Dr Hagmeyers Inflammation Panel
Price: $659
No. This is a cash discount and includes a consultation with Dr Hagmeyer.
This is a blood test that requires a blood draw.
Web results are posted within 7-14 business days. Our office will notify you when test results have been reported.
You will take provided Blood work requisition and test kit (If applicable) to the blood draw center on the day of your appointment.
Yes. Dr Hagmeyer will review the test result with you. Each test comes with a 30-45 minute post-test review/explanation.
One we have placed the order for the test we are unable to issue a refund.
How Chronic Inflammation Affects Your Health?
Chronic inflammation can affect all systems of your body.
Here are a few ways chronic inflammation can manifest itself in the body:
1. Moodiness
Inflammation affects your entire body—and that includes the brain. In fact, the brain might be particularly at risk since an overload of inflammation can trigger an inflammatory-autoimmune response against your brain and nervous system. The consequence of this is often an erratic mood or feelings of anxiety and depression.
Inflammation can also damage your blood-brain barrier, which can lead to something called “leaky brain” and oxidative stress in the hypothalamus, which is the part of the brain responsible for regulating appetite and weight, body temperature, emotions, behavior, memory, growth, salt and water balance, sex drive and your sleep-wake cycle. (Is that all?) Needless to say, the consequences of this, which include brain fog, concentration, and attention issues, are something you want to avoid.
2. Pain
Inflammation and pain are intricately related. In just one example, many inflammatory and autoimmune conditions—such as arthritis or fibromyalgia—have pain as their primary symptom. If your joints are constantly stiff and achy, it’s a good sign that your inflammation levels are higher than they should be.
Inflammation creates pain as a way to communicate to the body that there’s a problem that needs attention. It’s your job to listen and make appropriate changes in your lifestyle that decrease both inflammation and pain.
3. Fatigue
Chronic inflammation messes with the way your body responds to stress; more specifically, it messes with your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which is the signaling cascade that tells your body to produce cortisol and other stress hormones. The result of this is chronically high cortisol, which can leave you with fatigue during the day, muscle weakness, low blood pressure, and trouble sleeping at night.
4. Brain
Fatigue, brain-fog, insomnia, depression, anxiety and dementia.
5. Gut Health
IBS, SIBO, gas, bloating, pain, cramping, leaky gut and malabsorption.
6. Thyroid
Autoimmunity, low thyroid function, fluctuations in TSH, poor thyroid hormone conversion and decreased effectiveness of thyroid hormone.
7. Weight Gain
Inflammation decreases energy production in cells and lowers metabolism. It changes your metabolic rate or your metabolic set point which is set by your brain in the hypothalamus.
8. Hormone Balance
Inflammation interferes with hormone regulation at the level of the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, ovaries or testicles. This can lead to low testosterone in men and poor regulation of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone in women. It is also a cause of infertility and the primary cause of pain during menstruation.
9. Liver
Increased stress on the liver, leading to damaged cells, elevated liver enzymes on blood tests and even fatty liver.
10. Heart disease and Stroke
Inflammation is the first stage of blood vessel damage; this is followed by the adherence of cholesterol ultimately causing plaque in the arteries. Inflammation affects the control of the autonomic nervous system and this often leads to poor blood pressure control and hypertension. Hypertension damages blood vessels, the heart and kidneys.
11. Autoimmune Disease
Your immune system plays the major role in the inflammation process. Healthy inflammation and chronic inflammation are primarily regulated by your immune system. Chronic inflammation and therefore a non-stop immune system response (fire) leads to loss of healthy function and therefore regulation of the immune system. Autoimmunity occurs when the immune system fails to regulate itself and begins to attack your body. Autoimmunity is not caused by an overactive immune system (as it is often explained to patients) it is in fact a poorly regulated immune system.
I could keep going, but I think you get the idea, chronic inflammation causes many problems for your body.
Functional medicine doctors specialize in finding the root cause of chronic inflammation. The root cause of inflammation; the thing that causes it is cell damage. The next step in your healing process is to identify what is damaging your cells.
Now you know what inflammation is…the body on fire and this fire is your body’s response to damaged cells. Discover what is causing the damage to cells and you can reduce inflammation.
In root cause medicine, doctors often use blood work as a window into a patient’s health. Functional Medicine is a personalized approach to a patient’s chief complaint.
Whats Being Tested?
C-Reactive Protein (hs-CRP)
The C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) blood test measures the degree of inflammation occurring in your body–high levels of which are associated with cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and other concerns.
