The hard reality is that thermal imaging costs money, and it isn't typically covered by health insurance. Let's explore the pros and cons to that! The pros are that we don't have to worry about all of the stipulations that the health insurance companies dictate. If you know, you know. The health insurance companies are the ones that tell the doctors that you need a mammogram every year, and they dictate whether or not you need that ultrasound, and whether or not they will pay for it. It is hard to believe but it is true. So with not having to worry about that, our clients in the thermal imaging world have full control over how often they get scanned, and what they choose to do with the information that they obtain from it.
Another pro is that with the lack influence by the insurance companies it keeps the price down. Yes, a thermal scan, even a full body scan is a quarter of the price, or even less than the more traditional testing systems. It makes it affordable, even if that means that you have to save up for it.
Thermography is safe, non invasive with zero radiation. It is simply like getting your picture taken, a naked picture, but you get where I am going with this. You also get to see your body through a new lens. Last year I had quite a bit of inflammation around my liver and gallbladder in my upper body scan. I wasn't having any pain or issues, so I chose to watch and wait. Had I had been having pain I would have gone to my GP to have additional testing. I have since tried to do things to support my liver and gallbladder, because in thermography world that inflammation was telling me that, where there might not be a physical pathology there could be one in the future. It was enough to pay attention. Have I done a great job at doing those liver/gallbladder loving modalities? No, but prior to my next scan in March I will be hitting them hard to see if there is a difference in the scans.
That is what is so beautiful about thermography. It looks at the physiology of the body versus the actual physical body alone. Once you have your first scan, also known as your baseline, you will have this scan to compare other scans to for the rest of your life. Have a new pain that you can't explain? Come get scanned. Have some new symptoms of any kind, come and get scanned.
So that takes us into the cons of thermography. It is not for general diagnosis. Can the scans detect things like potential tumors, arthritis, neuropathy, congested lymph nodes, etc.? Yes, it can. However it is not a system that is used to diagnose disease. That is what traditional testing systems are for. Again, it is not covered by insurance so most people have to pay out of pocket, or use their HSA accounts. It can take up to 5-7 days to received results. Some newer allopathic testing systems are able to obtain results within a few hours, or almost immediately after the test. For those who have anxiety about their health, this can be helpful.
Thermography is a way to understand the body in a different way, to really look for the core of issues. Like I stated above, you can typically see issues coming long before there is an actual physical problem. To me, this is the biggest pro of them all. So yes, you do have to pay out of pocket for it, and yes it is worth every penny.