Here are some of the common tests we consider at Shangri La BioSpa & Resort. We use these tests as a foundation for our research into your individual needs for a successful healing event from both your addiction and the conditions that brought you to it. While we start with these, we will sometimes order additional tests to further evaluate biochemical and bioenergetic weaknesses/excesses and deficiencies based on the individual patients health history, current lifestyle, diet, symptoms and drug/alcohol use.

Complete Blood Count (CBC): Thyroid Profile, Lipid Profile, Liver Profile, Kidney Panel, Minerals and Bone, Fluids and Electrolytes, and fasting blood sugar.

Metabolic Analysis Profile (MAP): The methylation cycle is key in determining a patients ability to detoxify. It also provides concrete evidence about the availability of certain nutrients for sound mental health. The Metabolic Analysis Profile is an excellent test to establish the functional biochemistry of the methylation and Krebs cycle.

Environmental Chemical Overload: Many mental distresses, such as anxiety and panic attacks, are caused by nerve-damaging toxins in the environment, known as neurotoxins. They sometimes cause people to medicate themselves either professionally or on their own. We test individuals for chemical overloads that could be causing mental distress that leads to drug/alcohol addiction.

Food Chemical Overload: Todays standard diet is becoming more chemical than nutritional. Monosodium glutamate, Aspartame and literally thousands of other chemicals are poured into our food supply by the billions of tons yearly. Many people are developing a toxic overload of these chemicals. They can damage the liver and cause many of the mental health distresses diagnosed by psychiatry as everything from bipolar mental illness to attention deficit disorder. These chemicals are implicated in neurotoxicity. Digesting them provides them direct access to the very delicate organs of the neuroendocrine system that are responsible for providing healthy states of mind and homeostasis experienced as peace of mind.

Amino Acid Assays: Todays conventional /processed diet simply does not have either complete proteins or adequate amounts of proteins sub units known as amino acids, the fundamental building blocks of the neurochemicals required for mental health. An amino acid assay can expose deficiencies that need to be corrected for the fundamental requirement of raw materials available for the production of neurotransmitters and hormones.

NutriEval: A comprehensive nutritional evaluation provides assessment of:

• Oxidative Stress
• Organic Acids
• Amino Acids (FMV)
• Essential Fatty Acids
• Toxic and Nutrient Elements
• Malabsorption and Dysbiosis Markers
• Cellular Energy and Mitochondrial Metabolites
• Neurotransmitter Metabolites
• Organic Acids for Cofactor Need
• Creatinine Concentration
• Krebs Cycle
• Neurotransmitter Metabolism
• Amino Acid Analysis
• Essential and Metabolic Fatty Acids Markers (RB Cs)
• Fatty Acid Metabolism
• Toxic Elements
• Oxidative Stress

*This profile also provides assessment of gastrointestinal dysfunction and detoxification impairment.

Toxic overload, stress, legal and illegal drugs use, alcohol, excess caffeine and sugars, illness, processed foodsall tax what little nutrition people are receiving today in their diet and can actually result in malnutrition. In fact, many people on what would be considered a good diet could be suffering from malnutrition due to the toxic load placed on the body to metabolize their intake.

Many people suffer from malnutrition psychosis that is labeled as other things by psychiatry, without considering one biochemical/functional test to determine the root cause of a condition or drug/alcohol use before prescribing additional toxic drugs. The NutriEval test provides concrete evidence of what raw vitamins, minerals, etc. are required not only for neurotransmitter and hormone synthesis, but for the fundamental function of all cells. When they are provided the essentials they require, cells can repair and replicate themselves in a healthy way.

Autism Spectrum Analysis: A combination of the tests presented here and some others when indicated are excellent tools for developing a functional integrative medical approach to alleviating and curing those individuals on the spectrum. The effects of mercury toxicity in vaccinations are directly linked to many of the symptoms people self-medicate today.

Vitamin D: Considered by many naturopaths today to be the number one deficient vitamin in the U.S., Vitamin D is crucial to healthy neuroendocrine function.

Pyroluria Many mental health conditions diagnosed as schizophrenic are truly pyroluric cases that can be corrected with targeted nutritional adjustments in vitamin B6 and zinc.

HPA axis Function: The axis of the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal (HPA) glands is where neurochemical adaptation (addiction) resides. It is the health and communication between these organs of the neuroendocrine system that must be brought back to balance to heal addictive biochemistry, provide neurochemical rehabilitation and ultimately heal and stabilize the entire neuroendocrine system. This process is key to bringing long-lasting mental health free of cravings, mental distresses and other symptoms that lead one to alcohol/drug abuse. The HPA axis is your internal pharmacist and when it doesnt show up for work, you dont get what you naturally need for the blessings of feeling good inside your own skin and mind.

At Shangri La BioSpa & Resort we test every patient for how their HPA axis is functioning. We check levels of serotonin, GABA, dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, beta-endorphins, enkaphalins and the hormones DHEA and cortisol. We use the results to help us to prepare a sophisticated treatment strategy to bring you and your life in balance.

Heavy Metals: Heavy metals toxicityparticularly mercury is connected to anxiety, autism, ADD/ADHD and many other mental distresses and performance issues as well as cancer. High copper status is directly connected to voices, hallucinations and paranoia.

Liver Function: A Functional Liver Detoxification Profile (FLDP) assesses the performance of the 6 major detoxification pathways of the liver. If the liver isnt detoxifying the system efficiently, the brain and all other organs suffer and this can certainly lead to symptoms and cravings. Analyzing the functioning of the liver provides us the evidence we need to target key areas of the liver that may be weak, so we can bring the liver back to health and promote mental/physical wellness in general.

Hormone / Neurotransmitter Assay: Amino acid assays establish whether there is enough protein in the diet, how amino acids (protein subunits) are being utilized, and if they are being successfully made into neurotransmitters. Toxic overload, processed food diets, stress, and many other factors cause the depletion of key cofactors such as vitamin, minerals, EFAs and enzymes. Toxic overload can disable the process of actually producing the neurochemistry required for natural mental health even if your protein intake is sufficient. Neurotransmitter assays identify key nutritional deficiencies that could be causing symptoms that encourage one to seek relief in drugs/alcohol.

Hormone Panels: Hormones are very powerful mind and body regulators and any excess or deficiency would indicate a propensity for symptoms that would encourage one toward self-medicating or seeking legal drugs. For example, the hormone cortisol is naturally released by the adrenals to raise blood sugar and provide a chemical stress buffer when needed. Your adrenals may not be producing enough cortisol due to todays processed, empty carb, chemically poisoned diets and over-stimulating lifestyles. If this is so, you can experience stress much more profoundly than one who has a healthy set of these very important organs for good mental health. Increased perception of stress caused by a lack of cortisol can make one hyper-reactive, moody, and stressed to the point of feeling they are going to break. Testing for cortisol and other key hormones for good mental/physical health is fundamental in establishing an evidence-based treatment strategy. The test is very effective in establishing exactly what you require to begin making your own natural feel-goods again.