6 replies to this topic

[thepassionofchad]

Another chapter in my search for a supplement regimen that agrees with my chemistry. I came across a disease called pyroluria, with a long list of seemingly random symptoms and questionable validity in the scientific community. The treatment was simple... extra zinc and vitamin b6. Doesn't sound like something a quack doctor would make up to sell expensive treatments and supplements for, so I went down the list and checked the symptoms I had, namely:

White spots on fingernails, no appetite in the morning/tendency to skip breakfast, pale skin makes tanning extremely hard, sensitivity to bright light, hypersensitive to loud noises, slight dyslexia, much higher mental capability in the evening, anxiousness and depression, preference to spicy or heavily favored foods, low tolerance for stress, antisocial behavior, fatigue and lack of energy, panic attacks.

Like I said... long list, and these are only the ones I can say that I have. After seeing the surprising number of symptoms that I matched I went down to Walmart and picked up a bottle of Zinc, B6, and Magnesium (heard that it also can help). Today is the forth day of my regimen, which looks like this:

Morning with food:

Vitamin B6 200mg

Vitamin C 1000mg

Vitamin D3, 5000 iu

Vitamin E 200 iu

Afternoon empty stomach:

Zinc 50mg

Nightime empty stomach

5HTP 100mg

Melatonin 3mg

Magnesium 250mg

Zinc 50mg

First day I didn't feel much, maybe a little peppier but that could have been placebo. Second day was to say the least, awesome. I literally felt like I was on Adderall or some other upper. I had one glass of Mountain Dew but my caffeine tolerance is so high it couldn't have done much if anything. I was more social, handled stress extremely well at work, and just felt good. At the end of the third night I was praying that this wouldn't be a honeymoon phase. Third day wasn't quite as good as the second but I believe thats because I had to stay home all day to try and sell my car, but nonetheless still 10x better than before. Today marks the fourth and all I have to say is I'm still feeling so good that I had to get on the forum to tell someone about it. What has surprised me the most is my attitude towards other people. All my life I've been extremely apathetic and its caused me to lose more than one relationship. Now I actually care about other people and have sympathy for them. I've also become more assertive at work and in personal life... including my sex life =]

I realize that this indeed may not actually be pyroluria and possibly some other deficiency that this particular regimen is correcting. Zinc can help raise low testosterone levels which I've long suspected I've had, but I don't think I'd be seeing results like this so soon if that was the case.

I'd like to hear others thoughts on my situation/regimen and possibly others that have sought treatment for pyroluria.

[unregistered_user]

No thoughts other than to say I hope you found the answer to your problem. Good luck!

[Jam12]

So, thepassionofchad, how are you feeling on your pyroluria supp program now that it's been almost a month? I suspect that I have the disorder, or something else that is causing a b6/zinc deficiency. Right now I'm waiting for some whole food supps that should arrive in a little over a week.

[Harry777]

Oh, Pyroluria is real. I suffer from it. It took me 8 years to work out what was causing all my symptoms, I suffered from such things as:

• Brain fog
• Chronic fatigue
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Digestion issues

I tried so many things before I found out it was Pyroluria. It sounds like a simple disease to treat when you read about it but it can take a while to get your supplements correct. Your body also needs to get back in balance and taking the supplements can make you feel worse before you feel better.

I would highly recommend you also get tested for Pyroluria before taking supplements for it long term.

Life is chugging along nicely for me know, my health has improved in leaps and bounds. I feel like a normal functioning person again.

I blog about living life with Pyroluria at: http://pyrolurialife.com

[Synaptik]

Bumping this rather old thread to solicit other people's opinions. I've been searching for over 15 years to find the cause of my mild depression/social anxiety without resorting to meds. I also experience days where I'm mentally "tired", and can't snap out of the tired funk all day. Nothing has been more of a temporary masking option. I've come to the recent conclusion taking supplements which act on multiple receptors affects me very negatively (St. John's Wort, Rhodiola, Tyrosine, Kratom, etc). 

 

But in the past week, I decided to give a liquid Vit B Complex a try, with 30mg Zinc supplementation after checking off 16 of 29 "Common" symptons of people with Pyroluria (just the main effects - 15 positive answers needed for probable symptoms). The results have been pretty positive, and NOT placebo IMO. I'm pretty sensitive to most supplements, alcohol - just about anything. The main effect being a lessened social anxiety around people, consistently reducing the "noise" in my head. 

 

Anyone else experience this type of result? The science around whether pyroluria exists as a full blown "condition" seem scant, but there are plenty of anecdotal evidence by people who've experienced results. 

[Chris_T_Malta]

I think I have this and would like to start supplementing Zinc.

 

What's the best bio-available form of Zinc supplement I can take? 

[crazepharmacist]

Careful. 100 mg per day is an extremely large dose. The upper limit is 40 mg. I think 30 mg in a supplement such as ZMA plus the small amount in most multivitamins and whatever miniscule amount in diet is a good daily amount to take. Zinc is actually neurotoxic in high dosages so do be mindful of that.