ammonia levels

[Guest guest]

I'm not sure, but I THINK, Mark, and Andy, were trying to say the

same thing I was about ammonia levels being unreliable.

The best way to have an ammonia test is either outpatient or

inpatient, but AT THE HOSPITAL, so it will get put on ice and run

right away.

There is also another problem though with ammonia levels- it

may not tell you much since it will vary from day to day and hour

to hour- it has to do with when and what the patient last ate (the

metablic process).

That is what I was talking about, other tests that show how the

metabolic process is working (or not working).

Mark's CellMate program has a section called " ammonia

indices " . I'm sure since Mark wrote the program that he can

explain this much better than I.

Mark????

Ruth=

From:  " Mark Schauss " <schauss@c...>

Date:  Wed Nov 6, 2002  9:44 am

Subject:  Ammonia and blood tests

There was a comment made on the list that you can assess

ammonia through a standard blood test. This is simply not

possible. I asked Dr. ph Quashnock, former lab director for

Labcorp of Reno is this is even remotely possible and he said

" absolutely not. " There are really only two accurate ways of

determining ammonia buildup in a child or adult.

First, you can measure ammonia directly through a blood

sample which needs to be frozen almost immediately and tested

right away, which is rarely done correctly. The second is to run a

urine organic acid test which measures citrate and orotate. If

both are elevated, it is most

likely due to an ammonia buildup.

In health,

Mark Schauss

From:  " andrewhallcutler " <AndyCutler@a...>

Date:  Wed Nov 6, 2002  12:39 pm

Subject:  Re: Ammonia and blood tests

In fact it isn't that hard to get a blood ammonia determination as

long as you make sure you go to a hospital where they actually

measure it in house. It is important and relevant to certain

hospital cases

so they often can do this test and they do it right away so the

sample problem is taken care of.

Also if you have a good draw station and talk to the phlebotomist

about how to handle the sample and stick around to watch it will

sometimes get done right.

It is more likely you get a false positive than a false negative,

which isn't that bad. After all, if the test comes back + you will

follow up and re-check it.

Andy . .. . . . . .

And I wrote (excerpted):

From:  " rmart620 " <rmart620@a...>

Date:  Wed Nov 6, 2002  2:25 am

Subject:  Re: Omega-6 fatty acids & Kane, PhD

Dr. Kane also looks at the child's full chemistry panel- some lab

results indicate a problem with ammonia, even if the ammonia

level isn't elevated (ammonia varies from day to day and different

times of day), so other results can give a better understanding of

this. I won't go into a lot of detail here. She recommends

appropropriate supplements to bring down ammonia levels-

usually butyrate (a SHORT chain fatty acid), and also other

supplements (different forms of bicarb) etc., based on that

client's particular profile.