[DiMarie]

My daughter had some side effects from the meds, starting with Prozac and them side effects of weight gain and dry mouth. But the worse was finding something to stabilize the moods for anxiety panic, her OCD would make her mind go into hyper speed.

After they did a mouth swab for this test we had a list of 100 meds plus that show, good for her metabolism, poor because it is slow to metabolize or bad because she doesn't metabolize that medication.

Her medication was changed and she is much, much better. I often wonder why doctors don't order this when balancing meds and patient genotypes. http://www.iversongenetics.com/dme-genotype.html

Testing can be important for medications prescribed to treat even the most common conditions:

• Mental Health conditions
• Post MI Surgery
• Acid Reflux
• Cancer
• Organ Transplant
• Pregnancy
• Heart Failure
• High Blood Pressure
• Migraine Headaches
• Peptic Ulcer
• High Cholesterol
• Enlarged Prostate
• Asthma/COPD
• Depression

Does Insurance
Cover the DME Panel?
Medicare, Tricare and VA have covered the cost of testing when a physician judges it medically necessary. Private insurers cover the cost of testing for some patients. The main reason for private insurance denials is that genetic testing in general is not covered. However, your patient can check with the insurer if cost is a concern.

[OhKay]

I'm so glad that your daughter's doctors performed this test and were able to prescribe meds that worked better for her with less side effects.
It seems like this test would be especially helpful for people who take multiple drugs because it's hard to tell which drugs are causing us problems when we're taking more than one.

Unfortunately, I think this testing is lightyears ahead of most medical care…

I could barely brush my teeth for 3 months and it took until I got to the point where I could barely stand up before I (remembered to) put my foot down and demanded my pdoc run a lithium level on me. My lithium level was so high, no exaggeration, I'm lucky I wasn't in a coma.

Unfortunately, I don't see most doctors taking the time to order this test and going through the process of tailoring specific drugs to patients based on the results any time soon.

[bizi]

I believe this is the genetic testing that the alcohol abuse program wants to run on me if I join the program. They are the only facility that runs the test. It only costs like $200 (maybe not the same tests??)and I asked if they could run it for me without being in the program...they would not do that. rats.
I am trying to see if my pdoc would prescribe naltrexone for me, I would see her more frequently and see a therapist more frequently...even so this would be a lot cheaper than going thru their program.
Will find out this week.She is not happy that I started drinking again....sigh
Doesn't she realize that it IS VERY common to have a dual diagnosis??????
bizi

[DiMarie]

Bizi it may be the same test, I think that is what they told us for the cost. Because it was to stabilize her meds and would prevent the incorrect ones being used, and wasting money and her health on those, her medical paid for it. If there is a mental health use they will pay.

The testing results are 8 pages long and cover so many types of medication, I wish it had been brought up years ago because the prozac that is the go to med she was on for 3 years was being broken down too fast and when they upped it she had side effects.

The one she is on now is working well, instead of anxiety it covers the OCD thoughts and other things, the doctor said she using it on her little ol ladies. Trying to get away from the side effects she has of SSRI's more to SSNR I think she said.

After the fourth med now, I am not even sure where we are at, but it is working much better. There were some vivid dreams but not scary ones and once she had been on for 4 weeks and worked up slower they went away,
I'll look at the name, it is a genotype testing.
di

[OhKay]

Originally Posted by DiMarie

The one she is on now is working well, instead of anxiety it covers the OCD thoughts and other things, the doctor said she using it on her little ol ladies. Trying to get away from the side effects she has of SSRI's more to SSNR I think she said.

Those thoughts can be terrible, and so hard to control… I'm so glad that she's on something that helps and doesn't have a lot of s/e.

It sounds like your daughter is getting excellent care right now Di

[DiMarie]

Ugh, side effects on the Brintellix, on the 5 mg she was fine, a week into this and weird side effect, itching. It is more then itching, if she gets overly warm, exerts herself, the room becomes warm she feels like fire ants are eating at her skin on her back. From the neck to her low waist it will only calm down if she goes out in the snow and frigid temps.

It was reduced to 5mg again after a day or so breather. It is helping her, but the 5 mg isn't as helpful and the 10 mg side effect is too much for her. Her aqua therapy PT this week had to cancelled because of the overly warm room and heated pool.

Going to get through the weekend with the 5 mg til Monday and call back again. It is a shame because it was working well and no clue what to go to next. I have to look at her enzyne test and see which were recommended.
She went off Lexapro because of crazy weight gain. 40 lbs in 14 months.
No diet change or less activity???

[bizi]

hi di,
am sorry she is going thru this. 40 pound weight gain in14 months how crazy is that!
((((HUGS))))
bizi