IF we had known about GeneSight a year ago, our family could have been saved from a lot of emotional pain and financial strain. Maybe this post will save your family from that kind of pain.
We had a family member who had not one, but two adverse reactions to different anti-depressants and now that they have taken this test, we know which additional medications to avoid and/or try. This family member avoided medication for as long as possible, years...trying counseling, diet, exercise, and environmental changes to deal with severe anxiety and depression.
When this family member finally wasn't functioning at all (going to school or work), she tried a very commonly used anti-depressant...Prozac which had worked for a few other family members in the past and she got worse, and worse, and then scary worse. Agitated, having super scary thoughts. All those "Black Box" warnings you may have heard about. The hard-to-access prescriber of this medication finally took her off of the medication and tried something a different one, Zoloft...that helped a little bit after the Prozac but brought back to the many daily struggles experienced previously.
When the doctor attempted to increase the dosage, the same agitation and suicidal thoughts and even an attempt occurred. I've posted pictures that show the easy to understand "Traffic Light" method they share the information. In particular, you can see under the red and yellow lights meaning "Do not use, or use with caution."
When the doctor attempted to increase the dosage, the same agitation and suicidal thoughts and even an attempt occurred. I've posted pictures that show the easy to understand "Traffic Light" method they share the information. In particular, you can see under the red and yellow lights meaning "Do not use, or use with caution."
IF ONLY, we had known about this test....that costs about $400 (totally worth it as the family has more than spent the $14,000 deductible on counseling and hospitalizations) resulting in over $33,000 worth of medical bills for the year. We learned there are many common SSRI medications her body (for whatever reason) cannot metabolize and when she takes them her symptoms GET WORSE not better.
Our new doctor immediately had this family member take the GeneSight swab test and we received the results back electronically within one week. We learned there are several more medications that likely trigger similar reactions (called "activations" in the medical world) and many that will likely be helpful (or at least not harmful). IF you or a loved one is considering the use of an anti-depressant, I can't tell you how much I suggest taking this test before taking any medication. I sure wish our family had. There is risk involved in not taking care of our brain health too. Medication is so helpful to so many people and it's important not to underestimate or avoid psychiatric treatment...with this test, you can zero in on which medication will be helpful and which will be harmful. When you read this story, you will find that because of the Black Box warnings on SSRIs, many parents chose not to treat their children's psychiatric illnesses and the suicide rate, which had been going down, began to go up again. There are more options than SSRIs to treat depression and untreated depression and anxiety is no good either.
You may not save just your family from pain, but many other families from so much pain. Click here to read my blog post about psychiatric medication and mass shootings.
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