The C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) blood test measures the level of systemic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is the common denominator of all age-related diseases. Uncontrolled systemic inflammation places you at risk for many degenerative diseases like heart disease and stroke.
The CRP test is highly sensitive which is able to measure even the smallest amount of inflammation in your body.
ESR (Sedimentation Rate) Blood Test
The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) test is used to help identify chronic inflammation associated with infections and other disorders.
Ferritin
Ferritin, a crucial element for iron homeostasis, is associated with chronic diseases characterized by subclinical inflammation such as essential arterial hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), showing a prognostic value in different clinical settings.
Insulin
Decades ago, researchers identified higher levels of inflammation in the bodies of people with type 2 diabetes. The levels of certain inflammatory chemicals called cytokines are often higher in people with type 2 diabetes compared to people without diabetes.
Obesity and inactivity have long been known to be the most important risk factors that drive the development of type 2 diabetes.
How could carrying extra weight and sofa-sitting be connected to higher levels of inflammatory chemicals in the body and the development of diabetes?
Researchers discovered that in people with type 2 diabetes, cytokine levels are elevated inside fat tissue. Their conclusion: Excess body fat, especially in the abdomen, causes continuous (chronic), low levels of abnormal inflammation that alters insulin’s action and contributes to the disease
Homocysteine
An elevated level of homocysteine (Hcy) has been shown to be a cardiovascular risk factor in the majority of research studies. Recently, it was found to be associated with new risk factors such as inflammatory markers.
An elevated homocysteine (Hcy) level is considered to be a risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis. It has been suggested that Hcy influences endothelial function leading to a prothrombotic environment, platelet activation and endothelial leukocyte interactions (1). In addition, Hcy enhances inflammatory responses that are recognized for their role in atherosclerotic disease (2,3).
Other Tests included in Dr Hagmeyer’s Inflammatory Panel include
PLAC
PLAC measures levels of the LpPLA2 enzyme. This is seen as a marker for inflammation in the blood vessels, which is linked to an increase of plaque in the arteries.
MPO
MPO is a white blood cell-derived inflammatory enzyme that measures disease activity from the luminal aspect of the arterial wall.
Briefly, when the artery wall is damaged, or inflamed, MPO is released by invading macrophages where it accumulates.
MPO mediates the vascular inflammation that propagates plaque formation and activates protease cascades that are linked to plaque vulnerability. White blood cell activation in the bloodstream, in response to luminal injury of the artery wall including fissures, erosions or a degrading collagen cap, leads to MPO release in the bloodstream. This combination of detrimental effects demonstrates that MPO is actively involved in the progression of atherosclerosis.
Ox-LDL
An oxidized LDL (oxLDL) test is used to measure your LDL, or “bad cholesterol,” levels that have been modified by oxidation.
Oxidized LDL triggers inflammation that can lead to the formation of plaque in your arteries. This test may be used as a part of a routine assessment of your risk for heart disease (or cardiovascular disease [CVD]).
It may be used in addition to other cholesterol testing to assess whether any medications you may be taking or any lifestyle changes you may have made are helping to lower your cholesterol.
Fibrinogen
A fibrinogen test measures your levels of a blood protein called fibrinogen. Fibrinogen is made in your liver and helps your blood clot. Low fibrinogen may make it difficult for your blood to clot. If you have symptoms of excessive bleeding, your healthcare provider may order this test to check your fibrinogen level.
Omega 3 , Omega 6 and Omega 3 index
Omega 3 and Omega 6 are essential fatty acids that are most important to one’s health, but the body needs these in the right proportion Omega-6 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fats that are generally found in vegetable oils, seeds, and nuts. When consumed moderately, these acids can be heart healthy.
Too much omega-6 can result in increased blood pressure, blood clots that can cause a heart attack and/or stroke and can make your body retain water.
Omega-3 can decrease the risk of heart disease, inflammation, and cancer. Flaxseed, walnuts, leafy vegetables, and fish all contain omega-3.
The omega-3 index measures the amount of EPA and DHA in red blood cell membranes and is a marker of omega-3 status. An optimal omega-3 index is 8% or higher, an intermediate omega-3 index is between 4% and 8%, and a low omega-3 index is 4% and below
Omega 6’s
Omega-6 fatty acids are a type of polyunsaturated fat found in vegetable oils, nuts and seeds. When eaten in moderation and in place of saturated fats, omega-6 fatty acids can be good for the heart and appear to protect against heart disease.
The body needs fatty acids (essential fatty acids) to work properly but most western countries have entirely too much omega 6 fats in the diet.
