Pharmacogenetic Testing

[carinara]

Recently i have been reading posts about Pharmacogenetic testing. It suposed to give doctors the ability to know

beforehand how a patient will metabolize different medications.

Pharmacogenetics (often abbreviated as PGx) is the study of the ways in which our genetics affects our ability to respond to medications. It is a relatively new field, its progress accelerated by the Human Genome Project and the study of molecular biology.

A small number of genes controls the way our bodies react to medication. Researchers have identified variations in these genes and have correlated these with variations in the way patients metabolize different drugs. It is now possible in many cases to predict how a given patient is going to react to a given drug. Physicians armed with that knowledge can adjust dosages or even select alternative therapies, which decreases their patients' risk of experiencing Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs).

ADRs are a serious problem, and can result in hospitalizations, disability and even death. Studies show that ADRs take more than 100,000 lives and cost the healthcare system billions of dollars every year. Pharmacogenetic testing can significantly reduce the risk of ADRs by helping physicians identify which of their patients are at risk, and guiding them in choosing alternative therapies. The ultimate goal is fully individualized therapy

Iam super sensitive to medications and experienced the weirdes side effects in the past. Whenever my Doctor prescribes me something besides my BB, i usually dont take it because iam too afraid of how it effects me. I just got over a cystitis without taking any medication and wonder what i do next time i come down with something.

Has anybody of you had any experiences with Pharmacogenetic testing?

I read somewhere, that ist just a simple blood test, is this true????

Does it really help?

I always thought the medication sensivitiy is due to an error in our ANS but reading about Pharm.testing makes

sense to me as well.

I really look forward to your responses. If its really a good thing to do, i will search the internet for information

In german and get all the information about the procedure and so on together to present it to my doctor otherwise

nothing will happen if i leave it up to him.

How frustrating it is, that i always have to do the research on my own. My doctor always asks what to do,

because he?s got no clue. I give him the instruction and German articles to read but when i see her again i

always find out, that she didnt even touch them......

Thanks a lot

carinara

[potsgirl]

Carinara,

Thank you so much for posting about this topic. I know some people on the Forum have had this done, but I think the majority of us are wondering about it and interested perhaps in having this testing done. While I have not had this test, I would love to do it. I'm going to ask my cardio to refer me to an endocrinologist and ask about it. If you do it, please let us know more about it. Sorry I can't be more helpful at this time, but best of luck to you!

Cheers,

Jana

By the way, most of my relatives are back in Germany and Switzerland....

[maggie]

I have had this test done and it is very easy. The place I had it done was the University of Louisville School of Medicine. If you go to the web site www.pgxlab.com you will get the information you need to get this testing done. I made the phone call in 07 and they listened to my symptoms and walked me through the process. You need a script from your doctor which you can down load right from your computer which I did. I went that day to my doctor got it signed and then preceeded. They would like to work with a blood sample but I couldn't get any lab here in Florida to send blood over state lines. With that they sent me overnight a mouth swab and I did the mouth swab and then overnighted it back. In five days I had my results. I really didn't understand the report so I gave the doctor I was working with a call and she explain throughly the whole lab result. The results my from test is that I have a liver enzyme deficiency,CYP 2D6 *3/*9. There are different levels of deficiency mine is on the lowest end of intermediate metabolizer. The doctor worked with me to really define this for me. I took a med and then I reported back to her the reaction which came back making me very ill on a very low dose med. She then stated I needed to stay away from any drug on the list they sent me in my report. Any med that goes through that enzyme I can't take. This lab only does pharmaceutical drugs so the doctor told me to be very careful with herbals. If they go through that enzyme I would have problems. I can't state clearly enough how much this place has helped me. If a doctor wants to try a new med all I do is call the doctor and she tells me if I can handle the drug or not. It has taken all the guess work out of what meds I can take and what I can't. I must tell you since this is so new many doctors don't listen to this. If a doctor won't I know I'm in the wrong place. My neuro had never heard of it and when I brought him the copy he imediately got out his palm pilot and entered the drugs on the list, they all went through that enzyme, he now is a believer in this testing. There is a phone number on the web site they will talk to you and help you. I hope this message helps those of you out there who are suffering just as I was from being given so many drugs I just couldn't take, and now I have the proof!

Maggie