Posted by Larry Hoover on November 17, 2004, at 22:31:00
In reply to How do I know IF I am a slow metabolizer?, posted by ZenTen on November 17, 2004, at 12:17:12
> Like many people here I am pretty refractory to most meds I have tried and have pretty wicked side-effects to most of them with few exceptions.
>
> Nortriptyline seems to help my depression just a bit--which I still really appreciate since most other meds don't do too much at all, and even make me more depressed!
>
> However, I can only seem to tolerate doses up to 25mgs. Anything even a little over that (say 40mgs) makes me have severe side -effects. Like heart pain, slow and fast pulse and bad sedation.
> Doses at 25mgs have almost no side-effects at all though? I plan to continue ont this amount.
>
> How can I tell if I am a slow metabolizer? Maybe I have therapuetic doses with only 25mgs? I know they can pull a blood-level but can they test in general,to see if you are a slow metabolizer?I am not advocating this process, as I do not know just how accurate it is, but there are companies which claim to assess your enzyme activity levels. An example is http://www.healthanddna.com/drugreactiontest.html
The drug reaction panel is $600.There is also a "laboratory in a chip" marketed by Roche that does virtually instant testing of two enzymes: http://www.roche-diagnostics.com/products_services/amplichip_cyp450.html
It is approved in Europe, but only used for research purposes in the USA.One fairly common manifestation of poor metabolism is at the 2D6 enzyme. If you're a poor metabolizer there, you will get little pain relief from codeine, for example, but you'll get all the side effects. If you're a fast metabolizer, codeine makes you quite high. Sometimes you can get clues about your metabolism from the drugs that have failed you. You can look up the enzymes that work with different drugs at this site: http://www.edhayes.com/startp450.html
You might be able to figure it out for yourself.Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:417092
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041113/msgs/417232.html