Out of My Genes

I confess I’m a church hopper. One of my monthly haunts is the Unitarian Universalist meeting. On a recent Sunday, I met the women who owns the website http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/ .  I’d been speaking about my own health history and she asked, “Have you been tested for the MTHFR genetic mutation?”

I’m certain I raised an eyebrow with a, “No.”

“You need to get that tested. Have you got a piece of paper?”

As all decent writers do, I had a pad of paper and pen in my pocket. She wrote down a couple of websites with, “23andme.com will give you your family history, then send it on to livewello.com they can give you the genetic information.”

We spoke for a while and I must say I was impressed enough to go home and sent my payment off to 23andme.com to get my testing underway (cost about $108). About a week later, a small box with a vial for me to spit in arrived (about 5% of saliva is made of genetic materials). One cold evening I spent about 15 minutes getting my spit sample to the “fill line” (amazing how dry your mouth gets when you are attempting such). I sent it off and eagerly anticipated the results.

It was almost three weeks later that I was emailed the results. My  Irish and English pedigree was confirmed and rumors of some Native American blood dissolved (old family story which was probably started by my mother). Other findings included: 3.1% Neanderthal!!!! (love that finding!) and somehow I’m a distant cousin to Prince Phillip. I pondered and shared results with relatives.

My next step was to send my genetic results to livewello.com. The results came back by email within a couple of minutes (cost $18) and provided proof of my having the MTHFR mutation and several others associated with low glutathione production (body uses this to chelate heavy metals). It is a FACT, I am not well designed for the removal of mercury!

I also sent results to nutrahacker.com to get useful dietary and supplemental information specific to my genetic make-up (cost of somewhere around $50). They provide a four page summary of what to take and what to avoid (very helpful!)

One last piece I utilized was free results from NRI (Neurological Research Institute) which was labor intensive (had to look up genetic mutations from printout and enter data). The results provide suggestions for bettering methylation cycle.

In the end, I’m still the same person with a little more knowledge. For the cost of around $170 total, I was able to learn (and am still learning) tons of information helpful for myself and family members. I highly recommend the use of modern genetic testing to better know yourself.

To Your Health,

Joe (AKA The Neanderthal)