FARGO – Nichole Mortice has struggled for all of her 37 years with anger and depression. She attempted suicide several times as a child and adolescent. She tried to hang herself, overdose on medication and slept on railroad tracks.

"I knew I was different and questioned my worth," she said. "School was hard for me. I got bullied a lot because I was different."

Mortice was hospitalized several times as a teenager for her suicide attempts. She ultimately earned a General Education Diploma, but holding a job was difficult.

Since the age of 8, she has been prescribed myriad medications in mostly failed attempts to provide relief for her psychiatric illnesses.

"All they could do was throw drugs at me," she said. "Nothing seemed to work."

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That began to change after genetic testing led to the recent discovery that her body is unable to process certain medications, including the vast majority of drugs that were prescribed to treat her behavioral health problems.

The problem: a genetic variation that leaves Mortice without a protein enzyme that allows her liver to properly metabolize certain medications.

The testing, provided by GeneSight laboratory, was made available by Quality Life of Fargo, a counseling service by Linda Jo Volness, a psychiatric clinical nurse specialist.

Mortice began seeing Volness two years ago. After taking Mortice's history and assessing her symptoms, Volness prescribed a new medication, Saphris.

As it happened, the genetic testing later determined that Saphris was one of few drugs that were safe and effective for Mortice, she said.

"Saphris isn't my cure, and I can't function a lot of days," Mortice added. "But it helps."

Genetic testing also has helped guide psychiatric prescriptions for two of her children, who have suffered from similar symptoms.

Her daughter Melody, 10, looked angry even from birth. "Even when I would feed her, she looked mad at me for some reason," Mortice said. "She always wanted to be on the go."

As Melody grew, she began banging her head. She became withdrawn, and almost stopped eating, refusing to eat anything but pizza and a peanut butter candy.

In school, her behavior often became so disruptive that she was sent home. She also refused to do her schoolwork and had difficulty making friends because of her antisocial behavior.

Her refusal to eat stunted her growth, and Mortice became increasingly alarmed about her health. Her medications weren't helping.

Then, after her own genetic testing helped point to more-effective medication, Mortice turned with Volness' help to that avenue for more effective treatment of Melody's autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder.

"We could have been guessing for years on the right medications for her," Mortice said. "Now we know the safest ones for her."

Once again, there are no "cures" for the illnesses, but Melody now is "on the right track," her mother said. She started eating again and has gained weight, though her height remains below normal.

"I think it saved her life," Mortice said of the genetic testing that led to better prescriptions. "I think she would have kept losing weight. She's doing good."

Her 8-year-old son, Gabe, also has benefited from genetic testing to treat his problems, which include difficulty concentrating and violent outbursts when his teachers or mother tried to help him.

Gabe, who loves to build things, now performs above his grade level in math.

"I really love the genetic testing," Mortice said, adding that it has helped to considerably reduce the lengthy trial-and-error process in drug selection. "We wouldn't know what was happening without the genetic testing."

Volness, who has used GeneSight for her patients since the service became available, said it is particularly useful with patients who have had a poor response to their medications.

"I'm able to test them and make changes in their medication," she said. Testing also can help to avoid side effects, especially for antidepressants.

So far, she has used the testing for more than 100 patients. It helps to select the right drugs from six classifications of medication, including antidepressants, antipsychotics, pain medication, folic acid deficiency and attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder.

"For mental health, this is a huge breakthrough," Volness said. "I'm not willing to give medication to families when I know their bodies can't metabolize them."

Although it's a valuable tool for practitioners, genetic testing has limits. "Genetic testing does not help us diagnose," she said.

Health insurers decide whether to cover the testing on a case-by-case basis, she said. GeneSight offers payment plans based on a sliding scale according to a patient's income.

"This company has done a great job" of making the service available," Volness said. "It's been well-needed in psychiatry."

Both Essentia Health and Sanford Health offer some genetic testing services for behavioral health, according to the health systems.

Mortice said she told her family's story in the hope that more people will learn that the genetic testing is available.

"I think this should be available everywhere," she said. "You wouldn't have to take medication after medication."