Guess your genetics (Yasko related...) - Page 3

[Theloose]

Originally Posted by mamafish9

Other way with this mutation - it raises angiotensin & then aldosterone, and that tends to retain sodium & dump potassium. Long term, if your cortisol runs down, it can switch to retaining potassium, dumping sodium, and I *think* that's when the sea salt can be helpful.

Which mutation?

[tanyalynn]

Speaking of Yasko, how long does it normally take to be approved to join the forum?

[Theloose]

Originally Posted by tanyalynn

Speaking of Yasko, how long does it normally take to be approved to join the forum?

Have you tried just logging in? I don't think they actually send an approved email.

[tanyalynn]

That never occurred to me, so I just tried (didn't work), and then re-read the email I got. It says my account is inactive, it needs to be activated by a mod and it may take 48 hours. I'll try again tomorrow, we'll see what happens.

[mamafish9]

Originally Posted by whoMe

As a data point, a) was definitely me until the past year or two when I've really discovered high fat/lowish carb. b) I never would have guessed at poor digestion (pass the beet test, usually good poop, but slow transit time). c) suspected, but not a big thing for me. On the urine amino acid test (mine was all low too, despite eating a ton of meat, and ammonia was normal) aspartic acid was the only high one. Not the same as glutamate, but both excitatory...

Yeah, the low aminos was my wake up call too - how could my meat eating kid be low in amino acids? And he had fine transit time, decent poops now, and passes the beet test.

Aspartic acid can be converted to glutamic acid, I think, so Yasko considers glutamate fairly equal to aspartate.

Originally Posted by whoMe

Which mutation?

ACE + (it's a deletion)

Originally Posted by tanyalynn

Speaking of Yasko, how long does it normally take to be approved to join the forum?

A few hours, in my case. PMing you.

[Theloose]

Originally Posted by mamafish9

Aspartic acid can be converted to glutamic acid, I think, so Yasko considers glutamate fairly equal to aspartate.



ACE + (it's a deletion)

rs1799752 for us 23andme folks (I think).
Eta: do you know if the insertion is + or if it's the deletion that's +?

And yeah, aspartate and glutamate are somewhat interchangeable in my head, though I'm sure there's got to be some significance to the difference.

[BookGoddess]

Originally Posted by tanyalynn

That never occurred to me, so I just tried (didn't work), and then re-read the email I got. It says my account is inactive, it needs to be activated by a mod and it may take 48 hours. I'll try again tomorrow, we'll see what happens.

I joined her forum a while back. It took me several tries to get my account active. I'm not sure what the problem was. Eventually, I gave up and created a new email account and tried getting in again with a new screen name. For some reason, that worked.

[BookGoddess]

Originally Posted by mamafish9

I do think the ability to customize supplements to genetics has the potential to be hugely helpful. And the cost is coming way down, Yasko's test used to be over $1100 just a year or two ago, now it's under $500, and testing more genes. I'd love to run it on the whole family, but for now we're putting the $$ on DS and guessing for the rest of us .

I also find it fascinating how many different health issues can be traced back in clear lines to some of these genetic mutations - it has helped tie DS and DH's health issues together around pancreatic function, which isn't a connection I would have made before. Or to see the threads of neurotransmitter swings for many family members, and to be able to pinpoint a couple of supps that could help with that.

The price has come down! I know when I last looked (last year), it was more expensive and I put it off until our tax refund check came. I'd love to also run the test on me and DH as well as my parents, but for now we'll do DD who has the biggest issues. I already know she has a A1298C heterozygous MTHFR mutation. Her pediatrician tested it for me though at first he didn't know what it was. I still won't forget his baffled look. "What?...Monday, Tuesday, Friday test?"
At least he didn't say what DH said. DH said it looked like an abbreviation for a very common swear word.

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by BookGoddess

At least he didn't say what DH said. DH said it looked like an abbreviation for a very common swear word.

lol- that's the only way I remember the abbreviation- it's the mother test.

I just had DD's ped order that one for us, but I'm curious if it's the same test because she said for sure that it was NOT a gene test. Guess we'll see next week when I get the results....

[mamafish9]

Originally Posted by whoMe

rs1799752 for us 23andme folks (I think).
Eta: do you know if the insertion is + or if it's the deletion that's +?

And yeah, aspartate and glutamate are somewhat interchangeable in my head, though I'm sure there's got to be some significance to the difference.

The deletion is + in Yasko-speak. It's an upregulation.

