10/25/2023
Some of my favorite things are the memes about hilarious Pinterest cake fails. (There are some really funny ones about crafting, too!)
I think the reason they're so funny to me is that I have experienced that frustration myself. I love to bake, as well as doing crafts. Normally I'm pretty good at both. But, occasionally, I'll put a lot of effort and excitement into something that doesn't quite turn out like I want it to. I'm a type A personality, which means I'm very motivated and driven to excel in everything. I can tend to be very competitive. So, when something turns out less than ideal, I can get frustrated.
Luckily, with cakes and crafts, it isn't the end of the world if we get it "close enough"-- we can laugh about that and move on.
But, when we're talking about someone's medicine, someone's life, "close enough" just isn't ok.
Traditionally, much of medication prescribing has been a one-size-fits-all, trial-and-error approach. We knew that individual differences in responses to medicine were often observed from patient to patient, but we really didn't know why they happened.
BUT...now in many cases we DO know the cause of these variations in drug responses. The answer often lies in the DNA. (PGx) is the study of genetic influences on drug therapy. Your inherited forms of "pharmacogenes" (drug genes) can determine whether drugs will accumulate, be too toxic, or even be ineffective for each person. It's one area of specialty for me.
PGx is absolutely amazing. It can help so many patients, as well as their providers, to predict and avoid future medication problems, as well as to investigate and solve current medication problems. Think about that-- we can potentially AVOID ineffective drugs and medication problems!
Does PGx solve everything? Of course not. There are many things outside of genetics that can influence our drug therapies. Compliance, lifestyle, drug interactions, and other things play a role as well. PGx isn't the magical solution to all of our problems in medicine, BUT it is a very important piece of the puzzle, and one that must be considered.
