THE LABS
(and a taste of good ol’ fashioned medical corruption)

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After a solid 12 months of renovating and launching the Health House, my body was a bit of a wreck. I hadn’t had time to use my own equipment, so I was back to having seizures, struggling to sleep, dealing with gut issues, carrying extra weight, feeling exhausted and inflamed—and I was teetering on the edge of diabetes.

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After a few weeks of migraines, I took a home diabetes test. It came back pre-diabetic, with an A1c of 5.9. So I cut out carbs and sugar entirely and ramped up my protein intake—mostly in the form of eggs and egg-based substitutes for bread and pasta. The migraines eased and I felt somewhat better… but then a rather aggressive-looking skin cancer started growing on my arm.

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At the suggestion of a client, I’d been tuning in more to Human Biologist Gary Brecka, and was inspired to stop supplementing blindly and instead get real data on where my body was at. After a 90-minute consult with our naturopathic doctor—Dr. Cruz—I was set on a path of comprehensive bloodwork, hormone testing, and a couple of allergy and food sensitivity panels.

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The lab appointment was scheduled. I paused my supplements for a week, fasted as instructed, and arrived for the blood draw. There were a lot of tests. I explained to the technician that I don’t have insurance (yep—contrary to local perception, we don’t run three businesses because we’re rolling in money; we run three because that’s what it takes to make a modest living in a small town like this). We’re used to the standard, lower pay-as-you-go pricing for healthcare, so I was expecting to pay a few hundred dollars. But apparently not this time.

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The technician spent a solid 20 minutes processing the paperwork—there were just so many tests. Then she tells me she’ll have to break it up over two pages. Just the first page of tests, she says, will cost over $7,500, and she’s not even done. Gulp. I begin mentally calculating my escape routes. I feel bad for the time she’s already invested, but I don’t even have $7,500, let alone whatever the full total will be. My fasting brain scrambles for a solution.

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She finally finishes processing the order: over $11,000.

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So I break it to her—we’re not doing all the tests today - just the critical ones. She hands me a printout and a highlighter to pick the “critical” ones. I have no idea, but figure hormones and blood sugar are the priority, and highlight a few others I recognize. Still ends up being $1,500 worth of tests. And still a lot more than the few hundred I was expecting… but here we are.

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I later pull Dr. Cruz aside and explain that I couldn’t get all the tests done—I simply couldn’t afford them. She’s as shocked as I am. She shows me the pricing she’s quoted for the exact same tests: just a fraction of what I was told. So we try to cancel the overpriced ones.

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But I can’t. It’s my blood and my wallet, but apparently I’m not authorized to cancel my own tests. Only the doctor can. So she tries—several times—but now the lab says it’s too late. What a farce. We end up ordering the full set of tests again, this time through a different channel… and the cost is just over $600. Not $11,000.

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I get that insurance billing might cause some markups, but that’s a 20x difference! The system is broken!

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I prepaid the $600 to avoid further shenanigans and scheduled another blood draw—with the same lab. They even remembered me from before. I joked about how they tried to rip me off. They didn’t laugh. They blamed the doctor for “using the wrong form.” Sigh. There shouldn’t be two forms!

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America, let’s fix this, hey?

But that’s a bigger problem for another day. So moving on for now….

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The full panel of tests required quite a few vials. I started to see stars and had to lie down before I could finish. Even so, it was a far better experience just knowing I was paying hundreds instead of thousands. Now, we wait for the results.

When they came in, I combed through them one by one. I knew they wouldn’t be great—but they were worse than I’d expected. The lab’s summary flagged plenty of issues, yet oddly marked some concerning numbers as “normal.” I did my best to interpret them, but there was a stark contrast between what the lab deemed “within range” and what Dr. Cruz knew to be optimal for my age and situation.

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So far, here’s what we’ve uncovered:

• I have systemic inflammation

• I’d recently contracted mono

• I’ve got long-standing Epstein-Barr virus

• My detox pathways aren’t working well

• My B vitamins are low

• My blood shows signs of liver damage

• I’m officially pre-diabetic with metabolic syndrome

• My cardiovascular risk profile is that of a 53-year-old (I’m just barely 40)

• I have low testosterone

• I’m reacting to a dust mite allergy

• I’m intolerant to eggs, dairy, gluten and all fun foods

• I’m showing signs of significant stress

• And something in me is producing a neurotoxin that may be damaging my brain.

 

My first instinct? Grab every supplement I thought might help and start hitting the Health House equipment religiously.

But no—my biochemistry was more complicated than that. Thankfully, my follow-up consult with Dr. Cruz set me straight.

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If I’d jumped straight into testosterone therapy, for example, my body likely would’ve converted too much into estrogen, throwing my hormones further out of whack. One of my amino acid supplements might’ve been turning toxic in my system due to a specific genetic variant. The eggs I’d been eating in excess were feeding inflammation. And if I’d tried to tackle it all at once, I risked overwhelming my liver and doing more harm than good.

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So yeah… what I was doing (and planning to do) needed some adjustments. I’m beyond grateful to have had proper guidance interpreting the results and can’t recommend getting regular lab work and working with someone like Dr Cruz highly enough now (which might have something to do with why she’s now booked solid for the next 3 months).

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The first step became supporting my liver, along with some key dietary changes and a few targeted supplements to reduce inflammation and gently balance hormones while we slowly introduced testosterone support.

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I chose to limit my use of the Health House equipment during this phase—to better isolate how much of my progress could be attributed to the new protocol.

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And already, a few weeks in, I’m noticing real change. More energy. Calmer mood. Better sleep (when the kids let me). I’m fitting into shirts I hadn’t worn in years. And that skin cancer? It literally dried up, became a hard little ball, and fell off—leaving just a small crater behind.

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So yes, we’re on the right track. But I still feel inflamed and tired most of the time, with the occasional lingering headache. We’ll be doing another round of labs soon to assess progress, tweak the protocol, and then move into Phase Two: Hitting the Health House hard.

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Stay tuned for the next chapter in this wild adventure of finding true health—naturally.