Which of these urine porphyrin procedures minimizes false negs?

[Guest guest]

Tried posting this on frequent-dose-chelation but didn't get any bites...

[background: I am 45 yo with CFS, had a lot of amalgams as a child; did the DDI

hair test, did not quite meet counting rules but did have several elements out

of range; can't just try AC chelation protocol b/c I have 7 crowns potentially

covering amalgam so replacement would set me back $8-12k]

I am interested in getting the 24-hr fractionated urine porphyrins test. I have

read Andy's posts on the sample processing problems which lead to high

negatives. For example, back in 2000 he says (

http://onibasu.com/archives/am/1043.html ):

" The problems are from shaking it (to mix the sample), exposing

it to light, or letting it warm to room temperature BEFORE it is preserved. "

and

" The best situation is if the preservative (e. g. 10 grams sodium carbonate)

is in the original collection container. "

But in his 2009 interview with Mark Schauss, he says the test has

" very limited clinical utility because of the very high rate of false negatives.

And that flows from the fact that, in a laboratory test, the real " chain of

analysis " starts while the urine is still in the urethra. Once it comes out as a

free stream in the air, the lab test has started, and from that point until the

final measurements [are] made, everything can affect the result. ...

The problem is that porphyrins are

very, very sensitive to air oxidation and to light oxidation (photo-oxidation)

so, if you pee into a bucket in a room with fluorescent light, by the time you

get the container and pour it into the collection container in the refrigerator,

half the analyte is gone! And that's not under the laboratory's control –

there's nothing they can do about that, there's no way they can check, they

can't know that happened. If you bring it to a laboratory and the technician

hasn't done the test before, they're supposed to make sure that the urine's

well mixed. If they shake the container, instead of gently rock it back and

forth, shaking it can destroy half the analyte. If they do this in a room with

fluorescent lighting, that can destroy another half of the analyte. So, you can

be sitting there with someone who has a very high level and shows up with a

perfectly normal test and that's not uncommon. "

So, I am thinking I will use LabCorp since they will give me the preservative

(Na2Co3) in the opaque container (which I keep in the fridge). I THINK that

eliminates Andy's 2nd concern about shaking rather than rocking, because it is

already in the preservative (?)

Then, to avoid his 1st concern about air and light sensitivity, what if I pee

right into the collection bottle (despite the fact that it says not to (you are

supposed to pee into the " hat " then transfer) and close it quickly, so it goes

from my urethra to the bottle with minimal light and air exposure.

Other alternatives are

a) Metametrix, no preservative, but you pipette your own aliquot into an amber

tube that you freeze before shipping. (Oddly, its not a 24-hour collection but

not random; you only collect overnight and first morning urine). Not covered by

insurance - $174.

local lab called Clinical Pathology Lab. I keep container refridgerated

during collection, but it contains no preservative, but they light protect

during the whole process and send the aliquot frozen. They actually send it to

Salt lake City to a lab called ARUPLab (Associated Regional University

Pathologists)

I guess part of why I am not sure what is best is that when he wrote " The

problems are from shaking it (to mix the sample), exposing it to light, or

letting it warm to room temperature BEFORE it is preserved " , I dont know if the

phrase " BEFORE it is preserved refers to all 3 concerns or just the room

temperature. If all 3, then my plan with LabCorp is the best. If not, maybe

Metametrix because I prepare the aliquot myself so i would know not to shake.

Thanks for any feedback,

Nina