DNA test to help with medication selection?

clarinetist

Just got a call from a nurse at my husband’s geriatrician’s office. She was telling me about a new program they have for their dementia patients. One service they offer is DNA testing to see which medications and what dosages might be most efficacious. This would be very useful in trying to find the right medication to address my husband’s agitation and aggression issues.

However, I’ve never heard of this before and was wondering if anyone here knows anything about this. Does it work and is it helpful? Thanks for any enlightenment you can provide!

allit

i haven't heard of this yet. but i would like to know more about the genetic testing and which medications would be addressed by the testing.

M1

these panels are available but are unproven and generally not covered by insurance.. They basically assess metabolic enzymes, but there is no proven correlation with efficacy of any drug. The problem is that there are so many metabolic pathways that it’s impossible to know which are the most important, and their contribution to drug metabolism also varies depending on what other medications and supplements the person might be taking. I personally never used these and wouldn’t recommend them. Again, no proof in any circumstance that they improve outcome over trial and error alone.

jfkoc

never heard of this being done….

Dio

Just my gut reaction…another way to get more money from the yearning-for-solution PWD. DNA testing is not covered by insurance. Is this program some sort of trial/test that's free to participants?

terei

Agree with Dio. I would be agreeable to the concept as long as there was no out of pocket expense.

clarinetist

Thanks everyone. I wondered because I’d never heard of this testing. I’m sure my insurance wouldn’t cover it. I’ll take a pass on it.

harshedbuzz

@clarinetist

I know people who have done this kind of testing for their children with autism and extreme behaviors. Some swear by it. I have a friend whose son (bipolar/ASD) did the testing after having a very rare side effects (priapism of all things) from Risperdal. She feels the testing helped avoid extensive trialing of various meds but admits maybe they got lucky.

HB

clarinetist

thanks, HB, for the info!