The promise of DNA guided care has been a long time coming but we are on the brink of practical application. I've had a keen interest in DNA so I decided to get my genome sequenced and to see what I could learn. I wanted to know if it could help me manage my health.

There are a few suppliers of sequencing and they fall into two types.  One version analyzes a catalog of short sequences called SNPS that have known interpretations and lend themselves to genealogy such as Ancestry and 23andME.  The other does a whole genome sequence and captures all of the DNA data which is a huge amount of information, much of which isn't really well understood yet, but it is research grade.

I was a 23andMe customer from their early days, so this time I had a whole genome study done by Sequencing.com. That platform had a very easy customer interface which I liked, but what really attracted me was their process of continually updating the genetic risk analysis they did every week.  There is a lot of research going on and a one-time analysis is just a snapshot in time.  I was interested in staying up to date as new knowledge was published. The pace of research surprised me. There were 1171 updates to the research database in August that were compared to my genome to see if they affected me.

There is a lot of information available, but this is the report that I like the best, it examines my genome against all the known inferences and ranks my genes as to the kinds of risks that I should be aware of and it is updated weekly.  I was pleased to learn that I have no known high genetic risks.

That was pretty cool, when I drilled down, I learned that I have a high sensitivity to Warfarin, the blood thinner a lot of people take.  That will be important information should my docs ever want to give me that.  I also learned that I am in the 92nd percentile for risk of atrial fibrillation, a heart problem that runs in my family.  I haven't had any issues so far, but after discussing it with my GP, we did do some tests of my heart to better understand that hazard.  I thought those two things alone were worth the money.

It also gave me information about things that I might be a carrier for that I could pass on to my children and it was information that they could discuss with their docs about any of those genetic risks.

I was so pleased by what I received personally that I asked the company to give me a bundle that I could pass along to our members.  If you would like to learn more about it, here is a link.

dna.sequencing.com/fatty-liver-foundation/

It is important to understand that these are early days.  We have a lot to learn about how our individual DNA affects our health.  It isn't a magic bullet.  The counselors like to say that genetics is not destiny.  Many things affect our health, but this is a unique window into our individual situation and we are learning more every day.

Day to day living can be challenging when dealing with a disease.  Many people don't know what services are available to them in their local area. Finding those local resources in their local zip code is often a challenge for patients. We are developing a tool to help with that. Would you take a few minutes and examine our tool for locating local services?  Just click on the link below: enter your local zip-code in the form: explore how the services available to you in your area are shown: and take the short survey. The elements above the zip code function are under development, so don't comment on those just yet.

The Wellness League Local Search Tool

I will really appreciate it if you take this few minutes to give us feedback. As patients ourselves, how to live in the best way possible while dealing with illness is important. Your opinion matters.