why don't they blood test for serotonin levels?

[laughingman]

Why don't they blood test for serotonin levels? Couldn't this help differentiate between a chemical depression and situational one?

[nursegirl6572]

The fundamental problem with "testing" for epinephrine, norepinephrine is that not only is there no easy and straight forward way to do so, but also, MUCH of psychiatry is based primarily on THEORY.  It has never been PROVEN that a chemical imbalance causes depression, and even if it does (which it could), the cause of depression would likely vary from person to person.  This is true of all psychiatric disorders.  There is still so much that the experts don't understand, as the brain is a complex machine....and a lot of factors are thought to affect mental health.

This is why treating mood disorders IS largely trial and error, based on those theories.

I would encourage you to start a new thread, as this one is very old, and the older threads tend to get passed up by most.

[Weasly]

Hi, just wondering if anyone has had their serotonin, epinefrine and norepinefrine levels tested in connection with SSRI meds?

I know it may not be directly useful because of the re-uptake thing already discussed here. What I'm wondering is whether too much serotonin may present as bipolar or other type of depression, and get mistreated because of this statistical guesswork diagnosing that gets done a lot.

If the problem is actually in the MAO-A gene, monoamine oxidase doesn't work as it's supposed to, and the result is too much sero, epi and norepi. Which, presumably, should be treated with a MAOI (monoamine-oxidase inhibitor), not SSRI (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor). Although I'm not totally clear on this bit yet... might be more complex than that. Anyway, the MAO-A levels can be tested with a PET scan. Since those are expensive, preliminary bloodwork might be a good idea. But I have no idea if this is common practise in the medical field yet.

Also, any practical experience with SNRI's? They're some newer stuff that works on both serotonin and norepinefrine. According to Wikipedia, some types can even affect dopamine re-uptake. The stuff has been on the market for long enough to have actual users out there. Anyone care to share?

[robinortiz]

Thanks for the info. I've been suffering from depression/anxiety for years and diag with ADD as an adult. We thought my son had ADHD due to severe bouts of being hyper, crying, picking on sister, etc., but the Dr. doesn't think the stimulant is helping due to him and myself punching, choking each other even though we had this issue before we went to her. His therapist had mentioned Oppositional Defiant Disorder so I have been reading about it and the other personality disorders, but the lines of these overlap so much to me. I do have traits of BPD which may be an inherited dysfunction in the limbic system. Anyway, while reading over those it said may be cause from low serotonin so I'm going to try to get my son to take the Tryptophan (if he will with the ODD-lol)to see if it works. We have to do something because there are no psychiatrists here that take Medicaid. It makes sense. It's weird because I used to take L-Tyrosine because it was supposed to be good for polysystic ovarian disease/insulin resistance.

[Sagebaby]

what do you mean you took the test? The serotonin test is to check for tumors? What test did you take?

[4Maddie44]

This post is very old.  Started in 2008.  How come it is here again? Possibly better to start a new thread.  All interesting but technical stuff!!

[oneone687]

bullsh*t what you saying, maybe that's what doctors say following 'guidelines of best practice' but since 95% serotonin is in the bowels they should concentrate on bowel disorders, someone is trying to be smarter than he is and it doesn't work or they have purpose to pretend stupid. Maybe thats the effect if government does not invest in science