In blood cell analysis, the microscope is hooked up to a video camera, which goes to a monitor for easy viewing. It is used first as a tool for the health care practitioner or educator to gain insight into the patients or clients metabolic and nutritional status. It lends assistance in determining what types of nutritional supplements would be optimally correct for the individual. Secondly, and possibly of even greater importance and certainly it has been shown to have the greatest impact, the microscope is an educational tool for the individual. Few people have ever seen their blood live and up close right on the television. Blood is the river of life flowing through each of us. As human beings, we all inherently understand this. When a person sees their blood for the first time, they realize that there is dynamic activity taking place within. They begin to understand at deeper levels the need to take care of their health. It has consistently been shown that subsequent patient compliance with doctors recommendations is greatly improved.
A darkfield microscope is simply a standard laboratory microscope, to which certain optical techniques are utilized to transform how light comes through the specimen being viewed. For example, let’s say we are viewing live blood on a glass specimen slide. The normal mode of a microscope is called brightfield. In this mode of viewing, light shines straight through the specimen. When light shines straight through a specimen, transparent objects are invisible. It is as if you were standing to the side of a sunny window gazing through dust. If there was a white wall between you and the dust, you would never see the dust because it is transparent when trying to be seen against the white wall. However, if you put a black curtain where the white wall is, all of a sudden the dust pops into view. The darkfield microscope does the same thing. The specimen sits over a dark background or field, and light is angled onto the specimen from the sides. Things that were once invisible now come into view.
Using the phase contrast microscope is another way to view live blood for nutritional work. With this lighting technique, the light coming through the specimen is altered so that a portion of the light is shifted slightly out of phase with the original. The light now strikes the specimen and lights up invisible particles while also giving shades of gray. This is an excellent way of viewing blood for nutritional screening.
The microscope as we use it is not a diagnostic tool, but a powerful window to view the dynamic micro life processes going on in one of the most important of body fluids.
There are techniques that you need to know and understand in blood analysis. When we view blood for nutritional counseling, we can use three primary techniques. The first two techniques view blood in its live, unchanged state. First we are looking at the overall terrain or environment of the blood with knowledge of the pleomorphic theories of disease as related to pH utilizing the researches. Second we can view blood from the more allopathic or nutritional perspective. In either case we are looking at what is normal and what is not. This gives us insights to nutritional metabolic conditions. A third test we can perform is a dry layer test. Here we take a series of blood drops and let them dry on a specimen slide. The reason for this is that the coagulation cascade of the blood gets thrown off when the body degenerates through oxidative stress, mycotoxicoses, or disease. This test can be very revealing, and it can give direction into what further tests to be performed.
Understanding body and blood pH is absolutely essential to understanding what goes on in the blood. You cannot have a blood class without thoroughly learning pH concepts unless you desire to learn only half the story. pH or potential hydrogen controls everything that happens in the body; enzyme function, vitamin and mineral assimilation, electricity flow, parasitic formation. Metabolic body balancing and blood work cannot be done without an understanding of pH.
