cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/3731915

Over the past 2 decades I’ve been trying various medications to help me w/ my long running major depression & crippling ADHD. And none have seemed to work.

Recently, the doctor I’m working w/ nowadays suggested that she’s practically running out of options to offer me & that I should take a pharmacogenetics test to help her figure out what should she prescribe.

I took the (expensive) test and the results were eye-opening! The results came out a couple of weeks later w/ a detailed list of some few hundreds medications of various sorts (from pain killers to blood pressure control) along w/ their efficacy for my case. The physician’s version also included a list of suggestions and alternatives for each medicine.

In my particular case, it essentially indicated that any medication that I had tried before was supposed to be either useless or to have limited impact on my body. That part is true.

Please note that I’ve only started a new set of prescriptions since a couple of weeks ago and as such can’t really vouch for the accuracy of the suggestions.

I struggled a lot w/ myself to post something this personal. But I thought maybe there are people out there who’ve got no idea such tests exist and it might turn out to be helpful to some.

  • @reedbend@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    2•9 months ago

    A few years back during a grueling med search I pestered my shrink for a CYP2D6 genetic test and sure enough I’m a non-metabolizer … it’s played into a number of med decisions since then.

  • @NightAuthor@beehaw.orgEnglish
    2•9 months ago

    So what drugs had you tried, and what are you taking now?

    Also, how expensive was the test?

    For me, adderall helps, but I don’t know how much I should expect from a drug and how much I just have to get better habits. Plus, adderall is short acting, and I’d like to use one of the round-the-clock options if they’d work for me. Obviously, it’s preferable to not spend a long time figuring out which other options might also work for me.

    • bahmanmOP
      3•9 months ago

      Oh and it cost me around $600 which is not covered by insuranoe.

    • bahmanmOPEnglish
      3•9 months ago

      For ADHD in particular, I’ve tried Adderall/Vivance, Ritalin/Concerta, Atomextetin and couple of others whose name I forgot.

      Based on the suggestions of the report I have started taking Guanfacine/Intuniv.

    • @apis@beehaw.orgEnglish
      3•9 months ago

      Deleted reply by mistake…

      Useful for anyone struggling to find meds which work, for any condition.

      Here’s hoping the cost of these tests drops enough that they can be run by default on any patient who has yet to be tested.

      Maybe the data will eventually permit custom meds to be printed, but for now just happy you & your prescriber have clearer information to work with.

  • @reedbend@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    1•6 months ago

    Thank you for posting something this personal. These communities (as a former reddit user) have been incredibly helpful to me thru stories just like this. If we can get them self-sustaining on Lemmy they will help a lot of others.

    Back to topic, I’ve not done an extensive pharmacogenetic test, but I did take one to confirm that I’m a CYP2D6 poor metabolizer, which has a huge effect on function of something like 25% of all drugs in existence! It’s definitely informed my treatment since getting that information.

    Edit: haha, speaking of ADHD I left a shorter version of this comment 2 months ago. the more the merrier…