HOUSTON - Personalized medicine has shown a lot of promise in traditional health care. Now, it's reaching out to psychiatry. For mental health patients, getting the right drug can be a long and painful journey of trial and error. Could a simple genetic test avoid all that?
It did for Ronni Shapiro. When Ronni got married, it was arguably the happiest day of her life. The couple raised 2 sons and spent decades together, before a divorce. She says, “I was married almost 30 years. It just pulled the rug out from under me.”
Ronni, who lives in Long Island, says the “horrific divorce” triggered depression and suicidal thoughts so severe, she was checked into a psychiatric facility.
Ronni says, “In a very short time I was prescribed nine different medications that had nine different side effects that were horrible. There were drugs that made me gain 10 lbs. and the following drug I couldn’t get out of bed and the drug after that, literally a week later, I would lose 15 lbs.”
After 4 years of different medical professionals and trial and error, a nurse suggested gene testing.
It takes one swab, one minute for each cheek. The swabs are then mailed to a lab.
Houston psychiatrist Dr. Jonathan Stevens is an assistant professor with Baylor and clinical director of outpatient services at Menninger Clinic which offers the Genomind test.
Dr. Stevens says, “There are 30 anti-depressants on the market right now. That can be overwhelming.” He sees genetic testing as a way to cut through the uncertainties and offer more targeted care.
Ronni had her test done with Genesight. Ronni says, “I was shocked to see that the nine drugs I was put on by the psycho pharmacologist were all in the will not work column.”
What did her Genesight test show? It showed Ronni needed another drug to help her existing medications hit her receptor sites.
Ronni explains, “They call it a pusher drug. Due to that drug and within seven days, I was a totally different person. I could laugh again. I could smile. I had hope.”
With Medicaid and Medicare, the test can be free. With insurance, it costs about 300 dollars. Without insurance, it can cost thousands of dollars. There are other expenses to consider. Dr. Stevens says, “What about the years when you’re not working, or not working to your peak performance. The time your note devoting to potentially your family or if you are in and out of a hospital. That has a much higher cost in my experience.”
This is a relatively new field and critics point out other things besides your genetic make-up affect drug metabolization. Those include age, ethnicity, other drugs (prescription or recreational) you have used or are using.
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