Low Serotonin And Dopimin Test Results. Help?

[looneymom]

My son was retested to see if these levels had come up. Dopimine levels are at 0 and Serotonin is at 21 but starting range is 81. He is already taking zoloft and an amino acid supplement. His meals are balanced but still not getting these levels up. Any suggestions? What type of doctor could help us with this problem?

[kclynn]

I don't have any helpful answers but am wondering who did your son's tests for this (what kind of Dr.)? My son hasn't ever had these tested, nor cortisol or anything else.

Thanks

[looneymom]

My son still complains of alot of pain all over kc. Our family doctor ran the test again for our cardiologist to see if these levels would come up. My son has been on an amino acid supplement since the first of April. The big improvement is that he is able to sit up and walk now. He has not went back to being bedridden. Thank goodness but the pain is still present along with shaking and tremors. The dopamine has stayed the same but the other came up only 5 points. Our family doctor and cardiologist think these low levels may be causing the pain, shaking and termors in his legs. He has been checked for fibromalagia with a blood test but is was negative. His cortisol has been checked and it was low. But since he was only 11 when the test was run, doctors would not do anything. In the last few weeks, I have seen signs of puberty, which is not helping with POTS symptoms. We just saw our cardiologist a week ago and he has recommended a new protein shake to see if this will raise his levels. He also told us that puberty can have a huge effect on POTS and to get ready for a rollar coaster ride.

[ramakentesh]

Did they explain why they are so low?

Might be a huge jump here but there was a paper that suggested NET inhibition resulted in upregulation of DAT and SERT

[looneymom]

Our cardiologist is not sure. He has talked to someone at Vanderbelt. Our son is drinking a protein shake three times a day that is high in amino acids. I'm wondering if it's a metabolizing or defiency problem of some sort. My son has less fatigue and is functioning better throughout the day since he started the shake. Is there a link to this paper online?

[ramakentesh]

http://sciencealerts.com/stories/1567695/Norepinephrine_transporter_NET_knockout_upregulates_dopamine_and_serotonin_transporters_in_the_mouse_brain.html

more transporter might mean less neurotransmitters

[looneymom]

Thanks for the link. I will get this to our doctor.

[Foggy01]

I hope your son is doing better. Forgive me if this is a bit off topic though but where can you have these tests done? Ive heard of catecholamines like norepinephrine and epinephrine being measured (although never had these done myself) but how does one get serotonin and dopamine measured? Is this standard cardiological practise? What disorders does it test for exactly? What does low serum levels mean for the cardiovascular syst exactly? I never really heard about anything like this before. All the best to your son.

[looneymom]

Both of these can be measured through a blood test. However dopamine can be measured through a 24 hour urine test. Before my son was diagnoised with POTS, he was seen by a natural/neuropath doctor that identified this through a saliva lab test. This test can be purchased online. Sad to say but many of our doctors would not acknowledge the test. My son went from being able to sit up to laying on a matress and rolling in pain all day long. At that time all I had was a cardilolgist to treat POTS and had never seen this happen before. I showed him this test and asked him about dopamine levels and parkinson's disease. That's when he ordered the first blood test and it showed that his body was not making dopamine at all and his serotonin was way below level. This is not a problem that cardiologist usually deal with but after seeing videos, he knew he had to try and figure out something. He did send my son a to neurologist, who did a spinal tap and it did veify that everything was way below normal. The neurologist did not know what to do with this either but she has been helpful treating his vocal tic.Our cardiologist has talked to doctors out at Vanderbelt Clinic. They are doing research there and from my understanding it will affect the nervous system. My son is on a shake that is loaded with amino acids. Amino acids are the building block to making dopamine and serotonin. My son will be having another test the end of February to see if the shake is helping. At this time the shake has helped his fatigue level and his is thinking much clearer. It's easier for him to last through 6 hours of online schooling. However, he stills has tremors and shaking from hips down. Google low dopimine and serotoin levels, There's lots of information. Hope this helps.

[Foggy01]

Im so sorry to hear about what he's going through. That sounds unbelievably scary but Im glad the doctors actually figured out what was wrong and that the shake is making him a bit better. God bless and good luck. I hope Vanderbilt can shed more light on these sort of problems soon. I never had heard of such a problem before and I thought Id heard a lot. God bless.