All blog posts from Dr. Allott are provided for educational and informational purposes only. As Dr. Allott is also a licensed medical practitioner, we must make it clear that nothing on the blog is intended to constitute medical advice, consultation, recommendation, diagnosis, or treatment. If you are concerned about your health, please seek appropriate care in your area.

Pharmacogenetics Testing

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In case you have not met pharmacogenetics testing, may I introduce you? It is a testing tool that takes the guesswork out of prescribing medicines and their appropriate dosages for individual patients.

The screening tool will indicate which medications the patient’s liver can successfully process. A patient with a slow metabolizing liver will need a smaller dosage to successfully reach a therapeutic window; fast metabolizing livers will need larger dosages of medication to reach the therapeutic window. The types of medications and conditions that the genetic information can impact are medications for depression, anxiety, elevated cholesterol, blood thinners (especially warfarin), and cancer.

I’m interested in spreading the word about pharmacogenetics testing and its possibilities because of its power to reduce adverse drug reactions. Approximately 30% of the people I’m seeing in my office these days have spent more than a year trying out various medicines in order to find the most effective ones for treating their symptoms. These searches can be impossibly long and unsuccessful. Pharmacogenetics testing can dramatically shorten the search times for the “just-right” medications and can help prevent adverse drug reactions.

Some of my clients are suffering from unnecessary side effects caused by over-medication. The test can aid in recommending appropriate dosage. Finally, pharmacogenetics testing can predict conflicting side effects, when these types of medications are used in combination with other prescriptions.

A 55-year old executive with depression tried out most available antidepressants over a period of three years. He felt extremely frustrated and declared: “I just can’t—no, I won’t continue using those medications.” He experienced being “physically uncomfortable, clumsy, and mentally foggy.”

The pharmacogenetics testing revealed that he had a slow metabolizing liver. Therefore, for success, he needed to be taking much smaller medication doses. Making those adjustments can be handled fairly painlessly and quickly.

The people who should consider pharmacogenetics testing are individuals who have had adverse reactions to medications and/or who have not had good success treating mental health conditions despite multiple attempts.

In your areas around the country, ask providers near you if they do pharmacogenetics testing. Or inquire if the provider knows anyone that does this type of testing.

The procedure is very simple: a doctor swabs the inside of patient’s cheeks and sends the swabs to a lab for genetic testing. Depending on the patient’s insurance, the screening may cost 0-$400 dollars. Medicare actually pays for the screening because it has been shown to be a cost reducer. It is certainly worth investigating if it provides life-long data that will benefit you and/or your patients.