VITAMINTESTING.COM: Test Your Vitamin Levels

 Craig Arnoff

 Publisher of VitaminTesting.com

  

Mission

To help people, free of charge, improve their health and avoid disease by giving them a means to test and correct vitamin and mineral deficiencies and excesses.

    

Hello and thank you for visiting my website.  I am dedicated (with as much time as I can spare and with as many volunteers as I can recruit) to helping people improve their health.  While I eventually hope to sell some advertising to cover my costs and offset some of the income I’m losing while devoting time to this effort, what is driving me is my passion for attaining, and help others attain, health in mind, body and spirit. 

I try to stay in good health by having a balanced and stress-free life, watching my diet, exercising (I’m a part-time group exercise instructor) and getting good medical care and insurance.  Because I have some health conditions (which I choose not to disclose over the Internet), I need to take some prescription drugs.  What I’ve learned, having many years of experience with doctors (the early ones being somewhat negative due to my inexperience), is to do my own research prior to each medical appointment.  This has allowed me to ask the right questions, “catch” doctors when they make their occasional mistakes and get superior healthcare using my HMO plan.

While I’m not a medical professional, I’ve had lots of experience in healthcare by serving as a “patient advocate” for friends and family members who have been hospitalized, who have chronic illnesses and who need support when visiting doctors.  My years of education (I hold an advanced degree in business) have at least helped me become a good researcher and deal with complex issues.  Luckily, being self employed, I have had the time flexibility needed to help friends and family when they’ve needed it.

    

I Suspected Vitamin Supplement Deficiencies Were Behind My Fatigue

What started me on this quest for knowledge about my body’s possible vitamin deficiencies was the chronic fatigue that kept me on the couch for many days in early 2006.  My doctor and specialists couldn’t explain why this was happening and ran a variety of tests including blood tests, urine tests, a physical, a sleep study, a screen for depression and a stress echo.   

Because I was so miserable, I decided to do some research on my own.  One thing I found using an online drug interaction checker was a little-known interaction between two of the prescription drugs I was on.  Neither my doctor nor pharmacist was aware of this specific interaction.

Another key thing I found was that the manufacturers of several drugs I had been prescribed stated in their drug inserts, which I found on the web, that these very drugs caused a depletion of vitamins such as magnesium, selenium and co-enzyme Q10.  Upon further investigation, I found that these vitamins are powerful antioxidants that protect the heart and are responsible for cellular energy production.  Given the connection with energy production, I wondered if these vitamin deficiencies could be contributing to my tiredness.  So, I set out to test this theory by getting my vitamin supplement and mineral levels checked out.    

    

My Doctor Didn’t Want to Hear About or Test for Vitamin Deficiencies

But, when I showed my doctor the vitamin deficiencies that the drug manufacturers said would occur due to use of these drugs, he refused to order tests to confirm it.  He then said that there was “no conclusive medical evidence” that, even if my levels of these vitamins were low, correcting these deficiencies with vitamin supplements would improve my health or energy levels.  Furthermore, he said the tests were “esoteric” and considered to be “medically unnecessary.”  When I pressed him further, he recommended I ask one of the specialists I see to order these tests. 

Over the course of the next few months, each time I saw a specialist and complained of chronic fatigue, the specialist refused to order vitamin tests.  One specialist finally told me that no physician would order these tests because the insurance company would “start a file” on them.  

In short, healthcare insurers don’t seem to want to pay for tests that are not shown, via extensive research, to be medically necessary.  After all, why should they pay?  Isn’t their goal to keep costs and premiums down and profits up?  And aren’t doctors supposed to be conservative, keep medical costs down and avoid tests, diagnoses and unproven treatments that could trigger a malpractice suit?

Even though conclusive studies on the importance of vitamin supplements and nutritional balance may not be published in respected medical journals, we’ve all read articles that indicate vitamin supplementation can be good.  And there are a number of credible studies proving specific vitamin supplements are effective (see our Research Page). 

Likewise, I’ve personally experienced some benefits of taking vitamin supplements.  For example, a few years a chiropractor recommended that I have my homocysteine level tested.  Homocysteine is considered to be a key measure of heart health, yet few physicians test it.  Why?  Well, my doctor reluctantly tested my level but told me that he really didn’t want to because even if my level was abnormal, there were no prescription drugs available to correct it.  

However, the test result turned out to be high (which is not good for long-term heart health) and I discovered that, while there were no prescription drugs that lowered it, that taking folic acid might (another doctor told me of this “trick”).  So, I started taking folic acid vitamin supplements and got re-tested the following year at my physical.  And voila!  The homocysteine level moved down to the normal range.  What this showed me was that vitamin supplements can be helpful and that there are a number of medical tests that can prove they are working.   

   

My Savior Was an MD Who Is Board Certified in Holistic Health

So, I continued my quest to get vitamin tests ordered and eventually found (and got a referral to) an MD on my insurance plan who is also a holistic doctor.  He listened to my complaints about fatigue and took note of the drugs I was on and the vitamin depletions they cause.  He then ordered tests to assess my vitamin and mineral balance (including specific tests for the vitamins my drugs depleted me of).  During my next visit we went over the lab results and, to my surprise, I was right on the money!  My body was depleted of co-enzyme Q10, as well as selenium, magnesium and DHEA.  In fact, the level of co-enzyme Q10 was so abnormally low that the doctor ordered a re-test to ensure it wasn’t a lab error.  My overall antioxidant level was on the low side of normal, which surprised me since I eat a reasonably healthy diet, am lean, exercise regularly and vigorously and take a lot of high-quality vitamin supplements that contain antioxidants!  Of course, I knew a low antioxidant level put me at risk for free radical damage and, in the long term, heart disease.  I later learned that deficiencies in coenzyme Q10, magnesium and selenium negatively impact the body’s ability to absorb vitamin supplements and antioxidants.  So, for years I’ve been wasting lots of money on vitamin supplements and not getting the desired effects!

Based on all the test results, the holistic doctor recommended specific vitamin supplements and dosages.  Several months later, he had me re-tested and to my surprise, everything he recommended worked perfectly and my body was in total vitamin balance!!!  I have been feeling my normal, energetic self again so this was not a total surprise.  In addition, my antioxidant score literally doubled, putting me on the high side of normal.  With a family history of heart disease and some high cholesterol issues, I am truly comforted to know that I now have good antioxidant protection. 

What this whole experience showed me was that, with some persistence, I could get my vitamin levels checked and balanced.  I was thrilled that my holistic doctor was able to justify these tests to my health insurance company and get them to pay for them.  In all, I spent less than $250 in copays for the first visit, initial battery of tests, several follow-up visits and the re-test.   

    

Others Should Benefit From My Experience

All in all, it doesn’t make sense to me to spend hundreds of dollars each year on vitamin supplements and not know if I’m getting a benefit or if they’re actually hurting me.  So, in the end, I’m glad I had this experience and want to help others benefit from all that I’ve learned.

I’d appreciate your comments and suggestions in helping me develop a truly great resource for those wanting to get their vitamin, mineral and nutrient levels balanced.  If you need any assistance or have questions, see the Help Page.  Or, if you like what we’re doing and want to help us in our efforts, visit the Help Page to find out how.

        

Thank you for visiting my website!