Brain Gains

Allow us to introduce you to the breakthrough that could transform mental health treatment. It just may guide you to your match made in (medication) heaven.

- Jenni Miller

Managing my mental health has been a balancing act for decades, ever since I was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder at the age of 9. As an adult, I’ve patched together, through trial and error, a regimen to deal with it that ideally— ideally—includes talk therapy, exercise, acupuncture, journaling, and meditation. Over the years, I’ve also tried countless medications in various combinations.

But the pandemic made it brutally clear that my meds and I had been staggering along for way too long. I was swallowing an increasingly convoluted cocktail that was not only ineffective but eating away at my quality of life. I couldn’t concentrate, recall words, or spell without autocorrect. The virus also triggered my deepest OCD contamination fears and sent me back into the grief of my mother’s death in 2018. I made do on adrenaline and panic for a while, but by fall 2020, I was desperate.

Late one night, I found a website for a mental health-focused genomic testing kit, which promised comprehensive genetic guidance for smarter Rx decisions based on a simple cheek swab. All I needed was a prescription from my psychiatrist (who was more than used to my insomnia-fueled research) and my credit card. My doc had heard about such testing but hadn’t tried it with clients herself—and said she was on board if I was. I purchased the kit, excited to see what it could offer, and began my journey into a whole new world of help. Come along.…

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