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NutrEval Test--is it worth it?

Dreambirdie

work in progress
Messages
5,569
Location
N. California
Could anyone here who's had this test convince me that it was helpful enough to dish out paying $725? I've heard several people mention that they were planning to do it, but I haven't heard any rave reviews yet. I think about it now and then, but haven't yet been willing to commit to paying the out of pocket cost.

http://www.gdx.net/product/10051
 
Messages
15,786
Could anyone here who's had this test convince me that it was helpful enough to dish out paying $725? I've heard several people mention that they were planning to do it, but I haven't heard any rave reviews yet. I think about it now and then, but haven't yet been willing to commit to paying the out of pocket cost.

http://www.gdx.net/product/10051

I've had some similar testing, and it was somewhat helpful. It let me see that my glutamate and glycine are high, which made treatment with NAC very sensible, and that turned out to be very helpful with sleep and getting my brain to calm down in general.

I think it really depends. One factor is whether or not you've already tried the things that the test would indicate - already had a proper trial of every supplement and vitamin and diet known to mankind? If so, a lot of the testing won't be particularly relevant, and something more focused on your symptoms may be more cost-effective. But if you're overwhelmed with symptoms and/or options of where to start, it might be very helpful.

It also depends on what the results are :rolleyes: If it shows a simple problem or two (or ten), then you might be able to make a big impact on your symptoms. Or just confirm that you're hopelessly messed up, which can be nice too.
 

Dreambirdie

work in progress
Messages
5,569
Location
N. California
I've had some similar testing, and it was somewhat helpful. It let me see that my glutamate and glycine are high, which made treatment with NAC very sensible, and that turned out to be very helpful with sleep and getting my brain to calm down in general.

I think it really depends. One factor is whether or not you've already tried the things that the test would indicate - already had a proper trial of every supplement and vitamin and diet known to mankind? If so, a lot of the testing won't be particularly relevant, and something more focused on your symptoms may be more cost-effective. But if you're overwhelmed with symptoms and/or options of where to start, it might be very helpful.

Hi Valentijn--I think I fit into the category of having "had a proper trial of every supplement and diet known to mankind." Though I'm curious which supplements would be most likely indicated as useful by this test? If you have any other info about this, let me know. I do well with NAC, but it's not enough to help with sleep and calming my brain, which is my biggest concern.

Thanks in advance.
 
Messages
15,786
Hi Valentijn--I think I fit into the category of having "had a proper trial of every supplement and diet known to mankind." Though I'm curious which supplements would be most likely indicated as useful by this test? If you have any other info about this, let me know. I do well with NAC, but it's not enough to help with sleep and calming my brain, which is my biggest concern.
The test could indicate specific vitamin or mineral or amino acid deficiencies. For example, some ME patients only have elevated glutamate but not elevated glycine, so need both NAC and glycine supplementation to use up the extra glutamate.

Also, with all of the stuff they test, subtle and complex problems can become easier to see, since a lot of things interact with each other. I think that can make these tests useful if you want/need a "big picture", but if you already have a good idea of the general source of problems (neurotransmitters, hormones, infections, etc) then more targeted tests are going to be more useful.
 

Ema

Senior Member
Messages
4,729
Location
Midwest USA
Have you checked to see if your health insurance plan falls into one of their pre-payment programs?

This made the test about $150 for me when I did it in 2011. It was worth $150, but not $725 to me. It didn't really change anything I was doing though I occasionally refer to it when I come across something new.

Ema
 

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,935
Location
Albuquerque
Hi Ema--I have no insurance. I would have to pay out of pocket.

I had it too and it was worth the $125 I paid (insurance paid the rest). Doubt I'd get it if I had to pay out of pocket. One of the "yes, it is worth it!" aspects for me was that Rich looked it over for me and pointed out that I was not able to break down B2 and need to take the co-enzymated, sublingual type. This was screwing up many biochemical reactions as they needed B2. This would have been hard to spot on a less comprehensive test.

But, alas, that fantastic "plus" is no longer with us.

Sushi
 

dannybex

Senior Member
Messages
3,561
Location
Seattle
The test could indicate specific vitamin or mineral or amino acid deficiencies. For example, some ME patients only have elevated glutamate but not elevated glycine, so need both NAC and glycine supplementation to use up the extra glutamate.

Hi Valentijn,

Interesting. I have elevated glutamate, and low glycine (I think due to salicylate issues) but my cysteine was also in the high range at 113. I was about to try NAC to help unstuff my nose (it's supposed to help break up mucous?), and now am not sure what to do...???
 
Messages
15,786
Interesting. I have elevated glutamate, and low glycine (I think due to salicylate issues) but my cysteine was also in the high range at 113. I was about to try NAC to help unstuff my nose (it's supposed to help break up mucous?), and now am not sure what to do...???
It might work to supplement both the glycine and the NAC - that way there's still the mucous help from the NAC in addition to using up some glutamate with the NAC + glycine (and hopefully not getting too low in the glycine).
 

dannybex

Senior Member
Messages
3,561
Location
Seattle
It might work to supplement both the glycine and the NAC - that way there's still the mucous help from the NAC in addition to using up some glutamate with the NAC + glycine (and hopefully not getting too low in the glycine).

