OAT test interpretation?
- This topic has 13 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 5 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Dear Dr Woeller,
I am currently attending your excellent course. I genuinely enjoy your presentations. I am based in Egypt and I am a Professor in Medical School. I teach Microbiology & Immunology (got my PhD from University of Maryland, Baltimore). I also happen to be the mom of an 8 year-old child on the autism spectrum. I am therefore extremely interested in your work, both from a professional as well as from a personal standpoint.
Although, I was recently in US (Miami, FL), however, I was only exposed to info on the OAT recently. I therefore had my son recently tested and the samples sent to Great Plains Lab (through an intermediary collaborator in Egypt). I was really excited to hear today’s presentation. However, I immediately noticed that the results I have are extremely limited compared to the OAT sample test result that you shared. There are only 20 markers on my son’s result.
May I please ask you to kindly help me in the interpretation and I would sincerely appreciate it if you would kindly let me know if you are aware of a possible reason why the results are limited in my case (Could this be related to the fact that the specimens had to be shipped internationally?).
Thanks so much in advance,
Riham
PS. I have the other results, eg food IgG, Comp stool analysis and Gluten/Casein peptides), but I wanted to kindly ask for your assistance on the OAT.Hello,
I know this question was intended for Dr Woeller, but if I may chime in: The report you attached here seems like it is the microbial organism organic acid test, which only shows the bacterial and yeast metabolites but not the other organic acid markers found on the complete OAT test.
You should call GPL and ask if they still have the sample on hand to run the full test, or you may want to retake the sample.
I use the M-OAT usually as a follow up so it is still a very useful test in that regard. Hope that helps.
Dr. Asady,
It looks like what was done is the Microbial Organic Acids Test (mOAT). This had nothing to do with internationally shipping. What could have happened is the mOAT was accidently check on the submittal form instead of the full OAT. Or, someone in the lab misread the submittal form. If you have a copy of your form see what was checked off. However, Great Plains Laboratory will also have a record of the submittal form sent in with the test kit.Overall, the results of the mOAT are normal for fungal and bacteria markers.
Sincerely,
Dr. WoellerP.S. As Dr. Joseph mentioned in his post, I too would suggest contacting Great Plains directly and see what happened.
Thanks so much Dr Woeller! I will communicate with the lab directly. Really appreciate your prompt response.
Thanks for your help Dr Joseph. Yes, I will get back to the lab to see if the sample is still available and if further testing can be performed. Seeing Dr Woeller’s presentation today made it clear to me that there was a lot of useful info that I missed out on.
Thanks again,
RihamRiham,
Yes, there is a lot of useful info, and practical info. I focus a lot on the vitamin and nutrient section. Also, the lab interpretation at the end is really, really helpful, and there i also an interesting little graphic that gives a visual explanation of the results. Hopefully you can get the whole OAT test don soon and I am sure you will find it as useful as I do.
Dr. Asady,
Once you get the full OAT reach out to me again and I will review it for you.Sincerely,
Dr. WoellerDear Dr Woeller,
1. I want to do the OAT for my autistic son (8 yo). We live in Russia. I contacted GPL but they answered that they don’t send kits to Russia, unfortunately, due to some custom problems. I can order it through Europe but there will also be the problem to send the frozen sample fast from Russia to The US.
That’s why I’m trying to find some other laboratory, not in the USA. Maybe in Europe. Maybe you could suggest something?
There are a lot of labs in Russia that can do this test. And we did it several times. But they are absolutely different from GPL OAT. I cannot find most important markers in the results (HPHPA, arabinose and others). That’s why I want a good OAT.
2. In the OAT which we did in a Russian Lab I can see the increased HVA and VMA. But there are no 4-cresol and HPHPA markers… Does the high levels of HVA and VMA mean that dopamine beta-hydroxylase enzyme is affected? And what should we do?
3. If HVA and VMA are high can we suppose that it can be because of Clostridia? I understand that it can be only the assumption. But as I mentioned, unfortunately, there are no Clostridia markers in the OAT which we did in Russia…
Sorry for the strange questions. I just hope to have a good OAT somehow
Thank you!
Best regards,
IrinaIrina,
That’s unfortunate. I didn’t know that about Russia. Unfortunately, not every OAT has the exact same markers. There are similarities, but not exact.It’s possible the high HVA could be coming from dopamine beta-hydroxylase (DBH)inhibition from clostridia. It probably is. In fact, if your son is dealing with ongoing digestive problems and behavior issues that seem connected to clostridia than I would personally treat him as such.
There is another reason that DBH can be high and that is a genetic mutation (or many mutations) that affect this enzyme. I haven’t really discussed this yet because the information is preliminary and Great Plains is looking to add a test for DBH genetics soon, but I am not sure when. Apparently, the testing for it is quite complicated for a lab to do correctly.
Also, the VMA being high can occur from stress, anxiety, fear, panic, etc. VMA is linked to norepinephrine/epinephrine so any thing causing a high adrenaline state may show high VMA.
Dr. Woeller
P.S. I don’t know of a GPL OAT alternative out of Europe.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.