Originally Posted by BookGoddess

The price has come down! I know when I last looked (last year), it was more expensive and I put it off until our tax refund check came. I'd love to also run the test on me and DH as well as my parents, but for now we'll do DD who has the biggest issues. I already know she has a A1298C heterozygous MTHFR mutation. Her pediatrician tested it for me though at first he didn't know what it was. I still won't forget his baffled look. "What?...Monday, Tuesday, Friday test?"
At least he didn't say what DH said. DH said it looked like an abbreviation for a very common swear word.

Yup, I was very happy the price was lower now. If your DD is for sure A1298C++, one thing you might not know is that Dr. Yasko has just released some new compounded supps, with the things she believes are most important to support each mutation. She has one for that mutation, here.
People report nothing but good things about that one, in particular. I use it for DS too (he has another mutation that makes this supp good as well).

Originally Posted by changingseasons

lol- that's the only way I remember the abbreviation- it's the mother test.

I call it that - as I told DH, "DS has everything BUT the mutherfuther mutation!".

[BookGoddess]

Thanks! I ordered the test and the supplement. I'm putting the tax refund check to good use. I'm really excited about this. I think finding out her specific genetic mutations will be a big breakthrough for us.

[mamafish9]

Originally Posted by BookGoddess

Thanks! I ordered the test and the supplement. I'm putting the tax refund check to good use. I'm really excited about this. I think finding out her specific genetic mutations will be a big breakthrough for us.

Well hang around, I suspect this forum will be come home to the "MDC mamas who are playing with Yasko stuff" tribe . It took about 6.5 weeks for us to get our genetics results back. If you are in her forum, you can access the "getting started" workbook, which has the "step 1" supports, and do the "basic methylation supports" as well - those made big differences for us. I hope the A1298C supp is helpful for you as well.

Have you read a bit in her forums - start very slow with it (she talks about sprinkles) - it will likely cause some detox (="off" behaviors, sleep, feeling under the weather, minor fever) as it clears out some of the muck getting methylation moving. We see that most of the time when we add a mutation specific supp, and then again each time we increase dose. Nothing unmanageable, but just wanted to warn you! (It's said often in her forums that the hardest supps to add are the ones you need most, and that has been true for us - we have seen the greatest gains after we have those ones on board).

[mamafish9]

Trying to keep things in one place here.... Tanya brought up a good point in another thread about what happens when you are methylating well. She mentioned that you can't clear metals, so you build up metals toxicity. That is the one I was most aware of, and why we looked at the Yasko protocol in the first place. But, I also learned methylation is responsible for:

1) DNA/RNA repair. At least one of the key building blocks of DNA/RNA needs a methyl group added. If you can't do that, you can't repair your DNA/RNA from oxidative stress.

2) Dealing with foreign viruses. Lots of viruses replicate by inserting themselves in your DNA. Your body recognizes the foreign viral DNA and shuts it off by sticking a methyl group on the virus. If you aren't methylating well, you don't shut off the viruses, and you end up with chronic viral infections.

3) Same story with chronic bacterial infections, although I can't remember the exact way methylation plays into this, sorry!

4) Neurotransmitter balancing. There are several steps in neurotransmitter synthesis and breakdown that involve methyl groups. If you aren't methylating well, you can end up with levels of different neurotransmitters (e.g. serotonin, dopamine, norephinephrine) that are too high, too low, or swinging. Two examples - too much norephinephrine = ADHD. Too little serotonin getting methylated into melatonin = crappy sleep.

5) Histamines. Methyl groups turn off histamines, so poor methylators often have overreactive histamines (stuffy noses, seasonal allergies, food reactions, etc).

We used chelation to get rid of a lot of DS' metals load, but without addressing the underlying issue (poor methylation), we couldn't really touch any of these other things.

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by mamafish9

1) DNA/RNA repair. At least one of the key building blocks of DNA/RNA needs a methyl group added. If you can't do that, you can't repair your DNA/RNA from oxidative stress.

So this would be at least part of why there's a relationship between MTHFR gene variants, folate status, and cancer?

I'm going to, very temporarily, put my fingers in my ears re: virus and bacteria issues, because although my HCP brought it up recently as a possibility, I need time to think and then figure out what to do about it, if that's part of what's slowing us down. But first, the pancreas supps I think. (and dang, this is confusing even in overall healthy kids!)

[Theloose]

back to the wave of mdc mamas starting pancreatic support. Are there any signs or indications that pancreatin would *not* be a good place to start? And while we're there, I'm currently in increasing dosage mode. How do you know when to stop? How do you know when it's okay to back off? How do you know when you've backed off too far?

[mamafish9]

Originally Posted by tanyalynn

So this would be at least part of why there's a relationship between MTHFR gene variants, folate status, and cancer?

