Pharmacogenetic testing & alzheimer patient anxiety

Hwood

Is there anyone out there that has looked into or tried Pharmacogenetic testing to determined the best medication for their loved ones’ anxiety?

M1

Welcome to the forum. I am familiar with the concept and promotion of these tests (I'm an internist) but have to tell you that this is unproven technology. The test purports to predict what drugs might work best based on profiling what isotypes of metabolic enzymes are present, but it is completely unproven and does not necessarily correlate with actual clinical results. Unfortunately it still comes down to trial and error. Such testing is usually not covered by insurance and the results are not considered by managed care programs (for instance, a pharmacogenetic test recommending a new very expensive drug will not overrule a drug benefit program that prefers that an older or generic drug be tried first).

I personally wouldn't spend the money. We all have way too many enzymes to make this a reliable test at present.

harshedbuzz

@Hwood

I know of a few parents in my local parents of adults with special needs group who have used GeneSight. Medicaid has covered it for many of them and I understand that traditional Medicare does as well. Anecdotally, many who report using it swear by it.

Insurance | GeneSight

I have not used it for anyone in my family but have relied on an experience developmental pedi, geri psych and general psychiatrist to prescribe. I've only had one situation where we trialed something for DS that was a bust; it was obvious very quickly, so we were able to just discontinue it. Dad's geri psych created a terrific cocktail for him that dialed back anxiety and the agitation it triggered without sedation and without genetic testing.

HB