Testing Archives - Page 2 of 2 - everywomanover29 blog

This is a 1-day professional training being held in Berkeley, CA on January 24, 2015: An Overview of Organic Acids Testing and Why it is so Important

Hundreds of organic acid metabolites are found in the urine of all mammals including humans. These metabolites can be used for both diagnostic and therapeutic measurements for: detecting abnormal gastrointestinal overgrowth or dysbiosis, assessing mitochondrial energy production, detecting genetic diseases, assessing malnutrition and suboptimum nutrition, revealing toxic exposure, finding alterations of neurotransmitter metabolites in neurological and psychiatric disorders, and assessing metabolites that cause severe inflammation in a variety of chronic illnesses.

The Interrelationship between Chronic Yeast and Various Issues

The OAT evaluates for various fungal toxins, including specific markers for Candida. Many people rely on stool testing for Candida diagnosis and miss the presence of Candida toxins through the Organic Acid Test. Candida can lead to neurochemical imbalances in the brain, as well as sensory problems and self-stimulatory behavior (often seen in autism).

The Interrelationship between Clostridia and Various Health Issues

The OAT evaluates for two specific toxins related to Clostridia bacteria – HPHPA and 4-cresol. Both of these toxins can inhibit a dopamine converting enzyme, leading to excess dopamine and toxic reactions in the brain and nervous system. Problems such as moodiness, irritability, aggression, self-injurious behavior, sleep difficulties and more can be associated with Clostridia bacteria overgrowth.

Correlating Oxalate Problems

The OAT includes glycolic and glyceric acids in the oxalate section, which can differentiate between genetic and nutritional components in disturbed oxalate metabolism. Oxalates are compounds found in many foods, and can be worsened from Candida overgrowth. High oxalates are associated with pain in the joints, muscles, and connective tissues. They can also trap heavy metals (such as mercury, lead, and arsenic) in the body and lead to mineral imbalances. Certain behavioral issues and self-injurious tendencies have been associated with high oxalates.

Organic Acids Testing and Neurochemical Imbalances

The OAT evaluates for imbalances in serotonin (an important brain chemical for mood, fine and gross motor skills, and calmness), as well additional markers that can indicate toxic stress in the brain and nervous system, such as Quinolinic Acid. High Quinolinic Acid suggests toxic stress in the brain and is important to evaluate before prescribing certain supplements, particularly L-Tryptophan which is commonly used to help with sleep.

Case Studies

This presentation will highlight various patient cases from clinical practice that show the role of biomedical intervention for various patient scenarios such as dietary therapy, yeast and Clostridia treatment, and methylation support.

All of the above, together with start and end times, and breaks can be found here on the presentation schedule page

Presenter: Kurt N. Woeller, D.O., has been an integrative medicine physician and biomedical autism specialist for 15+ years. He is an author of several health books including “Autism – The Road To Recovery,” “Methyl-B12 Therapy For Autism,” “Methyl-B12 for Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia,” and “5 Things You MUST Do Right Now To Help With Your Rheumatoid Arthritis.” He is a lecturer (United States and International), educator and experienced clinician offering specialized treatment and testing for individuals with complex medical conditions such as Autism-Spectrum Disorders, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Mental Health Disorders, Multiple Sclerosis and other chronic health conditions.

I’m sharing this training on behalf of Dr. Kat Toups, M.D., Distinguished Fellow APA, Functional Medicine Psychiatry, BayAreaWellness.net

Dr. Toups shared this with me and I would suggest you call Great Plains Lab if you are unsure whether you are eligible to order testing:

This includes a free test kit. My understanding about the free test kits at the Organic Acid Testing conference is that they are available for anyone licensed to order testing. You do not have to be a Physician. Their website says the following: “Please note that to receive the FREE Organic Acids Test practitioners must be qualified as MD, DO, NP, NMD, DC, PsyD, PA, LAc or otherwise have the authority to order laboratory testing. Other healthcare practitioners will receive a voucher for 50% off one Organic Acids Test.

The pricing will increase by $40 on 12/22/14, so please register as early as possible to allow time to receive your OAT kit, complete it, mail back and get results before the conference. Things may get a little backed up around the holidays.

For those of you new to Organic Acid Testing, you can also request a complimentary consult at Great Plains once you receive your results. They will go over them with you.

Location details are here

lab

I am often asked about urinary neurotransmitter testing and often a new client will come in with results from a test she/he has had done. I would like to share my thoughts on this rather controversial subject and say that I am not a fan and do not ever use this test. Let’s take a deeper dive into this topic.

The question

Here is a question I received right after the Anxiety Summit:

I have had good results using urinary neurotransmitter testing and targeted amino acid therapy and bioidentical hormones. I am able to see if all levels are low, indicating low stomach acid. I am also able to see if histamine or glutamate are high, indicating food hypersensitivities. I also use the levels for balancing and replacing. I know that Julia Ross is opposed to testing. What is your opinion and what did your other speakers [on the Anxiety Summit] say about this topic?

