Urine Mineral Panel

Dr. Weyrich's Naturopathic Functional Medicine Notebook  

Test Overview

The Urine Mineral Panel is usually used to evaluate toxic metal burden in a patient. Typically the test is done as a chelator challenge test in which one or more doses of a heavy metal chelator such as DMSA (Maximum dose 30 mg/kg/day; 10 mg/kg/dose; 500 mg) followed by a timed or 24-hour urine collection. Levels of nutritional minerals are also of interest, as chelation therapy may deplete the body of these essential minerals.

Test Indications

• First-line test for evaluating Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), Asperger's Syndrome, Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD, ADHD), and learning disability.
• First-line test for evaluating depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders.
• First-line test for evaluating environmental toxicity.
• Seizure disorders.
• Hypertension.

Sample Collection

1. Your doctor will provide you with the sample collection kit and a prescription for the chelator.
2. Detailed instructions are in the sample collection kit.

Your doctor or lab may have different instructions that supersede the above.

Labs Performing Test

Name of Lab	Lab Code	Estimated Cost	Processing Time	Comments
Great Plains		$185+chelator		Cash discount and some insurance

Costs cited are subject to change and may be reduced by insurance or cash discounts and increased by sample collection fees.

Theory

Toxic Metals

• Aluminum
• Antimony
• Arsenic
• Beryllium
• Bismuth
• Cadmium
• Lead
• Mercury
• Platinum
• Thallium
• Thorium
• Uranium
• Nickel
• Tin
• Barium
• Tungsten
• Zirconium

Nutritional Metals

• Calcium
• Magnesium
• Sodium
• Potassium
• Copper
• Zinc
• Manganese
• Chromium
• Vanadium
• Molybdenum
• Boron
• Iodine
• Lithium
• Phosphorous
• Selenium
• Strontium
• Sulfur
• Cobalt
• Iron

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References

Unless specifically noted above, references used in the construction of this web page include the following:

[FDM] Lecture notes from Functional Medicine University.

[SCNM] Lecture notes from Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine.

[UT] Lecture notes from the University of Tennessee graduate programs in Chemistry and Biochemistry.

[GP] Great Plains Laboratory Physician Training lecture notes and documentation.

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This web page is http://www.DrWeyrich.com/labs/urine_mineral.html   -   Phone Dr. Weyrich at (480) 423-6952