Many women are told their labs are “normal,” or they aren’t offered certain tests that would provide additional information, including nutrient levels. But these levels matter when it comes to clearing HPV and preventing HPV-related cancer, as well as other health issues.

In this episode, I explain why getting “normal” lab results doesn’t necessarily mean everything is fine. And 6 tests I feel should be ordered for women who are testing positive for HPV. 

I also explain that the reference ranges on lab reports are not necessarily “optimal” levels, and what levels you do want. Standard reference ranges often aren’t good enough if you want to understand what is really going on in your body – including why you might still be testing positive for high-risk HPV or dealing with other unresolved health issues.

Complete Blood Count and Metabolic Panel

Let’s start with the CBC, or complete blood count. This is the most common blood test, and it’s usually the first one done when you have blood drawn. It is a count of your red and white blood cells. 

The CBC often comes back “normal,” but that doesn’t mean everything is fine. I look closely at details like MCV, MCH, and MCHC, which tell us about the size of your red blood cells and can reveal whether you’re low in iron, B12, or folate, even if your total red blood cell count looks fine.

The next common test is a complete metabolic panel, which shows kidney function, liver function, and electrolyte balance. This is important and can tell us if you need emergency care, but it often comes back within range even when your body isn’t fully healthy. 

A metabolic panel simply tells us whether your kidneys or liver are overwhelmed and stressed – there can be many reasons why that may happen – and even then, there’s a lot we can do to help them function better.

Lipids and Heart Disease Risk

A lipid panel is often thought to assess heart disease risk, but research shows cholesterol alone isn’t the best way to evaluate that risk. 

Even if your lipids or LDL cholesterol are a bit high, I still recommend going further to assess for heart disease risk. That means running an advanced lipid panel to look at more specific markers, such as apolipoprotein B and lipoprotein (a), along with inflammatory markers like LP-PLA2 and myeloperoxidase. 

These tests help us understand whether there is inflammation in your blood vessels, which is actually the root cause of heart disease — since cholesterol sticks to inflammation in the blood vessels. Cholesterol testing alone isn’t the whole story. 

I also recommend cardio CRP, or C-reactive protein. It is considered to be a better way to assess for heart disease risk, especially in women. An elevated CRP indicates inflammation in your body, and in your blood vessels, in particular.  

We can address inflammation and in doing so, lower heart disease risk, as well as HPV risk.

On the other hand, elevated lipids can indicate an issue with blood sugar levels and/or thyroid function.

Blood Sugar and Thyroid Function

We also need to check hemoglobin A1C because HPV risk increases when blood sugar levels are too high or too low. A standard metabolic panel gives you a single fasting glucose reading, but hemoglobin A1C shows your average blood sugar over three months, giving a much more comprehensive look at your blood sugar pattern. 

The reference range goes up to 5.7, but I recommend my patients aim for 5.0 to 5.2 for optimal blood sugar control. When possible, I also like to check fasting insulin to see whether high blood sugar is challenging your insulin function. If we don’t run these tests, we could easily miss a blood sugar issue. 

Thyroid function is another area where standard testing falls short. Most of the time, only TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is checked, which tells us what your brain thinks about your thyroid function. But the common reference range goes up to 4 or 4.5, which I consider far too high. A higher TSH means lower thyroid function, so I want to see it between 0.5 and 2. If it’s above 2, I look for ways to support thyroid function. 

Beyond TSH, we need to test free T4 and free T3, the active hormone levels, to properly assess thyroid function. When possible, I also check reverse T3 to see how well your body converts thyroid hormone into its active form. If you have, or suspect, Hashimoto’s — an autoimmune thyroid condition — I recommend testing for thyroid antibodies, ATA and TPO.

Thyroid function is also related to HPV risk. I’d rather know whether your thyroid needs support, as part of the whole picture of your health. As we optimize your thyroid, and other hormones, you’ll feel better and you’ll be better able to protect yourself from HPV. 

Nutrient Testing

When it comes to nutrients, B12 and folate are commonly tested, but these levels can appear normal or even high without making it seem that everything is “okay” when it’s not. B12 and folate levels in the blood don’t actually tell us how well your body is utilizing these B vitamins, nor whether you need more or less of them.

If you’re taking a multivitamin, your B12 or folate may show high simply because it reflects how much B12 is circulating in your blood, not how well it’s being used. And a small amount of B12 in a supplement can make it look high in your blood work. So it is not accurate to rely on a B12 test. And a “folate” test is not just for folate, but all folate metabolites including folic acid. 

To understand true B vitamin metabolism and whether you may need more, we need to test homocysteine and methylmalonic acid, tests most practitioners don’t run. As a naturopathic doctor and clinical nutritionist, my training included extensive education on the appropriate testing for nutrient status.

Homocysteine, tells us about methylation, and relates to B6, B9, and B12 levels, while methylmalonic acid specifically reflects B12 metabolism — especially important if you take B12 supplements or injections. B vitamins, and especially folate, are essential for protecting yourself from HPV. 