I'm going to, very temporarily, put my fingers in my ears re: virus and bacteria issues, because although my HCP brought it up recently as a possibility, I need time to think and then figure out what to do about it, if that's part of what's slowing us down. But first, the pancreas supps I think. (and dang, this is confusing even in overall healthy kids!)

I believe the low level detox we hit every time we add a new supp or up the dosage is his body tackling viral/bacterial stuff. We see 2-3 days of low fever, under the weather stuff, occasional rashes, then 2-3 days of metals clearly flowing (viruses and bacteria sequester metals) - chewing, licking, stimmy, a little wild, but feeling better, then we see improvements (language, focus, eye contact). Then we add another supp, rinse, repeat. We just added the last increase, now I'll hold steady for 3 weeks and redo the key pee tests. It's been fascinating to watch, but so long as you add the supps slowly, and keep some basic metals escorts in place (we've used zeolite, but you could use modifilan), it's been fine.

Yasko has some stuff she does for persistent/tough viral & bacterial issues, but in general, you get methylation working well first, and that takes care of most of it for a lot of people.

Originally Posted by whoMe

back to the wave of mdc mamas starting pancreatic support. Are there any signs or indications that pancreatin would *not* be a good place to start? And while we're there, I'm currently in increasing dosage mode. How do you know when to stop? How do you know when it's okay to back off? How do you know when you've backed off too far?

As far as I know, no. Pancreatic support is in Yasko's step 1 supplements - so recommended for everyone, and as initial things to introduce. She deals with lots of fragile ASD kids, kids with mito issues, adults with CFS or fibromyalgia, etc. She always suggests to start "low and slow" in dosage, but I don't think I've read of anyone who had big issues getting basic pancreatic supports in place. For dosage, I know several people doing 2 of her digestive enzymes with every meal, I don't know of any going higher than that. Can you figure out what dose of yours might be equivalent to that? On her protocol, you do testing to look at key numbers, and adjust supps based on that - so if she saw markers for deteriorating digestion (e.g. amino acids getting lower, or fat malabsorption markers), that would be a sign you'd backed off too far. Without testing, I think you go mainly on symptoms... e.g. for you, if you back off too much, maybe your blood sugar levels get more wonky again, or whatever.

It's fun to have company on all this ...

[tanyalynn]

Is there a page anywhere that discusses why/how Yasko's digestive enzymes are different than other digestive enzymes? I am a real newbie to the topic.

Also... I need to look into this more, but my first googling of TCM pancreas has me getting all sorts of discussion of spleen Qi. Heck, I know my spleen Qi is weak, it's weak for all four of us. Maybe this is just a band-aid for our weak spleen qi? If that's the case, then it seems to have even more potential to help us.

eta: so just a quick comparison between Enzymedica Digest Gold and Yasko's special blend shows Yasko's is a lot lower in the most common digestive enzymes, but it's the addition of the pancreatin that makes all the difference? Because pancreatin is, itself, a digestive enzyme with lots of constituent parts.

http://www.ehow.com/about_5032979_pancreatin.html

[mamafish9]

Originally Posted by tanyalynn

Is there a page anywhere that discusses why/how Yasko's digestive enzymes are different than other digestive enzymes? I am a real newbie to the topic.

Also... I need to look into this more, but my first googling of TCM pancreas has me getting all sorts of discussion of spleen Qi. Heck, I know my spleen Qi is weak, it's weak for all four of us. Maybe this is just a band-aid for our weak spleen qi? If that's the case, then it seems to have even more potential to help us.

I think they're just pancreatic enzymes mostly, rather than plant enzymes. Nothing magic about her blend, I don't think - it's just available, and pretty cheap.

I haven't delved much into TCM, but I know the ground up organs have been good for DS. Kind of like "whole foods" supps, rather than trying to figure out the individual components of a pancreas that are important, kwim? I know nothing about spleen qi .

ETA: Tanya, you and I both need to go to bed :P

[tanyalynn]

I know, I am going to bed soon. But I thought of a few more questions, a few more things to look into. I think I'm getting a handle on this; for me, when I read "spleen qi" as roughly equivalent to the function of the pancreas, things started clicking together.

I like the ground up organs idea too. Just recently I started eating beef liver, I'm a wimp and take it like pills rather than food, but dang it's really helpful and supportive. Makes me feel good--I'm trying to figure out if it's too crazy to take on a month-long vacation. Probably a bad idea. But that also makes me feel better about giving the kids the Nutricology pancreas glandular--that may be EXACTLY what's been weak in us for all of 2010.

[Theloose]

On the glandular - how important is it to go low and slow there? Cause I now have 4lbs of lamb sweetbreads in the freezer, which includes the pancreas, and rave reviews that they're yummy. And you know me... Low and slow isn't my strong point