Thanks Valentijn. I should mention that my test was done almost 3 years ago, so there's a good chance that my cysteine is considerably lower. I have been supplementing w/glycine, so hopefully that's up (and glycine has been low on tests going all the way back to 2002), but perhaps the cysteine is lower now.

It might be a good idea to start a new thread on this, but I'm wondering if the 'standard' methylation supplements (i.e. methyl groups, mb12, methylfolate) if taken in so-called "high" amounts -- or even normal amounts -- might be depleting things like cysteine, methionine, NAC, etc.???
 

dannybex

Senior Member
Messages
3,561
Location
Seattle
Dreambirdie,

I don't really know if it's worth it or not. I had to raise money to pay for it, and while it is comprehensive, that's kind of what also makes it so complicated. The results are all run through the same statistical analysis based on their 'norms', and, well, although Rich helped me with analysis as much as possible, here we are 2 1/2 years later still trying to figure it out. So many different pathways and or enzymes affected by so many different heavy metals and/or missing nutrients.

Just one example: It said that I needed folate (duh), but also my b6 requirement was listed as a 9 (out of 10). Yet every time I'd take b6...even tiny amounts, I'd get 'stocking and glove neurpathy'. This diminished and went away only after adding good ol' b2 to the mix. Apparently the FAD and FMN enzymes that come from b2 (that you know who talked about so much) are necessary for b6 utilization. Yet, on the test results, b2 was not listed as a necessary nutrient.

If you could find someone who specializes in analyzing the results, that would push it into the 'worth it' category.
 

Dreambirdie

work in progress
Messages
5,569
Location
N. California
I don't really know if it's worth it or not. I had to raise money to pay for it, and while it is comprehensive, that's kind of what also makes it so complicated.

Okay Dan, it sounds like a big dive into confusion land to me. As you know, I'm not a fan of complicated and complicating analysis. I think I will save my money. Thanks for your input.
 

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
HI db,

This may not help but thought I'd chime in anyways. My integrative doctor ordered this test for me along with a long list of other tests like CDSAs, saliva for hormones, nutritional deficiencies, pregnenolone, dhea, etc etc etc etc ... This test appears to another tool that integrative doctors use to analyze their patient's health. My doctor has learned a great deal about my body by studying these tests and has given me recomendations.

I can't say for sure what she learned from this specific test because she had so many other test results to bounce this data off of by the time I did this one. So it wasn't like she just ran this and tried to dx my problems via this one test.

Because of my POTS, I have a minimal understanding of what all these tests mean but am comfortable that she understands these. She's tried to explain these to me o_O but after being upright for any length of time I really can't understand this kind of info.

So, imho, if you have someone who can interpret these tests and others, you'll get more out of it. From what I've seen keeping track of what does what, when and how requires a lot of expertise. One of my biggest obstacles is being able to afford all the supplements. Which is why I try to eat as healthy as possible.

hth .. x
 

Dreambirdie

work in progress
Messages
5,569
Location
N. California
Hi x--Because my primary is a TCM guy, and because I don't want to go looking for another expensive expert (#143) to tell me confusing things I don't want to know about things I can't figure out how to treat, I am leaning STRONGLY away from the NutrEval.

thanks for your input
 

caledonia

Senior Member
I guess you all missed this, but I made a compilation of all of Rich's Nutreval interpretations and posted it. So anyone can "get an interpretation from Rich". The link is in my signature below.

I went for it, and have a kit sitting here - just need to find a good day to do it. I'm interested in several things - my gut pathogens, which have never been tested; if any metals have increased since I did chelation many years ago; what the hell is going on with my Krebs cycle leading to very little energy (I find that one the most fascinating); plus any nutrient deficiencies I might be missing.

To make the compilation, I studied the Nutreval sample report and also a half dozen reports people kindly posted on here, along with the 8 or 9 interpretations that Rich posted. The interpretation that comes with the test is more or less useless - you really need Rich's interpretation to get good info out of it.

You can study the compilation I made to get an idea of what is tested, then make a decision from that if it's worth it.

The reason why Rich recommended a functional test like this is because these other factors - gut, metals, mitochondria etc. may need to be addressed along with methylation to get full recovery. Nutrient deficiencies are also important to know about as they can block methylation.

It's sort of a chicken or egg thing - for example, metals can cause methylation problems, then once you have methylation problems more metals can accumulate. So it's important to know if you have them, so you can address them. Doing methylation alone may or may not be enough to detox metals. So if that particular area is flagged on your test, then you can go and do more intensive testing and work in that area.
 

Dreambirdie

work in progress
Messages
5,569
Location
N. California
OMG! Wow! caledonia (I am so glad to have a friend who is an INTJ :))

I will be eager to see how this all works out for you, and what you get from it that is really useful and helpful.

I will stay tuned for coming attractions. Thanks for doing all that work. Awesome. :thumbsup:
 
Messages
15,786
There's also this book: http://www.metametrix.com/learning-center/books/2008/leifm

Too expensive, but I'm hoping one day it'll end up somewhere that I can legally pirate it. You can also search a limited version of it on Google Books ( http://books.google.com/books?id=CpXVAwgOv7sC&printsec=frontcover&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false ) to find lots of good info.

Generally I find that mapping out the abnormal (and associated) results can help too. Then you can look at how various things are related and pinpoint or rule out problems that way. Some of us offer these sorts of interpretations when people post results. Not as good as Richvank, but we try :hug: