Possible Solution for Health Anxiety Sufferers - Genetics Testing

[livefree83]

I am a former sufferer of health anxiety. To make a long story short, I recently had to take my son for genetics testing because he was suspected of autism. After his testing was done, it was recommended for me to get testing because they found abnormalities in one of his chormosomes. It turns out he is autistic and they also found possible kidney problems that might occur in the future. They recommended he be sent for an ultrasound of the kidneys and also I get genetics testing done. I overcame my health anxiety about six months ago but this will COMPLETELY clear my head once the results come back for me as well.

The point I am trying to make is that you all don't have to suffer and continuously wonder what may happen. Genetics testing can be confusing but the purpose of the testing is to find any abnormalities in your genes, check for any disorders and prevent FUTURE problems.

You should check with a primary doctor if there is a geneticist you can be referred to. I am not sure if all insurance companies will approve the testing but it is definetly worth looking into.

I know how hard it is to live with health anxiety. I did for a very long time and I got over it myself in time. I have read many threads and I feel all of you out there. The good news is that 99 percent of people who posted in the health anxiety thread, nothing was wrong, it was simply anxiety. I know all we want is a clean bill of health.

You should look into genetics testing. I was mandated to have it done because of my son's condition but it also helped me as well.

[ServerError]

Living in the UK, I don't know but I suspect if I went to my doctor and asked for this I'd be laughed out of there. I imagine our NHS would only do this where evidence suggests genetic testing needs to be urgently carried out.

I guess we'd have to pay for it to be done privately, and that it would be beyond most people's means.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yep, no chance with the NHS. If we can't even get treatment, we won't be getting something fancy like this. There are genetic tests to rule out which meds would cause a bad reaction...but the NHS don't do that and rather play guinea pigs instead. Nice and easy for them on cost and hassle, it's not like they have the absolute hell of going through that process.

I really would question if genetic testing would even get it to pinpoint a specific anxiety form in some cases. I could see it with something like OCD because research is finding there are specific areas of the brain in play with OCD as opposed to other anxiety disorders, but since HA is a fictional name that covers a whole range of disorders, I really can't see it pinpointing a Somatoform one (or Illness Anxiety Disorder to countries using the US DSM). It could highlight the possible GAD, maybe, but how would it distinguish between GAD with no health anxiety (like me) and GAD with health anxiety? That seems too specific to me.

But there is a problem with genetic testing for an anxiety disorder - anxiety disorders are not permanent. A genetic marker for autism is just there. But a genetic marker for anxiety has been shown to be turned on or off through a process called methylation. I can't find it at the moment but I remember reading how methylation changes out genes, switches them on or off, and that many of these are just not fixed and there was something about a parent passing a gene on and how if the gene was switched to the off position through methylation, after so many cycles (cell life cycles? I can't remember now) the gene was no longer passed on. I seem to recall this was about something like anxiety though and it was over a year ago so I may be incorrect. I have no idea how that works with other conditions though.

One reason I found this interesting is that my brother & sister are 9 & 10 years older than me. My dad had 2 years of depression at some point and I believe it was in between when they were born and I was born. So, maybe a link there? Not that it matters though, really what does it change? Nothing. I can see the use in it for people wanting children though.

There are also various studies out there about links e.g. how many parents with OCD have children with BDD. So, it's even more complex.

But this area is a well researched one known as epigenetics. Cancer research is heavily invested in it and new drugs are on the market to use the methylation process to reverse the cancer. So, maybe we will see more of this type of medicine in the future but with such an enormously invested area as cancer involved, it will pull along mental health too.

There are studies out for their for mental health conditions and influencing methylation. I remember seeing one in children.

Anyway, that's perhaps something else to look into. Going back to genetic testing, you can do it private in the UK and some of the companies have been advertising on TV. The NHS have raised concerns over this area as it's not completely understood. The big problem is interpreting the data. All these companies do is check a swab and send you back a list of test data. Then you need someone to interpret it - which is waaaayyy over a GP's ability. So, how many consultants do we need to pay to do that for us with a wide spread of data?

A very interesting topic though and I can certainly see the merits of doing it. There is going to be the concern about HA sufferers running to get tests. But I think information is needed there too about what is being tested for as some things may be useful, all the cancer side won't be. I wonder how this would apply to autism and testing for it in the patient themselves?