Understanding Blood,
Saliva and Hair Tests

BLOOD TESTS IN GENERAL

• Blood is an extra cellular fluid. The bloodstream is a unique compartment of the body in that it is maintained in very specific homeostatic balance.

• In fact, the body will take whatever biochemicals it needs from the organs, tissues and bones to keep the bloodstream homeostatically stable.

• This makes the blood a good compartment to measure for more advanced disease processes, but a very poor indicator of disease processes in the making

• In general, a disease process will be well established by the time it shows up as blood value deviations.

• Many disease processes will never reflect in blood value deviations.

HORMONES IN THE BLOOD

• Thyroid, estrogen, progesterone and testosterone blood tests measure bound hormones.

That is, these hormones are attached to proteins that keep them in an inactive state in the bloodstream. More than 99% of these hormones are maintained in a bound, inactive state.

SALIVA TESTS IN GENERAL

• Saliva is an extra cellular fluid. It contains detectable amounts of various kinds of antibodies as well as free, or unbound, hormones.

HORMONES IN THE SALIVA

• Saliva testing for hormones is a “different view from the bridge” than the view of blood tests. Since saliva measures free, or physiologically active, hormone levels, it is usually a more accurate assessment of hormonal activity.

• Deficiencies and deviations in hormone levels will usually show up in the free fractions before showing up in the bound levels.

• In general, saliva testing facilitates the diagnosis of a condition at a much earlier stage than blood tests, often by months or even years.

HISTORY OF SALIVA TESTING

• Saliva testing has been in use for several decades, and its accuracy is well established.

• However, saliva testing is not used or understood by most conventional practitioners.
When any testing procedure is not used or understood conventionally, it is almost always dismissed as invalid and unproven, regardless of the facts.

HAIR TESTS or MINERAL ANALYSIS IN GENERAL

• A hair test is an intracellular test or biopsy. The hair test is unique in that it is a window into the internal environment of soft tissue.

• Dr. Paul Eck studied the mineral patterns of unwashed hair in states of health disease. He found that mineral analysis through the hair was an early stage disease detection test.

• This is so because the body is not concerned with maintaining a rigorous homeostatic state in the hair. Early stage deviations in biochemistry, as well as disease trends, can be detected on a hair test.

HORMONE ACTIVITY REFLECTED IN MINERAL PATTERNS

• Dr. Eck found an intimate relationship between mineral patterns and hormone activity at the cellular level.
• Basically, hormones control minerals, and minerals control hormones. Minerals act something like a computer chip in that they are the centerpiece of biochemical messengers- hormones, enzymes, neurotransmitters and even vitamins- that activate these messenger molecules.

• The hair test does not measure actual hormone levels. Instead, it indicates the physiological activity of the hormones in the cells.

• Dr. Eck’s research found that deviation of hormone activity would most often show up at the cellular level long before deviation in actual hormone levels would occur. Therefore the hair test is a window into the disease process in the making For example, hypothyroid and hypo-adrenal function and blood sugar instability can be seen and tracked in their earlier stages on hair tests.

Protocols At Wellness Within are developed for each patient based on the findings of these lab tests. It helps us fine tune our approach and address the individual needs of each patient.