This entry is a quick guide to help you get started on understanding and optimizing your methylation cycle. I have included a very basic explanation of each step of the process, just enough to help you get started. I will not be available to answer questions or help anyone in any way, I just wanted to put this info here to provide a starting point for those who are interested.
I am not medically or scientifically trained and any info I have posted here is based upon my own limited study and should be considered incomplete and unreliable, but it's enough to get your pointed in the right direction.
What is Methylation?
Simply put, methylation is the chemical process whereby your body detoxifies, renews your DNA and provides all the necessary chemicals and neurotransmitters for physical and mental health. For a more in depth explanation read here: METHYLATION and Methylation
The two main test to be done are:
1) Genome testing - https://www.23andme.com/
This will tell you what genetic manipulations you have inherited from your parents that affect the genes associated with the methylation cycle. Each gene will be running at either 100%, 70% or 30% depending upon whether you have inherited a genetic manipulation from none, one or both parents. You will pay $99 and receive a test tube in the mail which you spit into and return. After a few weeks you will get a genealogy report and a packet of raw data.
You can upload the raw date to http://geneticgenie.org/ and the website will give you a table of your methylation genes and a basic report that explains what your manipulations are and how they affect your methylation cycle. There is a lot of good info in here that you can get started with and it will give you a basic understanding of what issues affect you and how.
However, it has been my experience from time spent on internet forums that most people do not understand enough to successfully treat themselves based upon their genome test results alone, although many are trying as it is the cheapest test. The information is useful but is not enough in itself to help you make a diagnosis.
2) Full Metabolic Panel Test -
The two main test to be done are:
1) Genome testing - https://www.23andme.com/
This will tell you what genetic manipulations you have inherited from your parents that affect the genes associated with the methylation cycle. Each gene will be running at either 100%, 70% or 30% depending upon whether you have inherited a genetic manipulation from none, one or both parents. You will pay $99 and receive a test tube in the mail which you spit into and return. After a few weeks you will get a genealogy report and a packet of raw data.
You can upload the raw date to http://geneticgenie.org/ and the website will give you a table of your methylation genes and a basic report that explains what your manipulations are and how they affect your methylation cycle. There is a lot of good info in here that you can get started with and it will give you a basic understanding of what issues affect you and how.
However, it has been my experience from time spent on internet forums that most people do not understand enough to successfully treat themselves based upon their genome test results alone, although many are trying as it is the cheapest test. The information is useful but is not enough in itself to help you make a diagnosis.
2) Full Metabolic Panel Test -
basic test - http://pyroluriatesting.com/shop/
with analysis - http://pyroluriatesting.com/shop/shop/
This test is done through a lab, I strongly recommend Direct Healthcare Access. You can either pay for the test and a professional analysis directly from the lab ($450), they are very helpful, or you can go to a functional medicine doctor or holistic doctor ( use this link to find one with the necessary training near you http://www.walshinstitute.org/clinical-resources.html ) and have them prescribe the testing for you and try to get your insurance to cover the costs.
They will test your Serum Copper and Zinc Plasma levels, in many cases high copper (caused by low zinc) is the primary cause of metal disturbances.
They will also test your Kryptopyrrole levels, if they are high then you have Pyroluria which is a condition that uses up your B6 and zinc so you have none left for the methylation cycle. This may be why copper is high and tells us how to treat it. It is thought that oxidative stress is the key cause of Pyroluria so that needs to be addressed as well as correcting zinc and copper levels.
Read more here: Pyroluria and here: Copper overload and Metals and the Mind
They will also test your Whole Blood Histamine levels. High levels will indicate under methylation, low blood histamine indicates over methylation.
Once you have your results analyzed professionally you will need to get a prescription for the correct supplements to address the deficiencies in your methylation cycle. This is where professional guidance is crucial. I spent a year trying to work it out for myself and did quite well but nowhere near as well as a correct prescription from a doctor did for me. The difference was huge and for this reason I would advise that you go through a holistic doctor who can order and analyze the tests and give you a complete prescription suited to your specific needs.
This test is done through a lab, I strongly recommend Direct Healthcare Access. You can either pay for the test and a professional analysis directly from the lab ($450), they are very helpful, or you can go to a functional medicine doctor or holistic doctor ( use this link to find one with the necessary training near you http://www.walshinstitute.org/clinical-resources.html ) and have them prescribe the testing for you and try to get your insurance to cover the costs.
They will test your Serum Copper and Zinc Plasma levels, in many cases high copper (caused by low zinc) is the primary cause of metal disturbances.
They will also test your Kryptopyrrole levels, if they are high then you have Pyroluria which is a condition that uses up your B6 and zinc so you have none left for the methylation cycle. This may be why copper is high and tells us how to treat it. It is thought that oxidative stress is the key cause of Pyroluria so that needs to be addressed as well as correcting zinc and copper levels.
Read more here: Pyroluria and here: Copper overload and Metals and the Mind
They will also test your Whole Blood Histamine levels. High levels will indicate under methylation, low blood histamine indicates over methylation.
Once you have your results analyzed professionally you will need to get a prescription for the correct supplements to address the deficiencies in your methylation cycle. This is where professional guidance is crucial. I spent a year trying to work it out for myself and did quite well but nowhere near as well as a correct prescription from a doctor did for me. The difference was huge and for this reason I would advise that you go through a holistic doctor who can order and analyze the tests and give you a complete prescription suited to your specific needs.
A doctor will not send you for genome testing, although they may be interested in your results if you have had it done already. I would recommend that you find a doctor from the Walsh Institute webpage that is close to you and discuss with them what they advise.
I would recommend you spend a little time reading through the Walsh Institute website to familiarize yourself with his work. He managed to successfully treat 50% of his schizophrenic patients by lowering their copper levels. This may indicate that they were not actually schizophrenic to begin with but the extreme symptoms of their high copper were close enough that they were incorrectly misdiagnosed. Other extreme symptoms of high copper can be a similarity to bipolar disorder, constant racing thoughts, difficulty sleeping, anxiety, etc.
The greatest source of zinc is red meat, so vegetarians are at great risk from low zinc, which leads to high copper since both are needed int he correct ratio to obtain a balance, if zinc is absent then copper levels will rise as a result.
For the methylation cycle methionine is needed, the greatest source of which is dietary protein, so again we see that vegetarians and vegans are at a much higher risk of not feeding the cycle properly. I was vegetarian for 13 years, whilst wearing a copper bangle much of that time, so I was at a great risk for low zinc and high copper, which was confirmed by my test results.
It can take up to a year to address these imbalances with correct supplementation. So you can see the importance of assessing your nutrient levels accurately and sticking to an informed prescription of supplements. Please do not think that you can just work this out by yourself, you will easily spend more in incorrect and ineffective supplements over the course of a year through trial and error than you will spend on getting the right tests done at the beginning, you will also be a year ahead in obtaining optimum mental health, if this is right for you.
Again I would like to emphasize that this information is what I have collected from my own study and I am in no way medically trained to help diagnose or treat anyone in any way, this page is for informational purposes only.
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