DNA Analysis

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jmfreeman535
Posts: 361
Joined: Wed Sep 18, 2019 8:12 pm

by jmfreeman535

Long story short, I've been dealing with digestive, weight managment, and frequent fatigue/illness issues, of which have been getting progessivily worse with each year. Doctors, different diets, change in training, etc. have not proved effective in the long run, and I'm starting to get pretty desperate...thus me looking into the DNA Analysis route.

Has anyone tried it? Did it actually help? Or is it just a load of malarkey? On paper is sounds promising- if not a little too promising...
It's also not cheap, so I don't want to waste my money.

I'm considering having it done through 4Gold https://4gold.eu/dna-analysis-what-you-will-learn/

spdntrxi
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by spdntrxi

Sounds kinda autoimmune disease to me (not a quack) but my better half went through some pretty rough times a few years back and doctors didn't help much. We cut out gluten and it was the golden ticket. Best of luck to you.
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kaptanpedal
Posts: 37
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2018 6:10 pm

by kaptanpedal

Dna analysis for this type of problems are snake oil. Not even close to being useful.
I was tired, sluggish, foggy mind and night sweating etc. Passed all tests with great results. Turns out i had hashimoto.
15 years later I am again struggling. Fatugue, fcked up digestion, bad sleep, slow mind, no energy. All blood work confirms that I am Chuck Norris. Offered 6000 euros of next generation tests. Turns out I have Histamin intolerance.
A theory says even non-symptomatic covid can trigger over production of histamin and cause this. Timeline of my problem fits as well. I was travelling a lot to -then unknown- hot spots at the end of 2019 and it started shortly after.

fruitfly
Posts: 187
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Location: Wet coast

by fruitfly

Speaking as a retired geneticist, the problem is that DNA/RNA sequences are easy to analyze, but most of the time we don't yet understand enough about regulation/feedback/interacting systems to draw broadly interesting conclusions. Sure, there are some genetic diseases, and some mutations that are associated with a specific disease or condition. Even really clear cases, like the BRCA1 mutations associated with breast cancer, accounts for only 1-2% of breast cancers.

A few people get lucky and find out something after sequencing. Most people don't. I can't recommend it.

I have no medical training, but observe that doctors in North America are trained to treat the most obvious cause first, and if that doesn't work, try the second most likely possibility, and so on. This works fine for common problems with clear siymptoms. However, your average family doctor isn't good with unusual problems, or problems exhibiting diffuse or variable symptoms, because there is no obvious place to start. I had an African in my lab who collapsed on the sidewalk in front of his house, and he was tested by every specialist in the hospital and got worse and worse. An intern doing rounds with a specialist had just learned about a new auto-immune disease that was common in Africans, but rare elsewhere in the world, suggested that possibility, they tested for it, and found the problem. But without that intern, he would never have been diagnosed.

I wish you the best for what must be a very frustrating situation. I would be looking for appointments with clinicians at nationally recognized medical centres that end up handling all the difficult cases that get passed down the line, and who have the knowledge and exposure to unusual issues.
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JMeinholdt
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by JMeinholdt

fruitfly wrote:
Wed Apr 14, 2021 5:49 am
doctors in North America are trained to treat the most obvious cause first, and if that doesn't work, try the second most likely possibility, and so on. This works fine for common problems with clear siymptoms. However, your average family doctor isn't good with unusual problems, or problems exhibiting diffuse or variable symptoms, because there is no obvious place to start.
This is SO TRUE. I suffered with chronic urticaria (hives) for about a year. My doctor offered up a barrage of antihistamines and corticosteroids. Once that didn't work, he sent me to an allergist who basically said 'I've got no idea, but here are some things to manage it'.

I ended up reading countless articles on the subject and in the end, my trial and error with foods identified what I thought to be the cause and I haven't had any hives since. Once you start reading the scientific peer reviewed articles, it becomes clear how little we as humans understand about how our own bodies actually function. If you ever hear the phrase "idiopathic", rest assured, you're beyond the current limits of our understanding.

OP, if you don't have a watch or device that monitors your HR, I highly recommend one. If you have digestive issues, keep a food log and monitor your HR levels after each meal. If your body is sensitive to certain foods, which can cause an immune reaction, you'll notice spikes in HR values above the norm. My HR normally would be around 60bpm, and would spike to around 75-80bpm for an hour after eating certain foods. At first I thought that kind of spike was normal for digestion after eating, but during other meals, it would be only around a 3-5bpm increase. Remember that you have your health on your mind all the time, your doctors only do for that tiny time slot when you see them.

