Posted by blueberry1 on December 14, 2006, at 15:22:27
In reply to Ruling out medical causes of depression, posted by saturn on December 14, 2006, at 12:00:13
Yeah, I think they fail quite a bit in terms of testing. Testing could give some clues before even beginning treatment. And even if there was nothing abnormal found, at least they would have some baseline numbers to compare to at some point in the future. And by addressing any abnormalities at the beginning of treatment, medication doses could potentially be kept lower.
I think there should be a system in the whole scheme of things to have the patient go the very next day to have things like thyroid (TSH and free T3 and free T4), things like magnesium, calcium and selenium, toxic things like mercury, cadmium, lead, too much copper, B and D vitamins, is the person over-methylated or undermethylated, histimine high or low, cortisol, prolactin. It would obviously be expensive, but has the potential to be a huge benefit to the patient and possibly save years of suffering through trial and error. But of course, then the doctor would actually have to think. Not to say they don't, but I believe they have the scientific ability to make much more educated guesses than they presently do.
poster:blueberry1
thread:713602
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061212/msgs/713660.html