are synthetic or naturally occurring substances that can cause acute or chronic toxic overload when absorbed, inhaled, or ingested. 

• Total Tox Burden and Toxic Genetics (Saliva, urine and blood). Our immune system fights hard to rid the body of unwanted substances. An overload of these compounds can have detrimental effects as it can affect multiple body systems leading to autoimmune disease, digestive problems, and contributing to various disease processes.

These tests detect various toxins and can reveal the root cause of chronic inflammatory symptoms. Exposure to heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, nickel, cadmium, and others contributes to various diseases. If you have a genetic MTHFR variant, your body may be less efficient at removing these heavy metals from circulation.

Autoimmune Function

Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system attacks healthy cells and tissues, causing long-term damage to organs and tissues. 

• Connective Tissue Disorder Test (Blood analysis). The CTD panel tests for signs of a connective tissue disorder and provides a disease risk assessment. Most CTDs feature abnormal immune system activity with autoimmune-induced inflammation, where the body attacks its own connective tissues substances.

The most prevalent autoimmune diseases are rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, psoriasis, celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, and Graves’ disease. Due to their non-specific symptoms, testing is crucial for detecting autoimmune diseases.

Longevity

Oxidative stress speeds up aging and triggers diseases like heart issues, neurodegeneration, diabetes, and inflammation. This stress damages DNA, messes with proteins, and disrupts cell signals.

• Healthspan Assessment Panel. Assesses key markers of cardiovascular (heart & blood vessels), endocrine (hormone), hepatic (liver), renal (kidney), immune, and metabolic health, along with markers of inflammation, autoimmunity, and nutrient status.

This comprehensive approach helps determine overall health and wellness and positions you for optimal health and longevity.

The Bottom Line

Specialized Lab testing is a way you and your integrative provider have insight into connecting your symptoms to an underlying cause. This specialized lab testing helps evaluate your gut microbiome, inflammation, nutrient status, stress, toxins, and hormone balance. Even if you are not experiencing symptoms of imbalance, this lab testing is an important piece of the puzzle to track your overall health and identify imbalances before they progress to the point of disease.

Your Mental Well Being

We believe that only a comprehensive, holistic approach to treating mental health issues will provide sustainable, long-term relief to mental health symptoms.

As we have seen, an integrative medicine approach to mental health first requires detective work to identify all the contributors to your mental health symptoms. Then, based on each possible contributor, your provider will discuss different options for your treatment. 

These solutions usually require implementing lifestyle changes and they will take time and perseverance. It is a lifelong commitment to healthier habits that it is worth it for a life of optimal mental health.

List of practical solutions to your mental health issues

Balance your hormones – Distinct types of hormone imbalances (sex hormone imbalances, stress hormone imbalances, insulin hormone imbalance and thyroid hormone imbalance) play a huge role in your mental health. Balanced hormones ensure that we are happy, patient, calm, focused, remember things, can concentrate, and sleep well. It is essential that any mental health assessment considers hormone imbalances, and that any healing program helps to balance our hormones.

Balance your neurotransmitters – While as we have seen in neurotransmitter imbalances, there is controversy around the chemical imbalance explanation for mental health and we lack clarity on the cause-and-effect relationship, however, there is no doubt that neurotransmitter levels influence moods, anxiety, concentration, memory, sleep etc. A natural approach to ensuring more balanced neurotransmitters can be extremely helpful for good mental health.

Improve your sleep – Insufficient or poor-quality sleep increases your risk of health issues from immune imbalances, inflammation, metabolic diseases, brain, and mood dysfunction, and even cancer.

Reduce your body’s toxins burden-Exposure to toxins can be disruptive to your gut, brain, hormone and immune systems, cause inflammation, and more. To properly address environmental toxins, we identify current sources of exposure and help support your body to best eliminate accumulated toxins.