Pure Wellness Centers

BioMarker/Body Comp Evaluation

Our services center on diagnosing and treating the causes of your health problems

1.    Diagnosis: Finding the cause

·         Comprehensive medical, work, and family histories.

·         Thorough physical exams

·         BioMarker/Body Composition Evaluation

·         Home Diagnostic Testing

·         Laboratory Assessment

·         Detoxification (detox)Treatments

2.    Treatments: Eliminating the cause

·         Scientific, and safe, environmental detoxification

·         Nutritional rejuvenation of chronic deficiencies

What do you want from your doctor?

Patients who come to Pure Wellness Centers saying things like:

“I’m tired of not being listened to.”

“I want to find out the cause of my ill health and have that treated, not just be given a pill.”

“My other doctors kept prescribing more drugs for my symptoms. When I asked about the cause of my symptoms, they didn’t know what to say.”

“How can any doctor figure out what’s going on in ten or fifteen minutes? You’re the first doctor who ever took this much time with me.”

The Pure Wellness difference

Amazingly, most patients find “medical science” is often not very scientific. Thorough histories and physical exams are rarely done. Lab testing is piecemeal. It’s no wonder that so many people suffer needlessly, giving up on doctors and taking prescription and over-the-counter medications to make it through their days.

At Pure Wellness Centers we pride ourselves on taking:

· An organized systematic approach to diagnosing patients’ underlying health problems.

· Thorough health, work, and family histories.

· Comprehensive examination including important BioMarkers of health that are completely overlooked by most doctors (see below).

· Systematic examination of laboratory data including comparing past tests with current ones to track trends.

· Detailed laboratory testing looking at problems from multiple angles. For instance, many doctors assess heart risks solely from cholesterol readings whereas there are a number of other tests including C-Reactive Protein, homocycsteine, and apolipoproteins which provide a much better picture of cardiovascular risks. Thyroid is another example of how one test (TSH) is often the only test looked at, while T4, T3, vitamin D, and thyroid antibodies provide a much more precise way of diagnosing thyroid problems.

· Advanced environmental and nutritional testing (see below) is another way we provide our patients with the best picture of their health.

BioMarker/Body Composition Evaluation

A good health evaluation, in addition to history and laboratory testing, requires a comprehensive physical exam. Surprisingly, most doctors have not updated their exams to reflect current research. For instance, your waist-to-hip ratio (circumference of waist and hips) tells more about your long-term health than your blood cholesterol. Also, meaningful weight-loss depends on losing fat, but not water and muscle, yet most diet programs do not measure fat and water.

At Pure Wellness Centers we perform a 40-point BioMarker/Body Composition exam that includes percentages of fat, muscle, and water, waist-to-hip ratio, forced expiratory lung volume, body mass index, basal metabolic rate, reflexes, Chinese tongue exam, and a number of other tests.

Your BioMarker Evaluation is written into a BioMarker Report that becomes a comprehensive “snapshot in time” of your health. It incorporates important scientific measurements that reflect your health. This report, along with past history and laboratory testing, enables you and your PWC doctor to make informed decisions on concrete, individualized steps you can take for optimizing your health.

ReTesting: Good times for BioMarker retesting are:

· Before and after a detox program
· Before and during a weight-loss program
· Before and during an exercise program or sport
· Before and after any major life-style changes such as marriage, retirement, etc.
· Once a year if you are healthy and under 50 (Healthy = normal labs, weight, exam, and no medications)
· Two to four times a year if you are over 50, unhealthy, overweight, or have any abnormal findings on lab tests or your BioMarker Report

Call 425-255-8100 Ext. 6 (Renton) or 206-324-2225 (Seattle) today for an in-depth health evaluation - the first step to achieving vital health.

Home Diagnostic Testing

Much useful information can be gained about your health through simple tests you can do at home and at PWCs. These tests can help your doctor discover problems and focus appropriate treatment.

• Free-Radical Test: Free-radicals damage tissues and are associated with weight gain, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and other degenerative conditions. They are like little hole punches that damage cells. If you are high in free-radicals, your balance of antioxidants is low compared to your level of oxidative damage. This chemical test done in our office or at your home using a small amount of urine. Patients are asked to not take any vitamins, drink wine, or eat dark colored vegetables and fruits for 24 hours before the test.
• Urine and saliva pH: This test is done with a first morning urine and saliva. It measures whether you tend toward being acid or alkaline. Acid conditions are associated with disease and inflammation. Many health conditions and life-style factors predispose toward a more acidic condition. You will be furnished with pH paper and a record sheet and asked to record your pH levels for one week to establish your baseline. This is a good test for your to repeat periodically to monitor improvements in your pH and health.
• Bowel Transit time: This test is done by swallowing charcoal capsules and watching how long it takes for the color to show in your bowel movements. Slow bowel transit time is associated with a number of health conditions including constipation, headaches, gallbladder disease, hemorrhoids, varicose veins, irritable bowel disease, leaky gut syndrome, and allergies.
• Basal Body Temperature: Basal = resting. This is a first morning temperature taken before getting out of bed, while still at rest. Basal body temperature relates to thyroid and adrenal function. A low temperature may mean that laboratory testing is indicated.
• Daily Body Temperature: The temperature is taken every 2 hours from waking until bedtime. These temperatures relate to adrenal function and circadian rhythms.
• Hydrochloric Acid Test: An escalating dose of hydrochloric acid (HCL) is given to test the patient’s potential need. HCL, manufactured in the stomach, is necessary for digestion of proteins and minerals. It also acts as the first line of defense against ingested disease-causing bacteria, viruses and yeast.
• Urinary Sulfites: Tests for sulfites in the urine. This is an important screen for anyone with allergies, especially asthma. Presence of sulfites indicates poor metabolism of sulfites. These and other home tests may be recommended by your doctor. It is important to follow the directions carefully. While no test gives you all the answers, these tests can help determine if further testing might be helpful and direct your treatment.

