I’ve reviewed far too many blood test results of women who have been told their results are ‘normal’, when in reality, they are anything but. I’m talking about missed iron deficiencies, TSH being out of range and even progesterone not being where it should.
There have been multiple occasions where doctors have missed vital nutrient deficiencies but the worst part is, these women have not been in optimal ranges for YEARS. In case you are wondering, yes there is a difference between optimal range and reference range. Let me explain.
A reference range means your bloods fall within a specific limit. For example, your ferritin (stored iron) reference range is 30-300. This means that anything outside of that reference range shows you are either deficient or in excess of iron. Here’s the catch though, someone with a ferritin level of 31 is going to feel totally different to someone with a level of 100. This is where optimal ranges come in. An optimal range will sit in a much more specific range. If we keep using ferritin as an example, that optimal range may sit more around the 70-120 mark, at a minimum.
When it comes to your health, particularly your hormones, your body will usually start communicating with you by way of symptoms, well before your bloods show that you are out of range. When it comes to health, prevention is always key and so operating with an optimal range in mind is a guaranteed way to ensure you never fall outside of the reference range, where disease and health conditions occur.
Consider the thyroid. Although tiny, it is mighty when it comes to our hormones and metabolic health. The thyroid communicates with just about every other hormone and cell in the body, so when she begins to spiral out of optimal range, your body will really start telling you well before she’s run out of the reference range.
Think of optimal ranges like the weather. When your body is in optimal range, the sun is shining, the sky is clear blue, the weather is at the perfect temperature and it feels great to be out in the fresh air. When we are out of optimal range, the clouds slowly start to roll in, the wind picks up, the sky darkens and you can sense a storm coming. When it starts to thunder, pour down with rain and you see lightning strike, you’re out of reference range and either disease or deficiency has occurred, think iron deficiencies and over active thyroids. The thing is, when the weather first started to turn, this was your body giving you the signs and symptoms to say that a storm is coming. It’s alerting you to the fact that disease or deficiency is on its way. It’s telling you that something needs to change. When you act on the signs and symptoms, you avoid the storm.
So yes, your bloods may very well show that you are within ‘reference range’. But those signs and symptoms you’re feeling, they’re real and they're telling you that you’re not in optimal range and to redirect or prepare for the storm that’s rolling in.