Test: Basic chemistry/metabolic panel
What It Tests: Electrolyte status, blood calcium, kidney by-products and liver proteins
Reasoning for Test: Can rule out problems with liver, kidney and body acid-base (electrolyte) balance. In healthy people these levels are often normal, but can point the doctor to deeper problems is any of the tests are abnormal.

Test: Complete blood count
What It Tests: White blood cells (immune system cells) and red blood cells (oxygen-carrying cells)
Reasoning for Test: White blood cell counts can show if the immune system is functioning properly. For example, a person who gets sick a lot may have low white blood cells. As far as red blood cells, the most common problem to look for is anemia (low red blood cells and/or abnormally-sized red blood cells). Fatigue is a common symptom of anemia.

Test: Urinalysis (Urine test)
What It Tests: Kidney function and damage
Reasoning for Test: The kidneys filter blood and make it into urine, thereby eliminating wastes These tests check for gross kidney damage.

Test: Liver function panel
What It Tests: Liver function and damage
Reasoning for Test: The liver is the main organ responsible for detoxifying and metabolizing medications and other chemicals in the body. These tests check for gross liver damage that can be caused by medication use especially.

Test: Fasting serum blood sugar
What It Tests: The level of blood sugar in your body after 8-12 hours of not eating anything
Reasoning for Test: Can show if a person is dysglycemic (not able to regulate blood sugar properly). Hypoglycemia is when a person's blood sugar is too low. People with hypoglycemia often experience hunger that can come on suddenly. Hyperglycemia is when a person's blood sugar is too high and can be a sign of diabetes mellitus.

Test: Lipid panel (cholesterol)
What It Tests: LDL (bad) cholesterol, HDL (good) cholesterol, triglycerides, total cholesterol
Reasoning for Test: Hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol) is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Making sure a person's good cholesterol is high and bad cholesterol and triglycerides are low can help prevent cardiovascular disease.

Test: Thyroid function
What It Tests: TSH, Free T4
Reasoning for Test: The thyroid is part of the endocrine system and its main function is metabolic regulation. The most common problem o f the thyroid is hypothyroidism (low thyroid function), and should be ruled out with any person experiencing fatigue and/or weight gain.

Test: Vitamin D, 25-hydroxy
What It Tests: The body's active form of vitamin D
Reasoning for Test: Sun exposure is the main way the body produces vitamin D. Vitamin D receptors are also found in every cell in the body, which suggests that if a person's body is stressed in any way they may use up more of their vitamin D stores than a non-stressed person. Also, people living in Seattle generally have lower sun exposure and therefore are at risk for not having enough vitamin D. People with low vitamin D can experience anything from fatigue to any chronic condition or disease.

Tips on Goal Setting

By Aurora Sedmak, ND

How are your New Year's resolutions panning out? Do you even remember them? There is a reason why New Year's resolutions usually only last a few days to a few weeks: because we say them once or twice and then work, family life and/or other activities take over our thoughts. The key to successful goal planning involves keeping your goals fresh in your mind. Setting your intention towards your goals if the first step towards achieving them, but you have to set your intentions regularly.

Here are a few simple and effective steps to help you achieve your goals:

• Write down your goals and be as specific as possible. Also write down ideas of how you want to achieve your goal. For example, if you want to exercise more, write down the days you could exercise, how long you could exercise for, the types of exercise you could do, etc.
• Look at your goal 3 times every day. It may seem excessive, but so many things happen to us in a day it is easy to forget what we thought about a few hours before. For example, you can look at your goals morning and night and then one time during the day. Continuing to keep your goals fresh in your mind will bring the goals to the forefront of your intentions, rather than be forgotten along the way.
• Know that your goals and how to achieve them are flexible. You can change your goals or how to achieve your goals whenever you want. With the exercise example, you can change the days of the week or the kinds of exercise you do.

The most important part of goal setting is that you have goals and again, that you set your intentions toward your goals. How you achieve your goals can change with time. Don't believe that this can work? Try it for a few weeks and see how it goes.

Reference: It Works by RHJ