Naturopathic Medicine in Mesa AZ

Tara Peyman, Naturopathic Doctor

5416 E. Southern Ave., Ste. 110 Mesa, AZ 85206 phone: (480) 985-0000

Testing for Bipolar Disorder: Is Neurotransmitter Testing Helpful?

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Tuesday, August 03, 2010

NEUROTRANSMITTER TESTING
by Dr. Tara Peyman.

Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers in the body, such as serotonin and dopamine. Urinary neurotransmitter testing represents peripheral (body) levels of these chemicals, and is not correlated with brain levels of neurotransmitters. The reason for this is that there is a barrier between the body and the brain that keeps chemicals separate. This is the primary reason that I do not use neurotransmitter testing for my patients. Some physicians attempt to make clinical correlations between peripheral and brain levels, assuming that if urinary serotonin is low, your brain serotonin might also be low, which could contribute to depression. This is simply an assumption and is not necessarily true. I find other testing to be much more reliable and helpful for long-term success in symptom reduction. I use thyroid testing, blood counts, nutrient deficiency testing, blood sugar testing, hormone testing, and organic acid testing to rule out underlying physical causes or aggravating factors of mood disorders.

The use of neurotransmitter testing also makes the flawed assumption that neurotransmitters have a causative relationship to mood disorders. Research has shown plenty of correlations between neurotransmitter activity in certain parts of the brain and specific mental illnesses. However, we are not sure whether these correlations represent a cause or an effect. There may be increased dopamine activity in the brains of some patients with schizophrenia, but we do not know that dopamine itself is the cause of schizophrenic symptoms. As an analogy, you are a lot more likely to see people carrying umbrellas on a rainy day, but the rain is not created by the umbrellas. Looking for high or low levels of a certain neurotransmitter as a cause of mental illness is like assuming that the umbrellas are causing the rain. The fluctuation of neurotransmitters is more likely a result rather than a cause, and the actual cause is far more complex than that. Studies of brain levels of serotonin from a non-depressed patient versus a depressed patient can be exactly the same. Serotonin is also produced in much higher levels in the digestive tract than in the brain, and so urine levels of serotonin are perhaps more helpful in the assessment of intestinal disorders than mood disorders. Neurotransmitter levels are often completely irrelevant in the attempt to find potential treatments for mood disorders, and this testing is therefore a disservice to patients and doctors.

Mood disorders are complex and specific to each individual, and cannot be reduced to a simple neurotransmitter dysfunction or deficiency. It may be tempting to assume that your depression or bipolar disorder is just because of a chemical imbalance. The truth is that it is not that simple. Our mental and physical health is dynamic, and must be treated as such. This is one of the reasons that homeopathic medicine works so well to treat mental health disorders, because homeopathy can actually correct the underlying dynamic imbalance, which a neurotransmitter supplement or antidepressant medication cannot do.
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Dr. Tara Peyman is a board-licensed naturopathic physician with an expertise in treating bipolar disorder and depression. She has also developed natural treatment programs for diabetes and smoking cessation. Call for your comprehensive initial visit or a complimentary 15 minute phone consult: Tempe, Arizona: (480) 456-0402 or Mesa, Arizona: (480) 985-0000. Visit www.DrTaraPeyman.com for more information.

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