Yasko, 23andme, Genetic Genie - Question

[mama2alex]

We did Yasko's genetic testing on my ds several years ago, did the methylation support for a while, then stopped because the number of supps was overwhelming. Recently the doctor has put him back on methylation supps, but I have a nagging feeling that he's on the wrong ones, wrong dose or we're missing something. He has been very moody and defiant, and often downright mean lately - after being very sweet for some months. It could be something else, but I'm suspicious of the methylation supplements and want to be 100% sure we're doing the right thing in that area. I am just starting to read recommended articles and try to figure this all out for myself.

 

I'm wondering if I can use Genetic Genie or something similar with Yasko results, or whether we need to run 23andme on my son.

 

Any help would be much appreciated! I am still dealing with some brain fog, but it's better than this past winter when I could barely think at all, so I am (hopefully) ready to tackle this!

[LNN]

No, you don't need to run 23andMe or Genetic Genie if you have Yasko's results. Genetic Genie takes 23andMe, runs them thru some sort of query report to pull out the 30 or snps Yasko writes about, and then puts those snp results into a table that looks just like Yasko's report (minus 2 snps Yasko tests for that 23andMe doesn't - SUOX and NOS). So you're already where you need to be to get started.

 

Take your Yasko results and use this to interpret: http://www.heartfixer.com/AMRI-Nutrigenomics.htm (scroll down - there are 50 pages of text below the diagram). I copy the whole thing into a word doc, then delete the genes that don't apply to me and delete the recipes, fluffy stuff at the end... I then have a 20 page doc that only talks about the snps I have mutations on. From there, you can write notes in the margins, highlight the "take this but not that" suggestions, and try to figure out if overall, you're an over or undermethylator, which tells you what form of B12 you should use, whether you should use a lot of niacin (a methyl taker that helps if you're an overmethylator) or supps that are methyl donors (e.g. methylB12).

 

Hope that helps.

[pr40]

supplements may be correct. I mean, methylation is not the only process that needs to be taken care of. growth of yeast and bacteria might need taking care of as well. While our kids were on abx, methylation supps, and probiotics, they still had issues. We saw marked improvement in mood and irritability when we added Oregon Grape and Saccharomyces Boulardii.

Our kids are on wheat, dairy, and sugar free diet as well. they have a lot of exercise and outside time every day.

I would not expect that methylation supps alone would take care of symptoms.

[mama2alex]

LLM - Thanks!! I realize you've given these instructions a number of time to various forum members, but I really appreciate you repeating yourself for my benefit!

Now that I'm sorting through the Heartfixer document and trying to decide what to delete, I've hit on another question. On my son's Yasko report, some genes, such as BHMT, COMT, MTRR and ACAT list the result as "To Be Determined" and there is a column labeled "Call" under which there is either a letter (C, A, G, or T) or the word "Hetero." Any idea what this all means? I've sent an email to the person who emailed me the report also.

Edited September 12, 2013 by mama2alex

[mama2alex]

We have and continue to cover a lot of ground over the last 4+ years of dealing with PANS. We're treating viruses, Lyme still, yeast, using probiotics, and we've treated mold (but have more of that protocol to do). Many things have improved significantly, and for a while I counted his mood among them - but not any more.

 

The main reason I'm zeroing in on methylation right now is that the period when we started ramping up on the methylation supps and his mood started heading south seem to correlate. Unfortunately, between his basically dropping out of school at the end of 6th grade, switching doctors, going to Rothman for 3 weeks and my own health issues, I did not carefully document. So now I'm left to retrace our steps and try to figure out what happened. It could easily be a herx, but the methylation thing has been nagging at the back of my mind for a while and I will feel a lot more comfortable once I have a handle on it and can double check the doctor's recommendations.

 

If I had a compliant child, I would have tried GF/CF long ago. I am sensitive to both gluten and dairy, so it's likely he is too. We've had him "sugar-free" since age 3, but he has a history of "cheating," and I suspect he's eating sugar on a regular basis now that he's in middle school (when I'm not around). He seems addicted to sweets, quite frankly. So those are possible culprits too. I hope to get him in a better place in terms of compliance (and maturity) and then see if he will do a trial of GF/CF/SugarFree (without cheating) at some point.

 

What is Oregon Grape, and what does it treat?

supplements may be correct. I mean, methylation is not the only process that needs to be taken care of. growth of yeast and bacteria might need taking care of as well. While our kids were on abx, methylation supps, and probiotics, they still had issues. We saw marked improvement in mood and irritability when we added Oregon Grape and Saccharomyces Boulardii.

Our kids are on wheat, dairy, and sugar free diet as well. they have a lot of exercise and outside time every day.

I would not expect that methylation supps alone would take care of symptoms.

[LNN]

I hope they return your email, because I can't give you an answer. The C/G and A/T are the alleles on those snps. But even if you look up the risk allele, this doesn't seem to be telling you if that letter in the box is the risk allele, your personal results, or something else. If it says hetero, I suppose you can assume you're hetero for that snp (meaning +/-). Of the 4 you mention, COMT is the only one I've used for guidance/supplement purposes. Yes, I know the others are important too. But when I read heartfixer, the things you do to support these mutations are either things I'm already doing for other snps or they feel like "nice to have" supplements rather than the big hitter essentials. If they were our only issues, I'd feel differently. But since my family has bigger fish to fry with MTHFR, MAO, VDR... I just can't force them to take yet another pill to support MTRR or ACAT because it would be a little helpful. Just me. But with a dozen other mutations on our lists, these fell to the bottom.

 

But COMT is important. It helps you decide if you need more or less methyl donors in your overall supplements and it tells you whether you should be using or avoiding things like tryptophan and tyrosine (as supps or in foods). It's the "warrior/worrier" gene and plays a big role for some of our kids anxiety issues. So I'd try to get an answer on that one at least.

[mama2alex]

"Warrior/worrier" - that's my son!

 

They did get back to me and explain that back when we ran the test in 2007 the SNP's on the second page were so new they hadn't been updated with results. She sent me a letter explaining how to determine whether there is a mutation for each. The COMT I mentioned was P199P - I already had results for the others, and sure enough, he is hetero for 3 out of 4. Looks like we are also dealing with MTHFR, MAO and VDR.

 

I think our doctor probably has a handle on these in terms of supplementation, but I'm looking forward to understanding it all and being 100% sure we are on the right track. Also, he didn't tell us to make any diet changes for methylation, so I want to make sure we're eating the right things.