Blood Tests

[Rebecca Parker]

Hi Dr. Woeller.

If an autistic child is able to get a blood draw, which tests do you recommend? Here are some tests I am thinking about but would love to know if you have a standard list:

CBC with diff
Comp Metabolic Panel
Pediatric Lip Panel, Fasting (to check cholesterol)
Zinc
Copper
Ceruloplasmin
RBC Magnesium
Ferritin
Vit D
Homocysteine

I am a little fuzzy about how to check copper and zinc. I did a webinar with Dr. Walsh and he said to check plasma zinc and serum copper but when I look at Labcorp tests the option is “zinc, plasma or serum”. I am also unsure about whether it is useful to look at RBC levels of copper and zinc and if you would run those in addition to plasma/serum or instead? I know that looking at genomics sometimes there can be issues with transporting metals in and out of cells.

What are your thoughts about testing copper/zinc?

Are there any other standard tests you would add to this list for kids on the spectrum?

Thanks very much!
Rebecca

[DrWoeller]

Rebecca,
Your list is great. I would add serum histamine, serum iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC) and % saturation too, as well as TSH, Free T3 and Free T4.

For Copper, Zinc and Ceruloplasmin I do the Copper & Zinc Profile from Great Plains Laboratory.

Dr. Woeller

[Rebecca Parker]

Thanks very much!

[Rebecca Parker]

So for histamine, LabCorp has either plasma or histamine determination (whole blood). I did not see an option for serum histamine. Which one would you recommend?

[DrWoeller]

Rebecca,
I would do whole blood histamine.
Dr. Woeller

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