Understanding the Neurotransmitter Level Testing Problems

Recently there have been reports that labs have been offering the ability to test your neurotransmitters and tell you if your Dopamine or Serotonin is out of whack.  Thus, I wanted to highlight again that this is absolutely unethical and clinically unproven.

1) the Brain is relatively inaccessible to the rest of the body, due to the existence of the blood brain barrier -------- tight, tight seals that prevent substances from squeezing out of, or through, the capillaries ----------- the tiniest blood vessels in the body

2) by design of Nature or God, the brain is intentionally isolated from substances in the PERIPHERAL bloodstream, for two reasons: a) to prevent the body's own "cells" from attacking the brain tissue (parenchyma) as would happen if white blood cells could simply have at it with reckless abandon

b) to prevent foreign chemicals (aka, toxins) from entering the brain tissue

3) as a result of #1 and #2, the brain engages in a complex process of homeostasis / allostasis which is largely autoregulated -------- that is to say, it does everything in its power to maintain sufficient oxygen, glucose, and other chemicals despite what is happening to the rest of the body

case in point: the brain must MAKE its own cholesterol, as cholesterol in the rest of the body -- aka, the bloodstream --- is too large to fit through the Blood Brain Barrier

4) it is extremely difficult to REPLACE, AUGMENT, or ALTER the "brain levels" of anything as large as a neurotransmitter by modifying the diet --- the reason for this is that you would have to simultaneously alter the levels and activities of the ENZYMES which live inside the brain, and which maintain the brain's homeostatic and allostatic processes

5) there is a large dissociation between the levels of chemicals in the peripheral blood and urine, and the levels of the same chemicals when they are measured inside the brain (be it in the brain parenchyma, or in the cerebrospinal fluid which moves through and around the brain)

6) it is easy to demonstrate deficiencies or excesses in certain vitamins or small molecules which can, and do, move into the brain --------- nevertheless, it remains very difficult to predict what those supplements would be doing at the actual CELLULAR level

7) dietary supplements cannot be "targeted" to precise locations in the brain.  hence, naturopaths cannot predict that their supplements will be correcting or fixing any alleged defect in the proper locus or substrate which allegedly needs "rebalancing"

8) homeopathy is largely a metaphysical enterprise, based upon the use of herbs and natural substances to invoke healing "memory" within the entire Gestalt of the human It does not purport to correct "chemical" insufficiencies, but rather, is based upon  a healing philosophy that seeks to re-balance ENERGIES within the human body  ergo, some would question the orthodoxy of any homeopath who sells their potions on the basis of chemical "re-balancing" ...........that is not the way homeopathy :"works" --- it is , however, how the new Age charlatans are plying their snake oil  potions in order to "fit in" with the biopsychiatrists and the insurance schemes/scams

9) nothing I have said is meant to detract from the REAL, VALID neuroscientific evidence about what poisons the brain / soma, and how to prevent , limit, or attempt to modify that damage.... in other words, the biochemical processes which lead to cell death and dysfunction via oxidative stress and apoptosis (programmed cell death) are well studied hence, I would trust a dietitian or a knowledgeable ethical physician to advise a course of nutrition (which may include vitamins and supplements) in order to stave off the toxic damages which have been well demonstrated in animals and humans sorry that this is rambling............ it's just one opinion, and it could be entirely wrong, but this is what I believe today
based upon the extent of my training and research -------------

Grace Jackson, MD, Psychiatrist

Additionally, there are a few other inherent problems that these testing labs do not address.

1)  Is the test they are conducting (e.g. the urine sample) supposed to be a state or trait test?  If they are making recommendations based upon the one urine sample, then they are making a huge error.  The levels faulty levels, as pointed out by Grace, are a state level.  The patient gives a sample, it takes two weeks to get the results and then the MD provides recommendations based upon the “outdated” data.  Outdated because levels of neurotransmitters can change quite rapidly.  Thus, any change in diet, hormones, stress, oxygen-air quality, etc… could affect the levels of neurotransmitters (i.e. the levels could be completely different by the time the neurotransmitter “specialist” makes their recommendations.)

2)  They company is assuming there is a causal relationship between the inaccurate levels they are reporting and the feeling state of the individual, namely that the person is feeling sad, depressed, guilty, anxious, worried, etc… because the levels are out of whack.  The data they are gathering, however inaccurate, is still correlational data, and thus, one can not attack causality to it.  It is quite possible the person has a particular level of neurotransmitter BECAUSE they have some psycho-social stressor or thought that is upsetting them.  Thus, artificially lowering the level by some technological scatter bomb, such as an SSRI, very well can lead to a disruption in normal HUMAN coping and Darwinism development.  I pose this is why you see temporally relief sometimes with the drug causing a feeling suppression, but see later that the individual begins to suffer more greatly or with other symptoms (e.g. akaseitha, mania, psychosis, homicidal and suicidal ideation.)

 Toby Watson, Psy.D., Psychologist