What is an HTMA Test? | Beyond the Common Blood Labs

 

We all know it's important to get our blood levels checked.

Depending on where you are in your health journey, blood labs can be useful and give you some insight about what's going on "under the hood", so to speak.

You can have a basic metabolic panel, a complete blood count (CBC), lipid panel...the list of common labs that can be run is extensive and can help you decide what direction to take with your health.

However...blood labs, alone, cannot show you the big picture. Without the guidance from those who know not only how to read blood labs, but can look deeper into your overall health, you may be getting the runaround and not targeting your true issues.

Many doctors, while trained to read the numbers from the blood work results, can't give much more thoughtful insight as to WHY your levels are like that to begin with. They simply look at the results and tend to prescribe something to get those numbers back within a "good range". Additionally, they may tell you your lab numbers look "good" or that they are "in range", yet you still feel crummy.

Blood labs are like report cards. 

How you've managed your health up to this point will be reflected in your blood work to some degree.

Like I said, blood labs alone cannot reveal the big picture. Rather, they can set the foundation for what questions you can start asking next in order to get closer to your health goals and truly heal rather than fill another prescription bottle and calling it a day.

For example: If your doctor shows you that your labs say you're low in iron, the next step that's usually taken is being prescribed an iron supplement. Sure, some doctors may be able to give some solid guesses to determine why your iron levels are low, but that may not happen every time.

In order to find out why your iron is low, the next step would be to check how your body is utilizing copper.

Why copper?

Because copper is the mineral that transports iron out of your tissues and into the bloodstream. Without a proper balance of copper, your iron will still give you trouble.

You could actually have plenty of iron inside your body already - but without copper to transport it into your blood, it's just in the wrong place. So it wouldn't make sense to keep supplementing iron, right? Why keep adding MORE iron in your body if you have enough to begin with?

You need the right balance of minerals. Test. Don't guess. 

Minerals are like spark plugs to the body.

Without a proper balance of minerals, you will experience all sorts of problems. When there is an imbalance, your body will respond by displaying various symptoms. Think of symptoms as your "check engine" light.

If left alone for too long, or if you mask your symptoms with prescriptions, your body will soon become more stressed and you may experience even more aggravated symptoms.

It can become a frustrating cycle.

Let's use another example. If your car's "check engine" light comes on, are you going to put a piece of tape over the light so you can't see it anymore? While you no longer have to see the annoying light, you still have an underlying issue. Without proper maintenance, your car will eventually have more issues and later stop working properly.

The same things happens with our bodies. While it's convenient to simply take an OTC or prescription medication to mask our symptom, we don't look into what caused the problem in the first place to see how it can be corrected.

Without doing further investigation, we do our body a disservice. All it wants to do is heal and we won't let it.

This is where additional testing comes into play.

An HTMA (and Full Monty panel for iron levels) will be the key to clearing up the confusion behind your blood lab results.

You may be wondering what an HTMA test is.

Glad you asked!

An HTMA stands for Hair Test Mineral Analysis. Instead of providing samples of blood, you provide small samples of hair that you have cut at the root from the base of your scalp. It's a very straightforward (and less painful) process. Once you have your hair samples, they are mailed to a lab so they can run tests to check the mineral levels in your body.

It can be less invasive and less expensive than other labs, so an HTMA can be very useful for those who are new to exploring different tests.

 

 

(I like this specific HTMA test because you get to schedule a free 15-minute consultation once your results are in!)

Hair is a fascinating tool - while general blood work can only show a few hours or days worth of information, human hair can hold onto weeks (and even months) worth of information. This can give a more thorough reflection of your health from a long-term lens and you can better understand where you may be imbalanced as a whole.

Every person is unique and each body will have a different need. Based on the results of the HTMA, you can have more confidence in what you need to do to support your body from the inside out.

What can an HTMA show?

• mineral imbalances
• heavy metal buildup
• mineral ratios
• metabolism type
  

These key indicators can give you a deeper understanding of how your body is metabolizing minerals and if you have absorption issues or areas of buildup. Once you see your results in front of you, you can start figuring out what habits, environmental stressors, and other factors could be contributing to these numbers.

Now, an HTMA isn't going to be the sole, magic test to solve your problems, though it will be a beneficial stepping stone as you navigate your health.

Remember: healing involves the WHOLE person and not just focusing on individual symptoms.

You cannot heal in the same environment you got sick. It will take time to address the root causes of your mineral imbalances and determine what areas you need to improve upon so you can start feeling better - slowly, but surely.

And an HTMA test will give you more direction than blood work alone.

Having a more solid direction will give you a better understanding on how to address stress, hormone issues, gut problems, etc.

Most primary care doctors won't know how to read an HTMA lab, nor will many of them even know what this kind of test is. You will need to locate someone who specializes in HTMA testing in order to start down this path. Some places may accept insurance, though it will be up to you to do that research if you do not/can not pay for HTMA testing out-of-pocket.

I was concerned about some of the HTMA test options being so expensive (some were close to $400...), so I was relieved when I found this option that was within my price range!

If you're new to this, don't worry! It can be weird when you try something new, but your health journey is a slow and intentional process. If you want to heal, then you will be open-minded to new things.

If you're tired of feeling sick and tired, perhaps it's time to start looking into the root causes of your symptoms and see what an HTMA might reveal for you!