In my mid-twenties, I developed chronic chest pain, heart palpitations, air hunger, joint pain, and fatigue. The symptoms were terrible, but equally challenging was my journey through the medical system in search of answers and resolution. The specialists I saw conducted the best diagnostic tests that conventional medicine could offer, yet all of my results were normal. Without abnormal results to qualify for a specific diagnosis, I was told that there was nothing wrong, and nothing that could be done.
I dragged myself to more than 50 healthcare practitioners over five years, increasingly frustrated by a lack of actionable information about my health. Given all of the advances in medicine and technology, why did the tests show no abnormalities, despite my debilitating symptoms? Why did the tests fail to identify the factors underlying the physiological dysfunction in my body?
Enter better tests
In my pursuit of better tests, I eventually discovered a new category of biomarker tests that had been developed specifically to investigate the causes of complex chronic illness. These tests evaluate innumerable factors commonly implicated in chronic illness that are rarely tested for in conventional medicine, and can reveal underlying causes that, when addressed, often result in the significant improvement or complete resolution of symptoms.
I used these tests to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of nearly everything that had been overlooked by my conventional practitioners: parasites, bacteria, fungi, viruses, metals, chemicals, food sensitivities, hormones, organic acids, and micronutrients. Unlike the conventional tests, that suggested everything was normal, these tests presented a dramatically different view of my health.
Testing for tick-borne infections showed the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi, Bartonella henselae, and Babesia microti. A mycotoxins test indicated exposure to Aspergillus and Stachybotrys. Abnormal markers on a qPCR stool analysis highlighted increased intestinal permeability. A metals test revealed high levels of lead and mercury. Genetic testing showed the potential for compromised detoxification pathways. An evaluation of my immune function showed impaired antibody production.
My symptoms had reminded me every day, for years, that something was wrong. These results not only confirmed that, with objective data, but, more importantly, identified what I needed to address in order to get well.
The problem
Why had my practitioners not investigated any of these factors?
Practitioners in the conventional paradigm, I realized, are trained to diagnose symptoms as disease, and the tests they use are intended to support them in making such diagnoses. If test results are normal, as they were in my case, this indicates that the patient doesn’t meet the criteria for a disease diagnosis, and, by extension, that there is nothing that can be done for the patient. Normal test results, however, are not necessarily an indication that everything is normal, just as a patient who doesn’t meet the criteria for a disease is not necessarily healthy.
For people with chronic illness, tests can either hinder progress, if the wrong tests are ordered, or help progress, if the right tests are ordered. The five years I spent on the conventional medicine conveyor belt—repeatedly having my symptoms dismissed because my test results were normal—taught me the importance of this.
My experience also taught me that, even if the right tests are ordered, and the causes of symptoms are identified, test results alone are not sufficient for catalyzing recovery. Reversing chronic illness requires test results, a targeted strategy for recovery, and a commitment to implementing the strategy, wherein test results indicate the physiological dysfunction underlying symptoms, the strategy defines the steps that need to be taken to address the dysfunction, and commitment is the engine that drives the implementation of the strategy, until health is restored.
I saw that the disease-centric focus of conventional medicine, together with its disempowering effect on patients—that taking medication or having a procedure done are the only treatment options—creates a system in which people suffering from chronic illness neither have access to the appropriate tests they need to identify the causes of their symptoms, nor help in developing a strategy for recovery, nor an environment that supports their commitment to the process of getting well.
The solution
I realized that a system specifically designed to reverse chronic illness, and not to diagnose or manage disease, would look very different than, perhaps even completely opposite to, the conventional system. The success of such a system would need to be measured by its effectiveness at reversing chronic illness, and not by revenue generated from tests, medication, or procedures. A technology-enabled, data-driven approach would be paramount, given the complexity of chronic illness, as would support and accountability, given the difficulty.
In 2021, I founded Quantify to create this new system for chronic illness reversal, based on the inadequacies of the conventional system that I had observed. In How We Help Our Members To Reverse Chronic Illness, I describe the three primary components of our system—comprehensive evaluation, natural therapies, and accountability—that enable us to achieve significant, often life-changing results for our members, many of whom had been suffering for years, or even decades, and had exhausted all conventional options.