Oh, and since this thread is about DNA analysis, I also would not recommend. Not out of experience, but because of similar thoughts to the above poster.
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jmfreeman535
Posts: 361
Joined: Wed Sep 18, 2019 8:12 pm

by jmfreeman535

JMeinholdt wrote:
Wed Apr 14, 2021 4:14 pm
fruitfly wrote:
Wed Apr 14, 2021 5:49 am
doctors in North America are trained to treat the most obvious cause first, and if that doesn't work, try the second most likely possibility, and so on. This works fine for common problems with clear siymptoms. However, your average family doctor isn't good with unusual problems, or problems exhibiting diffuse or variable symptoms, because there is no obvious place to start.
This is SO TRUE. I suffered with chronic urticaria (hives) for about a year. My doctor offered up a barrage of antihistamines and corticosteroids. Once that didn't work, he sent me to an allergist who basically said 'I've got no idea, but here are some things to manage it'.

I ended up reading countless articles on the subject and in the end, my trial and error with foods identified what I thought to be the cause and I haven't had any hives since. Once you start reading the scientific peer reviewed articles, it becomes clear how little we as humans understand about how our own bodies actually function. If you ever hear the phrase "idiopathic", rest assured, you're beyond the current limits of our understanding.

OP, if you don't have a watch or device that monitors your HR, I highly recommend one. If you have digestive issues, keep a food log and monitor your HR levels after each meal. If your body is sensitive to certain foods, which can cause an immune reaction, you'll notice spikes in HR values above the norm. My HR normally would be around 60bpm, and would spike to around 75-80bpm for an hour after eating certain foods. At first I thought that kind of spike was normal for digestion after eating, but during other meals, it would be only around a 3-5bpm increase. Remember that you have your health on your mind all the time, your doctors only do for that tiny time slot when you see them.

Oh, and since this thread is about DNA analysis, I also would not recommend. Not out of experience, but because of similar thoughts to the above poster.
I do wear a HR monitor (whoop) and have noticed very odd spikes (100bpm+) throughout the day, while I'm just sitting around working. I always chalked it up as a fluke in the monitor, and never put much more thought into it. But, I'll pay closer attention to it now...thanks for the tip
fruitfly wrote:
Wed Apr 14, 2021 5:49 am
Speaking as a retired geneticist, the problem is that DNA/RNA sequences are easy to analyze, but most of the time we don't yet understand enough about regulation/feedback/interacting systems to draw broadly interesting conclusions. Sure, there are some genetic diseases, and some mutations that are associated with a specific disease or condition. Even really clear cases, like the BRCA1 mutations associated with breast cancer, accounts for only 1-2% of breast cancers.

A few people get lucky and find out something after sequencing. Most people don't. I can't recommend it.

I have no medical training, but observe that doctors in North America are trained to treat the most obvious cause first, and if that doesn't work, try the second most likely possibility, and so on. This works fine for common problems with clear siymptoms. However, your average family doctor isn't good with unusual problems, or problems exhibiting diffuse or variable symptoms, because there is no obvious place to start. I had an African in my lab who collapsed on the sidewalk in front of his house, and he was tested by every specialist in the hospital and got worse and worse. An intern doing rounds with a specialist had just learned about a new auto-immune disease that was common in Africans, but rare elsewhere in the world, suggested that possibility, they tested for it, and found the problem. But without that intern, he would never have been diagnosed.

I wish you the best for what must be a very frustrating situation. I would be looking for appointments with clinicians at nationally recognized medical centres that end up handling all the difficult cases that get passed down the line, and who have the knowledge and exposure to unusual issues.
I also agree with what @fruitfly stated regaring doctors/treatment...my experince has been that they'll run bloodwork, not see anything significant/alarming and immediately write me off...it is indeed extremely frustrating. I'm still young (mid 30's) and have always taken care of myself, so there is no reason that I should be feeling the way that I do (i.e poor diet, lack of exercise)

Luckily I'm currently in one of my "feeling-semi-normal-phases" so it's not as frustrating now. But having to constanly worry about/second guess everything that I eat, or everytime that I go for ride, due to the thought that it could send me off the deep end again is mentally taxing. If you have any reccomendations regarding medical centers to check out, it would be much apperciated, as I'm really not sure what my next step would be...my GP simply isn't cutting it.

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