![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by gadu on June 25, 2009, at 19:40:17
Hi,
I've recently been advised to submit blood to a company in New Jersey called Vitamin Diagnostics for a "Blood Platelet Neurotransmitter Test."
The notion of a blood test being able to show me the levels of my various neurotransmitters sounds almost too good to be true. If this is actually a legit test, it seems like it would be the first step any psychiatrist would take with a new patient. Why didn't my doctor tell me to do this 10 years ago?
It all seems a little suspect, and the test isn't cheap. I'm wondering if there's anyone out there who has taken it and/or heard anything about it. Any info that could shed some helpful light on this test would greatly help me decide whether it's worth my time/effort/money to go through with it.
Thanks.
Posted by Phillipa on June 25, 2009, at 19:52:17
In reply to Neurotransmitter Test Legit??, posted by gadu on June 25, 2009, at 19:40:17
I was told the same thing. Don't know if legit or not. Phillipa
Posted by nomdeprune on June 25, 2009, at 21:32:17
In reply to Re: Neurotransmitter Test Legit?? » gadu, posted by Phillipa on June 25, 2009, at 19:52:17
I'm not sure how useful this "blood platelet" NT analysis would be to a pdoc, as most neurotransmitters do not cross the blood-brain-barrier, including serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.
In other words, the measurement of serotonin from this blood test won't necessarily be correlated to the actual amount of serotonin available to your brain.
Posted by yxibow on June 26, 2009, at 4:01:48
In reply to Neurotransmitter Test Legit??, posted by gadu on June 25, 2009, at 19:40:17
Doubtful and references are mostly what I see in "alternative medication". Its a meaningless measurement.
Any real use of quantitative analysis of neurotransmitters is just not something that is ready for medical science yet.
Besides, since serotonin is mostly in the gut, that would also make it nearly useless to test.
The only FDA approved testing of certain issues related to metabolism of medication that I know of is the Amplichip, which has to do with certain P450 liver cytochrome metabolism, and isn't cheap either.
-- Jay
Posted by bleauberry on June 26, 2009, at 18:17:45
In reply to Neurotransmitter Test Legit??, posted by gadu on June 25, 2009, at 19:40:17
I took a similar test. The urine neurotransmitter test. Dopamine normal. Norepinephrine normal. Epinephrine elevated. Glutamate normal. Gaba elevated. Serotonin low.
Ok. Now, how useful is that to you? It really isn't. It raises more questions than answers.
The only tests that show what is in your brain and nervous system are brain biopsies and spinal taps. No one is going to do that obviously.
Ok. So the biggest thing with me was low serotonin. So, 5htp, St Johns Wort, SSRIs, and stuff like that, all look reasonable, right? Very wrong. With epinephrine so high, I definitely would not want a noradrenergic drug, right?
The serotonin stuff was all tried. They all made me much more depressed. Much worse. I mean, a lot worse. The norepinephrine stuff was much better.
So you can see, the tests are interesting but not useful. They don't show what is going on in the nervous system, they don't show anything else like receptor sensitivities, receptor densities, receptor damage, nothing.
I mean, you could have perfectly normal neurotransmitters but it is something else screwed up. And who knows what normal is? If it is a so called imbalance, who knows what the correct balance is?
The whole thing is also based on theory not fact. That is, that imbalanced levels of neurotransmitters cause mental illnesses. No one has yet provent that or even come close. All we know is that by exaggerating some of them well beyond normal levels, or by blocking some beyond what is normal, we can induce downstream adaptations in other things that somehow might improve mood if it is a lucky hit.
There are a lot of things in alternative medicine that are light years ahead of mainstream medicine, primarily because in the alternative field is where we find the experimenters, pioneers, and geniuses. In their journeys, in all kinds of illnesses, their gatherings of anecdotal evidence from thousands of patients rapidly over-rules clinical knowledge. There are also a lot of quacks and idiots. The neurotransmitter tests were born in the alternative fields, but I think it is destined to be one of their failures. As in all experimental fields, there are more failures than successes. But the successes are huge when they happen. And then a decade later, they become mainstream medicine. It is in its experimental stage right now. Time will tell.
I think for other types of disease where the amount of serotonin or adrenaline in the blood is a strong diagnostic tool, the tests have a purpose there. For psychiatry, not.
Posted by Alexanderfromdenmark on June 28, 2009, at 17:39:30
In reply to Neurotransmitter Test Legit??, posted by gadu on June 25, 2009, at 19:40:17
> Hi,
>
> I've recently been advised to submit blood to a company in New Jersey called Vitamin Diagnostics for a "Blood Platelet Neurotransmitter Test."
>
> The notion of a blood test being able to show me the levels of my various neurotransmitters sounds almost too good to be true. If this is actually a legit test, it seems like it would be the first step any psychiatrist would take with a new patient. Why didn't my doctor tell me to do this 10 years ago?
>
> It all seems a little suspect, and the test isn't cheap. I'm wondering if there's anyone out there who has taken it and/or heard anything about it. Any info that could shed some helpful light on this test would greatly help me decide whether it's worth my time/effort/money to go through with it.
>
> Thanks.
Sorry I don't think it will be usefull. Better of reading the questionarie's in Julia Ross "the mood cure". That dosn't mean you have to follow her advice with amino acids, but I find her explainations as to with which moods correlates to which neurotransmittesr quite interested.
Posted by rskontos on June 29, 2009, at 16:36:02
In reply to Re: Neurotransmitter Test Legit??, posted by Alexanderfromdenmark on June 28, 2009, at 17:39:30
I have had them several times and according to the endocrinologist I see it only indicates like I think Blue said that it is what is available not whether or not your body is using it correctly and is balanced. in the process.
I have had it done twice and I can't see a real purpose outside of prescribing supplements etc to try and balance. When I did just that other transmittors got out of whack including hormones that orginially on the first test were ok. I actually feel better now not taking all the supplements. I did not stop all of them just those specific to serotonin which has improved from what I don't know. Again if the test is to be believed.
Some docs believe the test is legit some don't.
I doubt I will continue to have any more.
rsk
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.