Manic Monday: Bipolar Kits Being Sold Online
Want to know if you or a loved one may be bipolar? Well all you have to do is to order a kit for almost $400 online and you can find out! No, I’m not joking - about being able to purchase the kit that is. The big question is are these kits really and truly able to detect gene mutations that are seen in patients with bipolar disorder?
Dr. John Kelsoe, a prominent psychiatric geneticist at the University of California, San Diego, has devoted his career to finding the biological roots of bipolar disorder. He believes that he has found the gene mutations that are closely tied to the illness. In February of this year, Kelsoe began selling his bipolar genetic test kits online.
These types of test kits are not being favored among the medical community because they receive very little government oversight and many of these types of kits are being sold as tools for making serious medical decisions.
Kelsoe, 52, acknowledges that bipolar disorder probably results from a combination of genetic factors and life experiences, and that the presence of these gene variations does not at all mean that someone will, in fact, develop the disease. He admits, too, that his findings about the genetic basis of the illness are far from complete.
But he said his test is a vital starting point toward moving away from the notoriously tricky practice of diagnosing bipolar disorder based purely on a person’s behavior.
“The goal of this is to try and help doctors make an accurate diagnosis more quickly so the patient can be treated appropriately,” Kelsoe said. “Anything is going to help, even if it just helps a little bit.”
Sandy Robinson also is the blogger for her own website, Fighting Fatigue and the Fighting Fatigue Forum. On the WebbleYou Network, Sandy is co-blogger for the American Idolist blog.
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