12/15/2025
Most people have been told some version of this:
👉🏼 “Your labs look normal.”
But they’re still exhausted.
Still not sleeping.
Still anxious or irritable.
Still gaining weight.
Still feeling nothing like themselves.
So this week’s newsletter breaks down something I talk about every single day in the clinic:
𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥. 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐬.
Lab “reference ranges” are built by testing large groups of people and removing the obviously sick. The problem? As a population, we are more inflamed, more metabolically unhealthy, and more hormonally depleted than ever before so the “normal” range has shifted downward.
That’s why someone can fall into the green on a lab report and still feel awful.
I use labs as a guide, but symptoms tell the truth. If you don’t feel well, that is what matters most to me - regardless of whether a number is technically “normal.”
In this week’s newsletter, I explain:
• how lab ranges are created
• why normal ≠ optimal
• how this affects hormones like testosterone and progesterone
• how I approach labs + symptoms together at Pure Balance
I also included a 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐳 in the newsletter to help you see if your symptoms could be hormone-related and from there, you can book labs if you want real answers.
📩 The newsletter goes out Wednesday morning.
If you want it in your inbox, sign up here:
👉🏼 https://ashleylowden.kit.com/45990ed353
You deserve more than being told everything is “fine” when you know it’s not.
