#OptimizeHealth = No More Asthma?

A few weeks ago, I was presented with the opportunity to participate in a health consultation with WellnessFX. At first, I was a little skeptical because I am very cautious when it comes to my health. However, I took a look at their website and decided that it would be a great experience.

You see, WellnessFX provides individuals like you and me with in depth, detailed wellness consultations that help you optimize your personal health. If you live in a hippy-saturated market like me (Hello, Boulder!), “optimizing health” often means something slightly bizarre. However, in this case, WellnessFX used straight science and family history in order to provide me with a detailed and individualized health consultation….and it was freaking sweet!

My first step was to fill out a lengthy questionnaire that asked dozens of questions about my medical history, as well as the history of my immediate family members. For me personally, I needed to provide the company with lots of information about my asthma. This included when I was diagnosed, what type of meds I am currently taking, and how often I need to suck on my inhaler to find breathing relief. Because that is my only serious medical condition, the rest of the questions were easy.

A nurse had originally planned to snap a photo of me. However, once she realized that my veins were going to be a hassle, no one dared to move a muscle until the blood was in the three vials!

After my form was submitted, I went down to a nearby location and had my blood taken. This was relatively painless, but for me, getting my blood drawn is ALWAYS an ordeal! I have the tiniest veins known to man, and the few larger veins roll around like crazy. It’s been an issue with me for years (my dentist couldn’t even take out my wisdom teeth because he couldn’t get the needle into my arm to knock me out!) so I wasn’t expecting anything less! Luckily, the phlebotomist was a great guy and after two sticks, he realized that my veins were going to put up a fight! He went and got a more experienced nurse, and she was able to finally get the needle in after a handful of tries. For me, this is a definite win!

In my world, 7 sticks is considered a win!

The blood was sent to their lab for analysis, and I was psyched to finally chat with an M.D yesterday afternoon. Dr. Sallie Smith spoke with me for over 35 minutes, explaining my results and answering any questions I had. My analysis had been emailed to me and was broken into categories such as those shown in this photo:

If the little box on the right is green, that means that my stats fell within the “optimal” range. If the box is orange, my numbers were only considered “moderate.” Luckily, none of my stats fell into the “high risk” category so I didn’t have anything critical that needed to be addressed.

However, I learned two very crucial facts during my wellness consultation that literally made my evening! First of all, Dr. Smith told me that my wellness panel was one of the healthiest she had ever seen! Y’all, do you know how awesome that made me feel?! I truly try to eat healthy, but as you know, I really believe that moderation is the key to overall health. If I want a cookie (or three!), I will eat them. However, the stats proved to me that my outlook on life works best for my body, and that definitely made me happy.

Secondly, Dr. Smith spent a large portion of time discussing my inflammation issue. My inflammation number was a 2 which placed my overall body inflammation in the moderate level. She explained that this is directly tied to my moderate-to-severe asthma. I explained that I was diagnosed 10 years ago, but that I had unrecognized symptoms my entire life. Additionally, I have been tested for environmental allergies multiple times and don’t have a single one. I don’t have exercise-induced asthma like most people do either; instead, I have good ol’ swollen and inflamed lungs. Awesome.

But you know what was the most interesting? After discovering that I have Irish in my heritage, she explained that occasionally Irish people have a gluten sensitivity that leads to an inflammation of their lungs. When she found out that my sister has a diagnosed gluten allergy, she highly recommended that I go in for testing as well. In short, there is the potential that a gluten problem has been the cause of my asthma.

Again, I try to eat healthy but I have never been the type of person that diets or tries out trendy food programs. I’ve never done Atkins or the Zone or Paleo, and I have never even considered avoiding dairy or gluten. However, I would be more than willing to monitor what I eat if it meant that it would help me breathe!

Of course, this is just a slight possibility and may not turn into anything real. However, I would be so incredibly psyched if I could kick these inhalers for good! I’m going to schedule some testing in the coming weeks to see if I do have any gluten issues, so keep your fingers crossed that I find some asthma relief.

Overall, I really think that the health consultation with WellnessFX is a helpful experience. Although I received my consultation for free, I think the regular price is $199. However, if you can swing it, I honestly think that it would be worth the money to gather a detailed idea of what is going on inside of you. After all, we only have one of these bodies to get us through the rest of our lives, right?

FitFluential LLC compensated me for this Campaign. All opinions are my own.