Pharmacogenomic, or precision medicine, is a fast growing medical field that might keep doctors from over or under prescribing medications. Here's how it works. Doctors take a simple cheek swab to collect DNA that might help predict how patients' genes may influence their response to medications. From your DNA, your reaction to a drug, before you actually take it, can be determined.
Common medications that the field of precision medicine helps with include heart and blood (thinners and cholesterol drugs), mental health (antidepressants and anti-anxiety), pain control (codeine), GI (acid reflux).
For years I have been asking myself this question, "Why does a doctor prescribe the same dosage for a 100 pound woman as for a 200 pound man?" That didn't make sense. Using precision medicine this is less likely to occur.
A real life example of what this means is as follows. Two people take the same antidepressant, one feels better, the other gets side effects or no benefit. You may have a gene that metabolizes fast, while someone else may be a slow metabolizer and have side effects.
Bottom line, we are all individuals and with the growth of precision medicine, or personalized medicine, we are more likely to get the right dose.
Some of precision medicine procedures are covered by insurance, so it's necessary to check this out. As always, discuss personalized medicine with your health professional. It may or may not be right for you.
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