This is my answer:
I am very pleased that this person sees good results using urinary neurotransmitter testing and targeted amino acid therapy.

Why I am not in favor of this testing

However, I am not in favor of this testing for a few reasons:

1) Julia Ross is not in favor of it and having worked with her in her clinic for 2 years I respect her professional opinion and the results she saw when urinary neurotransmitter results didn’t correlate with amino acid questionnaire and trials of amino acids. Julia wrote a great article on this topic for the Townsend Letter and you can access this via the anxiety summit blog for her interview

2) Since leaving the clinic and starting my own practice, I’ve worked with folks who come in with urinary neurotransmitter test results that don’t always with correlate with amino acid questionnaire and trials of the amino acids. But I will be the first to admit that I have not done a thorough analysis of where they haven’t correlated simply because it didn’t seem worth my time.

3) I have heard some rather unpleasant stories from people who have had the urinary neurotransmitter testing done and have been given supplement recommendations based on the results. I just received an email recently from someone who said this:

I was doing xyz’s program last year and the aminos recommended based on urine neurotransmitter testing nearly sent me over the edge with extreme anxiety, insomnia and panic attacks. He had me take 300mg 5-HTP and 3000mg tyrosine a day, based on test results.

We know that anyone can have a bad reaction to supplements. But let me comment on this example: 5-HTP can raise cortisol and be stimulating for some people so it’s not something I recommend for everyone with low serotonin symptoms; 3000mg tyrosine a day is not excessive (1-2 x 500mg , 3 times a day is often typical) BUT will be too much if you don’t need it and can cause anxiety and insomnia.

Low stomach acid and food hypersensitivities?

I’d like to also comment on two other parts of this question:

“I am able to see if all levels are low, indicating low stomach acid.” I have not heard this correlation and would use other labs markers for low stomach acid – like total protein, globulin etc – and the person’s response to a HCl trial.

“I am also able to see if histamine or glutamate are high, indicating food hypersensitivities.” I have also not heard of this correlation and would use an IgG test and food elimination and challenge to help figure out if someone has food sensitivities.

What do other speakers think?

It was also asked what other speakers on the Anxiety Summit said about this topic:

Other than Julia Ross, the only person who mentioned urinary neurotransmitter testing briefly was Dr. Anna Cabeca and we didn’t go deeper into the topic.

I did email Dr. Kelly Brogan and she said

I actually don’t use them. Occasionally I do serum amino acid testing (ION panel) but don’t feel that the science is there to support urinary neurotransmitter testing and feel that the reductionism around amino acids and behavioral translation is not consistent with my perspective and not needed for the outcomes I get.

If you listened to our interview on the Anxiety Summit, you’ll remember that Kelly doesn’t feel that low serotonin is a factor in anxiety and depression.

I will be following up with some of the other speakers like Josh Friedman, Hyla Cass, Amy Day and Corey Schuler.

What do Dr Weil and Nora Gedgaudas think?

I’d like to share some perspectives from a few others:

On Dr. Andrew Weil’s site

I checked with David Perlmutter, M.D., a neurologist colleague in Florida, about the accuracy of urine testing for neurotransmitters. He told me that neurotransmitters and their precursors are produced in abundance throughout the body and to assume that what is collected in the urine reflects what’s going on in the brain is a stretch.

Unfortunately Dr. Weil goes on to discredit salivary cortisol testing which has plenty of research supporting how effective it is!

Nora Gedgaudas, author of Primal Body Primal Mind states this on her site:

I have considered the urinary testing approach and was even enamored of the concept at first. Once I looked into the idea more closely, though, it just didn’t add up for me. I have been using amino acids now to address issues of mood, health and cognitive functioning for over 20 years. I have never used anything other than mood/symptomatic screening to guide amino acid supplementation. Results tend to be uniformly good to excellent. The sheer overwhelming complexity of amino acid/neurotransmitter activity in the human body/brain-and the compartmentalized nature of the biochemistry of each seems to best lend itself to a more functional and symptom-related evaluation. Lab testing simply falls short of the mark here.

I could not agree more with Nora’s comments. These are my exact thoughts. Here is the amino acids mood questionnaire I use with my clients. Based on symptoms we do amino acid trials and based on their response (which can happen as quickly as 5 minutes) we know if we’re on the right track.

I’ll be the first to say we don’t always have all the research to support what we do in the nutritional/integrative world and do agree that testing is extremely valuable but in this case I do not recommend urinary neurotransmitter testing as it does fall short in terms of accuracy and consistency.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences. Have you been tested and had good results? Bad results? Are you a health practitioner and say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to this testing?

Organic Acids Testing by Great Plains Lab

Urinary neurotransmitter testing falls short