1 hr 21 min
The Challenges with Functional Medicine Testing with Dr. Bryan Walsh Perfect Practice
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- Business
In this episode, Sachin interviews Dr. Bryan Walsh. Sachin bumped into Dr. Walsh at ECO, the CellCore Conference. After talking, Sachin invited Bryan to be a guest on Perfect Practice. Bryan is extremely passionate about functional medicine. He brings over 25 years of experience in helping us become better clinicians, looking at our patients through a slightly different lens and upgrading our paradigm so we can be of better value to the people we want to serve the most.
Key Takeaways:
[2:12] Sachin welcomes Dr. Bryan Walsh and thanks him for joining the podcast today. Sachin speaks of producing evidence-based treatment driven by awareness. There are more tests coming onto the market and more supplements and more research being done every year.
[3:10] Bryan started as a fitness specialist. He read much about nutrition. Before going to naturopathic school, Bryan went to a functional medicine weekend seminar produced by a lab. He was amazed by all the available tests. That hooked him on functional medicine.
[4:06] Bryan then went to naturopathic school where he met his wife. He learned about many tests and did them all: organic acid test, salivary cortisol test, urinary hormone test, stool test, hair tissue mineral analysis test, you name the test, he did it. But he started hearing gurus say things he knew not to be true and he started questioning the supplements.
[6:14] Bryan asked himself why he was running expensive tests if he didn’t know their scientific validity. The scientific literature is not friendly to these biomarkers and tests. He compares it to testing your home for radon with a bad test. Bryan is trying to raise the bar in the industry for better practitioners and healthier patients for less money, and being more evidence-based.
[8:10] Bryan and his wife run their business while trying to raise the bar in the industry as much as they can. Sachin loves that they are holding the entire industry to a higher standard. You have to feel solid on the tests you order for people. The foundation of our business is the outcomes we produce.
[9:24] Sachin asks, “How do I create a program that is independent of the labs, that produces results every single time that has tons of evidence and ancient wisdom wrapped up into it, and common sense wrapped up into it, and develop a lifestyle-design program that isn’t dependent on lab testing?” Sachin includes Oura rings for his patients so they can measure their progress.
[10:18] Bryan’s view is that a lab test should not give you any new insights into the person, it should just confirm what you already believe to be true. That means going back to your clinical skills, history-taking, symptom questionnaire, and physical exam. Bryan’s not opposed to any test that he knows of, but a test is not a fishing expedition, it’s confirmation of a suspected issue.
[11:28] For example, if a patient has hypoglycemic symptoms, there’s probably something going on. Testing blood glucose and A1C gathers hard data and allows for interventions and tracking progress. If someone has hypothyroid symptoms, run a complete thyroid panel and see where the defect is.
[12:35] Blood chemistry is one of Bryan’s passions. Standard blood chemistry is one of the most studied labs around the world. It’s been scientifically validated over and over. It’s inexpensive for what you get, if you know what you’re doing, have good reference markers, and are up to date on the modern literature on these markers.
[14:02] When you look at the literature on Albumin, old markers have new reasons they might be high or low that have implications for us as practitioners. If you take old tests and combine them with updated research on the markers, they can tell you as a clinician far more than you were using them for in the past.
[14:47] Bryan cites recent research linking high HDL with leaky gut. A high HDL may indicate testing for intestinal permeability
In this episode, Sachin interviews Dr. Bryan Walsh. Sachin bumped into Dr. Walsh at ECO, the CellCore Conference. After talking, Sachin invited Bryan to be a guest on Perfect Practice. Bryan is extremely passionate about functional medicine. He brings over 25 years of experience in helping us become better clinicians, looking at our patients through a slightly different lens and upgrading our paradigm so we can be of better value to the people we want to serve the most.
Key Takeaways:
[2:12] Sachin welcomes Dr. Bryan Walsh and thanks him for joining the podcast today. Sachin speaks of producing evidence-based treatment driven by awareness. There are more tests coming onto the market and more supplements and more research being done every year.
[3:10] Bryan started as a fitness specialist. He read much about nutrition. Before going to naturopathic school, Bryan went to a functional medicine weekend seminar produced by a lab. He was amazed by all the available tests. That hooked him on functional medicine.
[4:06] Bryan then went to naturopathic school where he met his wife. He learned about many tests and did them all: organic acid test, salivary cortisol test, urinary hormone test, stool test, hair tissue mineral analysis test, you name the test, he did it. But he started hearing gurus say things he knew not to be true and he started questioning the supplements.
[6:14] Bryan asked himself why he was running expensive tests if he didn’t know their scientific validity. The scientific literature is not friendly to these biomarkers and tests. He compares it to testing your home for radon with a bad test. Bryan is trying to raise the bar in the industry for better practitioners and healthier patients for less money, and being more evidence-based.
[8:10] Bryan and his wife run their business while trying to raise the bar in the industry as much as they can. Sachin loves that they are holding the entire industry to a higher standard. You have to feel solid on the tests you order for people. The foundation of our business is the outcomes we produce.
[9:24] Sachin asks, “How do I create a program that is independent of the labs, that produces results every single time that has tons of evidence and ancient wisdom wrapped up into it, and common sense wrapped up into it, and develop a lifestyle-design program that isn’t dependent on lab testing?” Sachin includes Oura rings for his patients so they can measure their progress.
[10:18] Bryan’s view is that a lab test should not give you any new insights into the person, it should just confirm what you already believe to be true. That means going back to your clinical skills, history-taking, symptom questionnaire, and physical exam. Bryan’s not opposed to any test that he knows of, but a test is not a fishing expedition, it’s confirmation of a suspected issue.
[11:28] For example, if a patient has hypoglycemic symptoms, there’s probably something going on. Testing blood glucose and A1C gathers hard data and allows for interventions and tracking progress. If someone has hypothyroid symptoms, run a complete thyroid panel and see where the defect is.
[12:35] Blood chemistry is one of Bryan’s passions. Standard blood chemistry is one of the most studied labs around the world. It’s been scientifically validated over and over. It’s inexpensive for what you get, if you know what you’re doing, have good reference markers, and are up to date on the modern literature on these markers.
[14:02] When you look at the literature on Albumin, old markers have new reasons they might be high or low that have implications for us as practitioners. If you take old tests and combine them with updated research on the markers, they can tell you as a clinician far more than you were using them for in the past.
[14:47] Bryan cites recent research linking high HDL with leaky gut. A high HDL may indicate testing for intestinal permeability
1 hr 21 min