SNPs, lifelong mood problems, antidepressants

Hello, I’m new here. I’m sure these particular snps have been discussed quite a lot but I don’t have the mental bandwidth to search the forum, so starting afresh.

I am trying to understand myself relative to my history and my genetic results processed through genetic genie, nutrihacker, etc. As a child, I was extremely shy and insecure, and when I became a teen, I became depressed, had an eating disorder, low self-esteem, no focus or drive, and no courage to follow my BS degree to a real career. I went on Prozac around 30, stayed on it thinking I had an imbalance though I really don’t feel it worked, and if anything it began ruining me, numbing emotions, destroying my libido and sex life, blocking my ability to truly engage in my relationship/marriage. I switched to Wellbutrin at one point trying to improve the libido-sex issue to no avail, and then was put on Effexor, which I stayed on for 12 years despite it not doing anything other than make me a bit crazy and keep me from caring that I didn’t actually feel better.

Four years ago I had had enough, and tried to come off Effexor. I substituted in serotonergic supplements such as 5-htp and SamE and don’t know if I actually CAUSED what later was figured to be protracted withdrawal or not, but I ended up stopping and going back on Effexor 10 months later, after Remeron was started and failed. I had never experienced such devastating doom, suicidality, horror, depression, agoraphobia, crippling anxiety, and anhedonia as I did during that time.

Once I took that first dose of Effexor I began to feel dramatically better within an hour, and those drugs aren’t supposed to work that fast. That was the beginning of realizing that I’d been in withdrawal, and I learned about neuroplasticity and the oppositional changes made to the nervous system while on those drugs, their absence leaving those changes unopposed. And so I began a micro taper of both drugs.

I’ve been tapering for going on four years with some to go. In the meantime, I suspected I had the MTHFR mutations which might explain why I always had such a hard time emotionally . So, I did the 23andme analysis and put the raw data through promethease, genetic genie, nutrahacker and the like.

I am compound +/- for the MTHFR mutations, but I learned there’s a lot more. With regards to mood…

COMT rs4680 AA
COMT rs4633 TT
MAO-A TT
VDR Taq AA
BHMT-08 TT
And
BDNF [rs6265] AA

What I’d like to figure out is, with all of this, were SSRI and SNRI the absolute opposite of what I needed? Might my neurotransmitter levels have been too high all along? I’d heard that too high can lead to mood issues as well.

I was doing so horribly while taking the 5-htp and SamE that I stopped taking them and the next day took a crumb of Effexor, and almost ended up in the hospital with serotonin syndrome, a close call!

I was on miniscule amounts of Effexor and Remeron, 6 mg and 2.9 mg respectively (minimum therapeutic doses being 37.5 mg and 15mg) last year when I decided to try CBD oil to help my insomnia, trying a low dose. Well, within five days my mood crashed and my insomnia and anxiety got way worse! Apparently CBD oil blocks the CYP 450 enzymes that process both drugs and so though on a low level of everything I still nearly went SS again! Plus I’m a slow metabolizer on one of them. No one had heard of such a thing, but I guess my snps are just such as to make it all come together!

So, am I missing anything with the snps I listed above? Do they predispose me to having naturally higher levels of NTs? Any recommendation on which test to do to determine my levels? I was looking at ZRT lab’s test because it covers metabolites as well. I thought it might be time to have a look, but only if their dried urine test is actually worth it. And then what?

Currently feeling low and ruminating about the lost years of my life on the drugs, midlife crisis mode. I just want to have some energy, drive, motivation, creativity, aspirations, and joy which have all been missing for so many years!

Thanks, sorry so long!

I am so sorry no one responded to this sooner but I am new here and could not really help you. But I will bump this topic so someone will respond to this.

Thanks. Though I know it is controversial, I am having my neurotransmitters and associated metabolites tested (urine, second morning void) just to see if there’s an indication that my Mao-A and COMT homozygous mutations are dominating, causing too high levels of NTs. I know this test can’t measure levels in the brain but what else do we have? Need information to see what’s really going on since antidepressants may have been the last thing I needed if levels were already high!

How and why please. Your help is appreciated