Laboratory Assessment

At Pure Wellness Centers (PWC) we believe that the more we know about the biochemistry and functioning of your body, the better able we are to give sound health advice. Standard lab tests such as blood sugar, anemia, and cholesterol are important. We can provide these if you have not been tested recently. In addition to standard testing there are newer, cutting-edge tests that sometimes add valuable information about your health. 21^st Century Medicine will increasingly rely on these advanced tests. Some of the tests used at PWC are:

Laboratory Testing:

• Free-Radical Test: Free-radicals are oxygen molecules that have been changed in such a way that they cause damage. They have been described as microscopic machine guns that shoot holes in cells, causing them to die. They are elevated in many disease processes such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes, chronic pain, cancer and fatigue. This urine test allows you to measure your free-radical levels, then monitor your progress toward recovery. We request that everyone undergoing a PWC detox have this test done first.

• Metabolic Profile: This urine test presents a comprehensive overview of how well your body chemistry is working. It’s a way to visualize what is going on inside your cells – how well your cell machinery is working. Several areas are looked at: energy production, fat oxidation, B vitamin function, neurotransmitter metabolism, detoxification, and gut bacteria imbalances. This is what is known as a functional test for determining how well your chemistry is functioning. For instance, it does not measure levels of B vitamins directly, but instead looks to see if there are signs that your B vitamins are not functioning correctly. This test is highly recommended for anyone with a chronic health problem.

• Environmental Pollutants: Urine test for 10 of the most common chemical you’re exposed to – Benzene, xylene, toluene, trimethylbenzene, styrene, and phthalates. All these industrial chemicals are known to have profound effects on health. Even low levels can produce headaches, nausea, mucous membrane irritation, and disruption of brain function. Phthalates interfere with hormone function. Cancer may result from higher levels of one or more of these chemicals.

• Food Allergy Panel: Finger stick test for 96 food sensitivities. Food sensitivities can cause a wide range of symptoms from itchy eyes to joint pain to depression and disruption of the thought process. This test can reveal the underlying cause of many difficult to diagnose health problems.

• Adrenal Hormone Panel: Stress is so common that many of us ignore its damaging effects. Stress can cause our immune and digestive systems to shut down. Stress literally kills. This saliva test measures how well your adrenal glands are holding up to your stress and directs treatment toward adrenal supportive therapies.

• Toxic Metal Profile: This urine test measures the levels of several toxic metals – lead, mercury, arsenic, aluminum, antimony, beryllium, bismuth, cadmium, nickel, platinum, thallium, thorium, tin, tungsten, and uranium. Potentially dangerous levels of metals are present in most people tested. Industrial pollution, dental amalgams, contaminated seafood, and non-stick cooking utensils all make this a huge problem. Symptoms range widely but often effect nerve and brain cells. Thyroid function and metabolism can be disrupted. We highly recommend this test for everyone.

• Comprehensive Digestive Analysis: This test is done with a small stool sample. It looks at markers for digestion, absorption, inflammation and immune status of the digestive system. This test can be quite helpful for anyone experiencing digestive distress or suffering from a malnutrition syndrome. Testing for worms and other parasites can also be included.

• Comprehensive Thyroid Analysis: The thyroid gland regulates energy production and fat burning. It requires tyrosine (a protein) and Iodine for manufacturing thyroid hormones. Toxins interfere with its function. All too often patients are prescribed thyroid hormone when what they really need are the nutritional building blocks and removal of toxins that interfere with hormone production. Comprehensive testing is the first step in identifying thyroid problems.

• Blood Amino Acids: Protein is broken down into amino acids which are then used for many purposes such as building and repairing tissue, hormones and neurotransmitters. For example, the “anti-depression” neurotransmitter serotonin, is made from the amino acid tryptophan. Knowing your amino acid status can take the guesswork out of diagnosing and treating many conditions.

• Vitamin D: People living in northern climates are often deficient in this important vitamin. Emerging research shows that not only is it important for bone health but for mood, especially winter depression. Low levels are associated with several types of cancer, multiple sclerosis, and chronic inflammatory conditions.

• Comprehensive Blood Analysis: Such parameters as cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides, glucose, are recommended every 1-5 years depending on age, family and personal history.

Detoxification (detox)Treatments