lots of questions on blood tests

[lesbud1]

I am going to ask my GP if I can have MMA, Homocysteine and T3 T4 tests done as I had an overactive thyroid that was treated years ago and then was put on thyroxine until I had a reaction to that and the GP then told me my levels were normal so just stopped my thyroxine. The last bloods I had said my TSH was normal. Does anyone know if these tests are expensive as GP may refuse on financial basis? Also were can I get gene testing done? I understand that some people have a mutation mthfr that makes it difficult to synthesize b vits which might explain my low folate too. I have started a multivitamin with folic acid so would I need to stop this before any of these tests please?

[fbirder]

Your doctor should be able to get MMA done quite easily. hCys is a more complicated assay and you'll probably have to go the local hospital (one with a path lab) for the blood to be taken as the assay needs to be done with fresh blood. No idea about thyroid.

Testing for MTHFR mutations is not worth it. Just about everybody has at least one mutation in the MTHFR gene. Only one of those mutations has been shown by repeatable, reputable, studies to possibly cause any problem - women who have two copies (homozygous) of the C677T mutation may be more likely to have children with a neural tube defect like spina bifida if they do not take folic acid supplements.

No possible mutation could cause a problem synthesizing B vitamins. The MTHFR enzyme converts one type of folate to another type (methylenetetrahydrofolate into methyltetrahydrofolate). The C677T mutation makes the enzyme less efficient at doing this transformation. The body just makes more of the enzyme.

The genetic testing company 23andMe say this about it -

Based on the existing data, scientists at 23andMe have concluded that people should not interpret their genotypes at the common MTHFR variants as having an effect on their health.

blog.23andme.com/health-tra...

[lesbud1 in reply to fbirder]

thanks for all of that. will ask the thyroid community about the others.