QUESTION: I have a 57 YO Menopausal Female who is an avid runner with migrating joint pain. What labs would you run to help diagnose what is wrong with her?
ANSWER: Lab Investigation Rationale:
First basic labs to make sure no imbalanced electrolytes, elevated LFTs, Anemia etc.
Then, inflammatory rheumatologic labs (Sed or CRP / ANA with reflex / RF etc
If no clear autoimmune of basic cause then consider the following (and even if there is a rheumatologic cause suggested I almost always run these to find out what aggravating factors exist.
Endocrine:
- Thyroid (mitochondrial rate and general cell function)
- Progesterone (low = low peripheral corticoid support, increased inflammation and poor central nociception)
- Cortisol Obvious reasons hopefully – (AM serum as a screening or an ASI)
- RBC Zinc (immune and cofactor support)
- RBC Mag (Shows Mag levels AND ability of cells to recycle GSH / low RBC Mag= low GSH activity)
Genova Immune: Infections cause inflammation. In chronic and autoimmune cases the person almost never has a known Hx (occasionally so). In hundreds (maybe a thousand or two) of cases of chronic cases I have found infectious triggers of autoimmunity and inflammation to be partially causal.
The typical set I screen for are:
- EBV Panel or just EBV-Ea-IgG for acute activity only ASO (commonly elevated in chronic pain cases and indicates many many issues)
- Candida and H. pylori (IgA) (stool testing if you want to go further into the GI bugs)
- Lyme Immunoglobulin with Western Blot reflex
- C and M Pneumonia Ig G and M (and A for C pneumo)
There are many other things to watch but if the normal labs dont help I find in case after case these additional labs will give a window into the deeper issues.
** Also runners often can get very poor cell distribution of electrolytes (which is the job of Taurine which they are all low in) so empirically add 1-3 grams of taurine a day.
** If wishing to explore the mineral connection more then I run an RBC element profile via Drs Data or Metametrix –