My MAP was provided by the company, to enable me to evaluate the process and write this review.  As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Those of you who are regular readers here have probably noticed that you haven’t been able to read regularly over this past month — because I haven’t posted regularly.  It’s been a rough month, starting with being physically in rough shape from the end of January into February and then followed up with this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad COLD weather!  I don’t know about you, but I just want to curl up in a corner of the couch under a cozy blanket and not move.  On top of all that, I’ve just started back to school, and am working at finding my new groove.  So that’s what’s been going with me and why my posting has been so sporadic.

Let’s move on to something more interesting, shall we?  Coming off of a month that started on the wrong foot due to health issues, it seems appropriate to jump back into things with a discussion of a health tool!

The Matrix Assessment Profile (MAP)

The[now-defunct] Optimal Wellness website summarizes what the Matrix Assessment Profile is so well I can’t really improve on it, so I’ll just let them tell you:

The MAP is an evaluation process — a test done right from your own home — that looks into your biochemistry revealing imbalances at the cellular level that are at the root cause of any number of chronic, unresolved symptoms.

Now let’s talk about what that means for you.

What this lab test will do is present something of a “snapshot” of your body’s environment.  It’s pretty amazing to me; they can determine things like how effective your digestion is, based on your saliva.  Crazy, right?  Anyway, this test doesn’t diagnose particular conditions.  Rather, it checks the body’s overall balance, and which areas are out of balance, if any.  (Since most people who are interested in this are interested because something isn’t right, probably pretty much everyone taking the test has something out of balance.)

Taking the Test

One of the things I really like about this is that it’s easy.  There’s a urine sample and a saliva sample to collect; that’s it.  No needles.  Nothing complicated.  The instructions were clear, simple, complete, and easy to follow.  (Just be sure you read them, to make sure you do everything right!)  And prepaid packaging is provided so all you have to do is drop it off at a UPS location.

It does need to be sent back the same day you collect it, so be sure that a) it’s a regular business day, and b) you know where the local UPS store or drop box is before you collect your samples.

The Process

From there, you just wait. 🙂  Never easy to do, I know — especially if you’ve been feeling bad and this MAP is the thing you’re hoping will make you feel better!  But communication from the company is excellent throughout.  They send an email to let you know when they’ve received your samples, and another (of course) when your results are ready to be viewed/downloaded.  These are written in plain language, easy to understand and follow.

The Report

The report itself…well, that’s not so much in plain language or so easy to understand.  There are some handy pictorial overviews showing which systems and functions of your body are weak and which are strong.  The text report goes into detail on the biggest weakness.  (It doesn’t really address the other things — preferring to make it easier to focus on one thing at a time, I assume.)

It will probably sound like gobbledygook.  I’m pretty well-versed in health and medical lingo, and most of it went over my head.  Now, when you log into the customer portal where you can download your reports, there will also be a couple of videos.  In these videos, Dr. D will explain a bit further about what the report means.  This helps some — but it was still mostly gobbledygook to me.

So my guess is if you’re like 99% of my readers, interpreting this yourself isn’t really going to be an option.  You’re going to want to do one of two things:

1) Figure that “it don’t make no never mind” whether you can understand the report, and just follow the supplement recommendations on your own.  The nice thing about this option is that it doesn’t matter if you have a good, holistically-minded doctor nearby.  You can still follow through.  OR

2) Take the results to a holistically-minded doctor who can make use of the information and go from there.

Here you can see the first couple pages of my report — the diagrams — and a taste of what the rest looks like.  It’s pretty much just text from there on out, see?  Given the parts I do understand, this assessment was very accurate in terms of what’s been going on with me, and what other lab tests have shown.  (This is more of the “roots,”  though, where most of the other lab tests show more of the “stems.”)

Recommendations

The recommendations are in three stages: detoxification, rebuilding, and maintenance.  This process is expected to take about 12 weeks, and many previous customers have experienced dramatic results just within that time frame.  These recommendations are tailored to whatever were the imbalances in your test, and it’s primarily for supplements.

Optimal Wellness doesn’t sell the supplements; they just tell you what they recommend and point you in the right direction.  I can tell you, though, that the brands they recommend are the same brands consistently recommended by my best holistic practitioners — they’re good stuff.

There aren’t dietary recommendations, per se.  That is, they don’t tell you to eat this food or that food because of what your results are. But they do recommend a handful of diet plans to go in tandem with the supplementation program (you would choose one, obviously, not use them all), and they are what I would consider healthy eating, as well.

Cost & Payment

I know at this point a lot of you are wondering about the cost.  I’ll be honest; the Assessment isn’t cheap.  But none of the good lab tests are.  Will your insurance cover it?  Maybe.  It depends on your insurance company, but many will reimburse for it.  Optimal Wellness even makes it easy for you to file by letting you know which insurance codes you need.

If you have other questions, take a peek at the FAQ’s; they may have already been answered.  Or feel free to ask in the comments and if I don’t know the answer I’ll see what I can find out for you.

[UPDATE Feb 2025: The Optimal Wellness site no longer seems to be around, but Dr. D. is still selling the test. I’ve updated the links accordingly, but can’t speak to whether the process is identical to what it was when I first reviewed this.]