Genetic testing - Anyone had tests? What do we know about ME and genetic markers?

[snowathlete]

Hi everyone,

I recently paid some genetic tests with a company called 23andme. They have links with google, and seem to be the market leader for personal genetic testing.

Basically, you send off a cheek swab and they test it and give you a million SNPs of something like that.
Some genetic traits are known about for a variety of things through traditional genetic testing, ranging from identification of disease such as Huntingdon's, through to whether you cant absorb a certain mineral very easily. But in addition 23andme are looking to collecting data via asking questions (surveys on their website) and identifying paterns in their database to help spot genetic traits associated with certain illnesses etc.

I think what you get for the money is pretty good From the looks of things at least - iI'm waiting on my results to come in at the moment, but has anyone tested with this company, or anyone else?

What do we know (if anything) about ME and genetic markers? Relevant mineral/drug interactions etc? Is there anything?

 

[richvank]

Hi, snow.

I view this as a promising approach. We don't know enough yet to interpret the vast majority of the data in the 23andme panel, but little by little we will be learning more, I think, and once you have your SNPs characterized, they won't change (assuming that they were correctly done), so I think it's a good investment. I've had mine done, as have some others in my family. They are somewhat helpful at the present state of knowledge, but I expect that most of the benefit from this is still in the future, because we just don't know yet which SNPs are most important for most of the genes.

Best regards,

Rich

 

[Sparrow]

I did the methylation panel through Amy Yasko (Holistic Heal). I found the results really informative. Helped me to pin down the reason behind a couple of problems that I just couldn't figure out (weird bursting capillaries and stuff). Also gave me some insight into what I could tweak in my supplement regime to help with other things that happen to me occasionally. It didn't change a whole lot in terms of my overall program, but it did shift things slightly, and I found the information really interesting to know. ...And now I sound like an infomercial.

I know that there have been some investigations into groups of SNP's that seem to be more common amongst people with this illness than with the rest of the population. Does anybody know which ones those are? And are the overall numbers of mutations on the methylation panel higher for us than for others? It seemed like an awful lot of what I had tested came back abnormal, and I was interested to know if that's typical.

 

[satori]

Apparently you can get your entire genome sequenced for $1,000 or so. The machines to accomplish this are already for sale and probably out in the field now.

 

[snowathlete]

Hi Sparrow, weird bursting capillaries and stuff, thats interesting. I posted yesterday about small blood vesel bursts in my arms, that seemed to coinside with my ME/CFS.

Is that the same thing?
How did the tests explain that?

Apparently you can get your entire genome sequenced for $1,000 or so. The machines to accomplish this are already for sale and probably out in the field now.

Thats interesting. Its really good that this stuff is available, and becoming cheaper. I guess the next more important thing is being able to leaverage it with knowledge relating to the data.

Maybe we could have a genetics section on PR specifically for this stuff, so that it can be found, and shared more easily?

 

[rydra_wong]

My impression is that the Yasko / Heartfixer genetic testing is WAY better than 23andme. I wonder -- do our genes degrade over time? I mean if I were to test again in 5 years would I have MORE defects? My father claims I didnt get my 18 mutations from him and my mother claims I did not get them from her! So...I understand cancer is a genetic mutation. Have I had lots of chances to get cancer and instead wound up with health that is very expensive to maintain??

Rydra