I love this case because it tackles the thing that scares newer practitioners most: the retest. That moment when the second test comes back looking different from the first, and you’re not quite sure what to do with the changes. I want to show you that reading change over time is one of the most learnable, rewarding parts of this whole method.
This one comes from a recent Office Hours session with our lead course mentor, Amber, following one client across three HTMAs.
Here’s who she was working with.
-56 year old female
-Functional medicine practitioner herself
-Post-menopause
-Hypothyroidism
-SVT (supraventricular tachycardia, episodes where the heart suddenly races to 150 beats a minute or more).
She already eats a whole foods diet, avoids gluten, and genuinely supports her foundations well. In other words, not a client you “fix” with the basics, because she’s already living them.
The first thing I want you to notice is how Amber handled the SVT, because this is exactly the judgment you’re building. She did not try to treat it. She was clear that HTMA doesn’t diagnose an arrhythmia, doesn’t read blood electrolytes, and never replaces cardiac care.
What HTMA does is let you look at the bigger picture around it: the magnesium and potassium that matter for heart rhythm, thyroid and iron status, hydration, the nervous system, possible triggers.
Staying in your scope isn’t a limitation. It’s what makes you a practitioner people can trust. You can be genuinely helpful and stay in your lane at the same time.
Now the part that makes new practitioners nervous: three tests that each looked different.
Test one: a very extreme four lows pattern, fast oxidation, with the main minerals low.
Test two: three lows, with the sodium/potassium ratio overcorrecting.
Test three: three lows again, but now in a fast oxidation pattern, with the thyroid ratio finally back in range and the Na/K more balanced than it had been.
If you only looked at one of those tests in isolation, you might panic. Minerals still low on test three? Did the protocol fail?
No: lower mineral values in a fast pattern are not automatically a bad result. The body had more energy and was using minerals faster. The thyroid ratio came into range. The nervous system markers were settling.
That’s movement in the right direction, and movement is the whole point.
Because here’s what a retest is actually asking you: What changed? Which way did the minerals, ratios, and metals go? What does that mean for the next step? That’s it. You’re not chasing a perfect report. You’re reading a story as it unfolds, test by test. And that is absolutely something you can learn to do.
I also really appreciated how gently all of this was handled. The client was consistently asked what she had the capacity for, and Amber was mindful of her energy, her finances, her nervous system, never wanting the protocol itself to become one more stressor.
That is the heart of good practice, and it has nothing to do with how many years you’ve been doing this.
So if the idea of retests has been intimidating you, I hope this case loosens that grip a little.
You don’t need to produce a flawless result on test one. You need to support the body, send the client a quick check-in form before each retest, read what changed, and adjust.
Give the body what it’s asking for and let it respond in its own time.
P.S. This case is fully de-identified and shared for educational purposes.
