IMW Wellness Exam and Advanced Wellness Testing (AWT)
The hallmark of an IMW Wellness Plan is the IMW Wellness Exam along with the IMW Advanced Wellness Testing (AWT).
We encourage every IMW Wellness Plan member to have an Annual Wellness Exam and Testing that includes:
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Comprehensive personal medical history
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Comprehensive family medical history
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Comprehensive wellness exam which may include other tests as necessary determined by your medical history.
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IMW-AWT is performed and when the results are received, they are reviewed with you in detail for your individual IMW plan to better health.
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IMW plan for better health goals are given and follow-up testing/exam are scheduled as necessary.
So what is in the IMW-AWT?
The IMW-AWT is used along with your medical history and wellness exam to determine your future health risks and to help you identify and lower those risks. Disease processes identified can include elevated cholesterol, heart disease, clotting risk, Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes, Liver, Kidney and Thyroid issues, vitamin and nutrient deficiencies, other Metabolic issues and on occasion some new genetic risk factors as well.
There is a tremendous amount of information garnered from the IMW AWT. The “biomarkers” tested may reflect active disease processes and risks but are not necessarily the cause of disease. These biomarkers are produced in response to our diets, lifestyle, stress, genetics and other factors that we are still researching.
How do we treat biomarkers differently than your traditional insurance/corporate/hospital physician?
Traditional offices treat a biomarker as a number without delving further into the what’s and the why’s of what that number represents. The treatment usually consists of a prescription medication that may fix the number, but does not necessarily fix the process that caused the number to be at risk in the first place. This type of treatment can give a false sense of security for one’s health.
At the IMW we prefer to suggest modifications in your diet and lifestyle to improve your biomarkers in a more natural way that truly lowers your risk by helping to fix the process. We only use prescription drugs to reduce these biomarkers if they truly get to the cause/trigger of the medical issue. The IMW uses a blend of Traditional and Functional approaches to help you achieve optimal health.
For example, I am not a fan of cholesterol lowering medications as these drugs known as statins do not get to the cause of heart disease. Lowering cholesterol by pharmaceuticals does not in my opinion lower heart disease risk. Measuring cholesterol levels and other biomarkers are very important in gauging risk. But at the IMW, we dig deeper to get a better understanding of what each biomarker is doing for you, both good or bad.
SPECIAL TESTING
Dr. Horvitz may also offer SPECIAL TESTING to help you achieve optimal health. Examples of some of the testing are shown below.
Coronary Calcium Scores for heart disease risk
Hormonal Panels - utilizing blood, saliva and urine
Nutrient Panels
Gut testing including tests for SIBO, stool, inflammatory and microbiome testing
Genetic Testing
Some of the laboratories/facilities we use for these tests are shown below:
Nutritional Counseling
Dr. Horvitz conducts most of your nutritional counseling himself.
Nutritional Supplements
A large part of any practice that focuses on nutrition and lifestyle is having access to good quality nutritional supplements. Dr. Horvitz does sell some supplements direct from his office. He also has access to other high quality supplements online. You can access these other supplement manufacturers and order directly from their sites by following the links below.