Hi Karen,
I think the link might be specific to you joining one of the odour groups which I am a member of since I took the link from there. It was either the Yahoo Group Trimethylaminuria or the Yahoo Group BodyOdorGroup.

In any case if you want to see my abnormal blood amino acid profile join the Yahoo Group called BodyOdorGroup then click on the 'Files' link on the left side of the page. Then click on Aminoacids 12[1].04.pdf

I don't know if this test is covered by Health insurance. Your regular doctor may do the blood amino acid profile test but I believe he is unlikely to give you a copy of the result or tell you if the result is abnormal!

To answer your question more fully I will post a reply which I posted to another girl about this test:-
........

It has long been known that some types of Body Odor are accompanied by an abnormal amino acid profile. I am living proof of that. Search the internet using the terms ' Body Odor AND amino acids' and you will see what I mean.

I actually got a blood amino acid test done. I will be getting a blood and urine amino acid test done through another clinic soon so will let you know the results of that. Unfortunately, most family physicians will simply ignore abnormal blood amino acid or organic acid profiles. Go figure!

I think the reason is that many people have blood amino acids outside the reference range and are completely asymptomatic. Another reason could be that there is little that can be done to change it (if our metabolism is at fault) so why bother!!!

For example, if a person has high bood glucose (diabetic) you can do something about it (give them insulin) so that is where the doctor would definitely tell the patient they have an abnormal blood glucose result. In our cases, since there is nothing they can do about it, why alarm us? That is what I think may be the reason they don't tell us.

I work in the medically allied field and I know of no doctor who would inform his patients about an abnormal blood amino acid/organic acid profile unless the patient has really very serious clinical symptoms.

This whole thing is a research area and 95% of doctors won't carry out these tests on anyone with breath/ Body Odor . The 5% who do are the doctors in the know (in my opinion).

I would like to stress that I think this test is a must for people who have fecal breath/body odor (as I do) ESPECIALLY if they have both of these (as I do). Can you tell me what type of odor you have? What does it smell like? Do you have just body odor or breath odor too?

For anybody else getting these tests done I am afraid your doctor will not show you the results and will not let you have a copy of the results. However, please ask him because you may prove me wrong.

This is why I got these tests done privately. I did a search on the internet for sites which carried out this test. I rang them up and they told me to go to a clinic where a phlebotomist would take my blood sample. The results were sent to me by post so I bypassed the doctors altogether. The blood amino acid profile test cost me £210. I think that is around 400 U.S. dollars)

I think there is another way you can achieve the same thing and that is to see your own doctor privately (they charge a lot for this in the UK) and tell him you want a copy of your blood/urine amino acid and organic acid profile.

On my amino acid profile result sheet you can see which web site I used to get this test done. I don't know if this site has branches in America (if that's where you are from). I would like to stress that I neither approve nor disapprove of that clinic. This is just so that nobody gets the impression I am working on comission from them! :))

Even if my posting is only relevant to 5% of us with this problem, I feel it my duty to let people know and in that way it is their choice whether or not they get this test done. What I have is something rare and that is why I am recomending this test initially ONLY for people who have fecal breath/body odor. It may be relevant to other types of breath/body odor but I can not say for certain.
Arun

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/bodyodorgroup/
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Trimethylaminuria/

Hi Sug,
I am merely trying to say that I have an abnormal blood amino acid profile and that is why I am suggesting that people who have the same condition as me (fecal breath AND Body Odor ) get their amino acid profiles checked.

This is a rare enzyme disorder and the enzyme responsible has not been documented. That is why I am urging anyone else with a similar problem to come forward and get tested. These are rare enzyme disorders and only with numbers will we be able to identify the deficient enzyme and get research started
Arun