Reverse Autoimmunity

Your Labs Can Be ‘Normal’ — And You Can Still Feel Awful. Here’s Why.

October 20, 2025 by Amber Rudd

Your Labs Can Be “Normal” — And You Can Still Feel Awful. Here's Why.

You walk out of your doctor’s office clutching a printout that says “all normal.”

But you’re exhausted. Your sleep is broken. The weight won’t budge. Your brain feels like fog soup, and your mood is on a rollercoaster you didn’t sign up for.

So why do you still feel awful when your labs are supposedly fine?

Let’s decode what’s really going on.

The Problem With “Normal” Lab Ranges

Here’s the hard truth:
Most doctors are only running the bare minimum AND the “normal” lab ranges are based on averages — not optimal health. (1)

And guess where those “averages” come from?
A population of people who are often already tired, inflamed, or chronically unwell.

So when your doctor says, “Everything looks fine,”what they really mean is, “You look similar to most of the people we test when we run the bare minimum.”

That’s not the same as thriving.

Functional vs. Conventional: A Different Lens

At Flathead Functional Medicine, I look at your labs differently and I do an in depth dive.

I don’t ask, “Are you in range?”
I ask, “Is this optimal for you?”

That difference changes everything.

For example:

Your thyroid might be technically “normal,” but if your TSH is creeping up and your free T3 is low, your cells are still running on empty. (2)
Your iron could look “fine,” but if your ferritin is suboptimal, your energy will tank.
Your blood sugar might pass a basic test, but you could still be on the edge of insulin resistance — the fatigue, brain fog, and stubborn weight kind. (3, 4)

These patterns tell me what’s really going on under the surface.

The Hidden Story Inside “Normal” Labs

Your body speaks through data — but only if you know what to check and how to listen.

Here are three common red flags I see in women who’ve been told everything’s fine:

Low-Normal Thyroid Function: You’re technically “in range,” but your energy says otherwise.
Inflammation Markers on the Edge: CRP-hs and homocysteine levels often aren’t checked but if they’re high (or even high-normal) — this is silent but telling.
Blood Sugar Drift: Your Hemoglobin A1c looks okay, but your fasting glucose and/or insulin is waving a red flag.

These early signals are the whispers before the screams.
If you catch them now, you can course-correct before symptoms spiral.

It’s Not You — It’s the Framework

You’re not crazy.
You’re not lazy.
And you’re definitely not broken.

You’ve just been measured by an outdated system that was never built for prevention or optimization — only for diagnosing disease.

Functional medicine flips that script.
We measure health by how well your body performs — not just by whether it’s failing yet.

What To Do Next

If you’ve ever been told your labs are “normal” but you know something’s off, here’s where to start:

Get a second lens. Find a practitioner who interprets labs through functional ranges instead of the standard “normal” ranges.
Request deeper testing. In addition to the basics, ask for a full thyroid panel with thyroid antibodies, metabolic markers including fasting insulin and hemoglobin A1c, a full iron panel with ferritin, CRP-hs, homocysteine, and nutrient markers such as vitamin B12, folate, vitamin D, zinc, copper and more.
Build your baseline. Once you know what “optimal” looks like, you can actually measure your progress.
Track your symptoms. Your story matters more than a single number.

Your body’s not failing — it’s communicating.
When you learn to decode those signals, you can finally reclaim your energy, clarity, and confidence.

“Normal” is not the goal.
“Optimal” is.

Your labs might say you’re fine, but if your body disagrees, believe your body first.

Because your biology doesn’t lie — it just needs a better translator.

Fix Your Gut, Feel Your Best

August 22, 2022 by Amber Rudd

Fix Your Gut, Feel Your Best

The simple act of fixing your gut could reverse your chronic health issues and save you countless amounts of money over your lifetime.

How can fixing your gut have such a significant impact?

In this article, I’m going to explain the powerful connection our gut has with the rest of our body and what you can do to get yours back on track.

The Amazing Function of Our Guts

Our guts are responsible for much more than breaking down and digesting our food. For example, over 70% of our immune system lies within our guts.

How can this be?

One word: Bacteria.

Our guts are home to over 100,000,000,000,000 (100 trillion) microorganisms. (1) In fact, we have 10 times more bacteria in our gut than cells in our body. Yowza!

And these bacteria can have a profound impact on our overall health. In addition to being a central hub for our immune system, our gut flora: (2)

Protects us from infection
Influences blood sugar control (3)
Produces essential vitamins
Impacts the health of our brains, skin, bones, heart, hormones, and even our eyes (4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

Over 2,000 years ago Hippocrates said:

“All disease begins in the gut”

He wasn’t kidding. An unhealthy gut has been linked to diseases such as depression, autism, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory bowel disease, skin issues such as eczema, Alzheimer’s, and type 1 diabetes. (9, 10, 11)

How It All Goes Wrong

Many external factors influence our gut microbes. Some things we can control, and some we cannot.

