Have you been told “everything in your labs looks normal”?

In our personal experience, we had done standard blood tests, non-standard blood tests, including comprehensive autoimmune markers, as well as more specialised (and very pricey!) “functional” labs, like the GI map, comprehensive stool analysis, microbiome test, micronutrient panel, etc etc. Although testing can be very helpful for some people, it never really gave me any useful insight in our case. Like many of my clients, we were told “everything looks normal”. My daughter did not even have a single autoimmune marker in the labs when she had a massive flare up a few years back. I decided to just zoom out, stopped focusing on the numbers, and refocused on the whole body health instead, and that’s when things took a turn for the better.

1️⃣ Inflammatory Markers: Autoimmune conditions can be tricky because they often involve inflammation. However, not all inflammation markers are specific to a particular condition. They can be elevated for various reasons, making it challenging to pinpoint the exact cause.

2️⃣ Genetic Factors: Genetics play a significant role in autoimmune alopecia. These genetic factors don’t usually show up in most blood tests, as they involve complex interactions between multiple genes.

3️⃣ Tissue-Specific Activity: The autoimmune response might be localized within the hair follicles, and this activity might not manifest as abnormalities in the bloodstream.

4️⃣ Environmental Triggers: Triggers for autoimmune diseases can be environmental, and many times even emotional/psychological, and these factors are usually not reflected in blood tests.

5️⃣ Diagnostic Limitations: Some autoimmune conditions are simply difficult to diagnose through blood tests alone.

I still recommend that you have blood tests done; I personally like to keep a record of things as baseline and as we progress (or have setbacks) through this condition. Blood tests can also pinpoint obvious things that need extra attention, such as deficiencies or other anomalies. But I don’t recommend us getting too obsessed with blood tests alone. We are not robots and our bodies don’t work like robotic machines!

#alopecia #alopeciaareata #alopeciaawareness #alopeciatotalis #alopeciauniversalis