Anyone ever had a comprehensive digestive stool analysis?
#367935 - 07/27/12 09:04 AM
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Hey guys,
One of the tests my alternative medicine doctor is recommending is a "comprehensive digestive stool analysis 2.0" to be carried out a by a very specific lab.
I haven't checked yet, but I'm sure it's going to cost a fortune. I was wondering if anyone has had this test and/or can comment on whether the results are at all useful.
Here's the website if you need more info:
http://www.gdx.net/product/10006
Even if it's bogus, you have to admire the marketing. The website shows a woman compassionately embracing her husband, perhaps comforting him after the receiving the results back from his lab test :-)
Anyway, I seem to remember having something similar done when I lived in Germany. But then I took the results to a GI doc there and he said he really couldn't do anything with them, even though some things were definitely out of range.
Chris
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I had one of these done by a lab in the US called Metametrix. Mine was a DNA-based stool analysis and it cost about $400 as I recall. (Maybe a little less.) It said I was a little low in some gut flora, had no parasites, had a few possible malabsorption issues--and a ton of the h. pylori bacteria. I had the test done through an alternative practitioner/nutritionist, but ended up taking the printout to my regular doc (on the nutritionist's recommendation) to get treated for the h. pylori. My doc didn't bat an eye. Saw the results and wrote out the RX, then six months later ran a followup stool test (a basic one covered by my insurance) to make sure treatment had worked.
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Unfortunately, this test will not tell you much about managing IBS as there is no known physical origin for IBS at the moment. However, if you thing you have parasites or ulcers then talk to you GP or GI doctor about doing some tests which may or may not included a stool analysis.
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The FODMAP Approach to Managing IBS Symptoms
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Adding to what Syl says, the stool analysis your GP orders is much more likely to be covered by insurance.
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