Medicine For Dummies Part 4

Illusion of blood tests

It is an illusion to think that the blood tests give you the root cause for your illness. In reality, what they reveal is how the body is reacting to the stressors in the body. They do not define the cause. In 1992, a retrospective study was performed on 2300 autopsy reports. The results will shock you. The study found that the patient’s medical history led to the correct final diagnosis in 76% of the cases; the physical examination was accurate in 12% of the cases; and the laboratory tests were accurate in only 11%. Unfortunately, a plethora of testing in many cases leads to “analysis paralysis.” Blood tests work as a good guide to show if your treatment is going in the right direction.

A perfect example was the patient who was offered a liver transplant. His alkaline phosphatase, which denotes liver dysfunction, was elevated in his blood tests. When the benzene and hepatitis B were removed, his high level went back to a normal level. Similar results have been observed with high cholesterol and even the cancer tumor marker CA 125. Again when the underlying causes were removed the cholesterol and tumor marker go back into a normal range. The take-away message is clear, if you really want to be healed you need a diagnosis that defines the “splinters” or initiators of your problem..