The first factor out of our control is how we were born. Babies that are born through the vaginal canal tend to have a more diverse gut microbiome. This is from the exposure to the mother’s vaginal microbiome.

The second factor is is whether we were breastfed. Breastfed babies tend to have a more robust microbiome than bottle-fed babies.

Another big factor is antibiotic exposure. Even just one round of antibiotics can decrease the amount and diversity of healthy bacteria causing lasting changes on the gut microbiome. This is a big deal considering that the average child has had 20 rounds of antibiotics by the age of 17!

Don’t Worry, You’ve Got This

If you weren’t born vaginally, weren’t breastfed, and have taken antibiotics, there’s no need to panic. These factors may have had an impact on your health, but what you do going forward is the ticket to a healthy gut and happy body.

Also please remember that until recently this information wasn’t as readily available. We need to show ourselves and our parents some grace and realize that we did the best we could with the information we had.

Factors In Our Control

There are many factors in our current modern lifestyle that negatively affect our gut microbiome. These include:

Processed/inflammatory foods such as industrial seed oils and refined carbohydrates. (12, 13)
Food intolerances such as gluten, dairy, and grains to name a few (14).
Chronic stress. (15)
Bacteria, viral, and fungal gut infections. (16) Stool testing can be a valuable tool for detecting and correcting these types of infections.
Circadian rhythm disruption including not enough sleep, abnormal sleep/wake cycles, and blue light exposure before bed.
Other medications such as proton pump inhibitors, birth control pills, and NSAIDs.

Leaky Gut

All of the factors mentioned above not only affects our gut microbiome, but also contributes to leaky gut.

When our gut barrier becomes leaky (more permeable), large proteins and molecules that shouldn’t be outside of the gut are let through into the bloodstream.

When this happens, the body mounts an inflammatory response and thus begins the process of chronic inflammation.

Why is this so bad?

Chronic inflammation is the underlying cause of almost all chronic health issues.

This is why fixing and optimizing the gut should be a primary focus when treating any chronic health issue – even those that don’t seem to be directly related to the gut.

How to Heal Your Gut

Healing the gut is a process. The longer you’ve had issues, the longer it may take for your gut to get back on track. The important thing to remember is that you CAN heal your gut if you give it what it needs.

1. First you need to remove any inflammatory foods. This can be done by eliminating processed and packaged foods and focusing on a whole-food diet as much as possible.

I have almost all of my patients try a paleo type of diet for a minimum of 30 days.

This helps eliminate the most common food triggers and provides nutrient-dense food. Food intolerance testing is also available and can help guide the process.

2. Treat any gut infections. Bacterial, viral, and fungal overgrowth can be identified with stool testing.

3. Increase fermented foods. Fermented foods are loaded with healthy bacteria and can help heal the gut barrier. Unpasteurized sauerkraut, pickles, kimchi, yogurt, and kefir are good sources. Probiotics and prebiotics can also be helpful.

4. Get 7-9 hours of sleep each night. Be sure you’re waking up without an alarm. If you are, you need to be in bed earlier. Avoid blue light or use blue light blocker glasses 1-2 hours before bed.

5. Manage stress. Stress can negatively affect our gut microbiome. Be sure to do things throughout the day that bring you joy and take time to relax. Practice yoga or meditation daily – even if only for 5-10 minutes per day.

6. Move throughout the day. Getting the right amount of movement and exercise can have a beneficial impact on your gut microbiome.

7. Minimize antibiotic use. Antibiotics can be life-saving and are sometimes necessary.

By doing the suggestions listed above, you will be healing your gut AND improving your immune system thus further reducing the chance that you will need antibiotics in the future.

Is Gluten Secretly Making You Sick?

October 31, 2020 by Amber Rudd

Is Gluten Secretly Making You Sick?

The short answer: Maybe. The long answer: It’s worth looking into.

In this article, I’m going to explain what you need to know and how to determine if gluten is a problem for you.

The Rise of Chronic Disease

Mainstream media and even some healthcare providers suggest that gluten-free diets are just a fad.

After all, most of our grandparents ate gluten their entire lives and they’re fine, right? Everyone is doing it, so it must be okay, right?

Wrong.

Chronic disease is on the rise – exponentially on the rise. And while genes are often blamed, there is way more to this story.

In fact, 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men now have an autoimmune disease. Over half of adults are taking prescription drugs. And autism in our children has more than doubled in the past 20 years!

Scary to say the least.

Likely there are many things contributing to this exponential rise in chronic disease. But my concern is that gluten is contributing more than conventional medicine and the mainstream media are leading us to believe.

What’s the Deal With Gluten?