Vitamin D and ferritin are also commonly tested but frequently missed when they fall “within range” yet remain too low. I like to see vitamin D at least at 50, optimally between 60 and 80, even though standard labs often don’t flag it until it is below 30. 

Ferritin under 10 is clearly concerning, but I consider anything under 50 as an issue. Low ferritin is associated with fatigue, hair loss, and higher HPV risk. I want to see ferritin at least at 50, ideally between 70 and 100. Identifying these deficiencies allows us to correct them effectively through diet and supplements.

Some nutrients, like zinc and magnesium, require special testing — RBC magnesium and RBC zinc — to get accurate results. When I’m concerned about a patient’s nutrient status, I often prefer to order a micronutrient panel, a specialty blood test that assesses vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and lipids, including omega levels, all at once.

Taking Charge of Your Health

I hope this gives you a sense of what may be happening in your body beneath the surface — things a standard CBC and metabolic panel simply won’t reveal. 

When your doctor orders blood work, ask for your results, review what was actually tested, and compare it against optimal ranges, not just standard reference ranges. And if you haven’t had blood work done recently, make sure to request an expanded list of tests including those I covered here. Then, when you receive the results, you can reach out for me to help you interpret and address them.

I’m a naturopathic doctor and clinical nutritionist with over 26 years of experience helping patients optimize their health. The goal is NOT to just fall within range, but to truly thrive, clear high-risk HPV and abnormal pap smears, and prevent cancer, heart disease, dementia, and diabetes.

This comprehensive level of testing isn’t usually part of a standard doctor’s visit, and it may or may not be fully covered by your health insurance (it depends on your insurance). It requires that you prioritize your health and the information you deserve to take care of yourself – by asking for what you need and working with a practitioner who can help you access these tests and how best to address the results. 

I offer one-on-one care, virtually, around the world to help my patients to know which tests to order, what their results mean, and how to get to the root of what is going on, so you can reverse abnormalities and maintain optimal levels going forward. If you’d like to learn more about how I can help with your case, you can set up a time to discuss with my team here.

I also offer a group, online community for women working to clear high-risk HPV and recover from an abnormal pap smear result. In that program – called Say Goodbye to HPV® Program – I teach you which tests to have done and how to understand and address your results. 

I want you to know that optimizing your health is absolutely possible. There are ways to support healing using diet, lifestyle changes, and natural products, including natural hormones, and to avoid medications whenever possible, or alongside medications when necessary.

For this, it is important to address the underlying causes of health issues by working with a practitioner, like me, who can help you look deeper to uncover the root causes of your health issues, so that you are finally able to break the underlying patterns that lead to the symptoms and conditions you want to prevent. 

Ultimately, it comes down to helping you to recover from what you’ve been exposed to in your lifetime – physical and emotional stress, as well as toxins and toxic relationships. Common health issues that arise when our bodies have been impacted by stress and toxins include: fatigue, hormone imbalances, digestive issues, autoimmunity, anxiety, depression, infections, including vaginal infections (HPV, BV, and yeast), bone loss, and so many more.

In my book Master Your Stress Reset Your Health, I explain how stress, trauma, toxins, and a lack of recovery, can keep us stuck in “stress mode” and turn on our genetic susceptibilities — and how an individualized approach to recovery makes all the difference. 

Start by taking my Stress Type® Quiz to understand how stress is impacting you today, and then follow my Stress Recovery Protocol and C.A.R.E. Method to support your body and nervous system to heal using diet changes, and natural approaches including time in nature. 

TAKE THE FREE STRESS QUIZ TO FIND OUT YOUR STRESS TYPE:

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If you’re dealing with HPV and want to prevent cervical cancer, I welcome you to join me over on Instagram @drdoniwilson and on my website at clearhpvnow.com. You can download my free HPV Recovery Guide and watch videos of women who’ve implemented my HPV Protocol and found freedom from high-risk HPV. I want for you to feel hope that you can heal too.

If you’d like to get a better sense of my approach, I welcome you to join my next free How to Get Rid of HPV online workshop where I help you to create a plan to get HPV out of your life for good. From there, you might choose to join the Heal HPV Kickstart Program, for the initial steps of my protocol, including diet changes and supplements, over the next 30 days.

Sign Up Now (Free!)

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Or you can begin with the comprehensive Say Goodbye to HPV® Program (mentioned above), which includes everything you need to implement my full protocol and to address all eight susceptibilities to HPV, including helping you to resolve underlying emotional stress and trauma. 

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to my office. My team and I would be happy to connect with you and help you. Click here to set up a call with my team.

Thank you so much for joining me for this video. I’d love to hear from you – please like, comment, share, and subscribe, if you haven’t already. I look forward to having you join me for the next episode of How Humans Heal.

I look forward to helping you. 

Dr. Doni

Disclaimer: This specific article and all other Content, Products, and Services of this Website are NOT intended as, and must not be understood or construed as, medical care or advice, naturopathic medical care or advice, the practice of medicine, or the practice of counseling care, nor can it be understood or construed as providing any form of medical diagnosis, treatment,  natural HPV cure, or prevention of any disease.