There are likely three main reasons why we are having more issues with gluten these days.

#1 Gluten is a complex protein – much more complex than most of the other foods we eat.

Gluten hasn’t been around very long in the grand scheme of things. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors have been around for several million years – primarily eating meat, fish, wild fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, and starchy plants.

Gluten and grains have only been around since the Agricultural Revolution – about 10,000 years ago.

Let’s use the example of a football field. If the full length of a football field is the amount of time our ancestors have been roaming the earth, gluten has only been around for 1/2 of a yard!

Unfortunately, our genes cannot adapt that quickly to such a dramatic change in our diet.

#2 Antibiotic use and gut health.

Gut health just isn’t what it used to be. Since the 1970’s there has been a dramatic rise in the use of antibiotics on humans and livestock. Over the past several decades children have been exposed to more antibiotics than our grandparents ever were when they were kids.

And these antibiotics wreak havoc on our guts. It changes the gut flora – decreasing the number of good bacteria which then increases the number of bad bacteria. This can lead to leaky gut, changes in our immune function, changes in our mood, and a whole host of other issues. (1)

This combination of altered gut flora and gluten is one of the main reasons gluten issues may be on the rise.

#3 Traditional cultures prepared grains through soaking or sprouting.

Yes, grains have been in our diets for the past 10,000 years. However, bread was traditionally made using a sourdough preparation method. This slow process of fermentation helps break down the anti-nutrients in the grain making it easier for our guts to digest.

Many other cultures soak and sprout their grains before consumption, which is another way of making them easier to digest.

In our fast-paced busy society, people don’t have time for that anymore. Many of us are buying factory-made bread from a bag at the supermarket.

How Do You Know if You Are Gluten Intolerant?

Many people with gluten intolerance don’t exhibit typical symptoms such as diarrhea, bloating, gas, or abdominal pain. Some might feel fatigue, while others may gain weight or have skin or mood issues. (2)

The symptoms are endless and show up differently in each individual. The most common symptoms include:

Depression
Anxiety
Anemia
Headaches
Fatigue
Brain fog
Eczema

The lack of gut symptoms is one of the main reasons why gluten issues get missed in conventional medicine.

Also, there is also a whole host of diagnosed conditions that have been associated with gluten intolerance including:

Autism spectrum disorders (3)
Type 1 Diabetes (4)
Depression (5)
Schizophrenia (6)
Multiple Sclerosis
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Fibromyalgia
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (7)
Epilepsy
Hashimotos
Endometriosis (8)
Insulin resistance
Alzheimer’s disease

And there are more – so many more!

Unfortunately, this is not well known in our society or even in the medical community. And even when it is tested for, there are many shortfalls in the testing and many cases go undiagnosed.

In fact, for every one case of celiac disease (CD) that gets diagnosed 6.4 cases remain undiagnosed. (9)

And celiac disease is only part of the problem. There is something called non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) that is likely even more common and can do just as much harm as CD. (1 0)

This is where the body is reacting negatively to gluten but the reaction isn’t autoimmune or allergic in nature. However, when these people remove gluten from their diet, their symptoms improve. (11)

It is estimated that between 0.5 to 13% of Americans may have NSGS. (1 2) I believe that with our limited awareness of this subject, it may be even higher.

Testing for CD and NCGS.

Wheat is complex and contains several different classes of proteins. Conventional testing usually only tests for antibodies to alpha-gliadin and transglutaminase 2. But there are so many more we should be testing for. (13, 14, 15)

So even if you do have the typical symptoms and you get tested by your provider, you can’t rely on a negative result to rule out CD or NCGS. This is another reason why so many people go undiagnosed.

And the consequences of this are devastating. People suffer for years or even their entire lifetime with these horrible symptoms and conditions. They often need to take medications for these symptoms and suffer even more from the side effects of those medications.

When little did they know, that all they had to do was eliminate gluten from their diet.

We need a different approach.

What I Recommend

Although I don’t think everyone needs to be on a gluten-free diet, I do think most people should try an elimination diet for a minimum of 30 days to see how they feel.

Not only how they feel off of gluten, but how they feel when they reintroduce it. Especially anyone with any of the symptoms or diagnoses listed above.

In addition, I like to utilize a lab called Cyrex Laboratories. They offer a blood panel that screens for all of the wheat and gluten proteins and transglutaminase enzymes mentioned earlier. I use it in conjunction with the 30-day elimination diet and between the two can narrow in on who would benefit from eliminating gluten from their diets.

I realize that going gluten free is socially inconvenient. Fortunately, people are figuring out very quickly that this idea of going gluten-free is not just a fad. Because of this, there are so many more food items available making gluten-free eating much easier.

My hope is that over the next decade it will be even more of a norm to eat gluten-free. Instead of being a fad, it will just be a regular part of everyday life.