Nutritional Endocrinology Practitioner Training (NEPT)
Clinical Pearl
November 22th, 2015

An Often Overlooked Cause of Anxiety and Mood Swings

Anxiety and mood swings are common complaints we see in our clients. And there are many potential underlying causes – imbalanced gut flora, serotonin deficiency, GABA deficiency, gluten intolerance, and many more.

One that’s often overlooked is pyroluria.

Pyroluria is a genetically determined chemical imbalance involving an abnormality in hemoglobin synthesis which leads to the production of too much of a byproduct of hemoglobin synthesis called “kryptopyrrole”. Kryptopyrrole binds to Vitamin B6 and zinc and makes them unavailable. This leads to deficiencies of Vitamin B6, zinc and also omega 6 fatty acid, which results in the symptoms that resemble in part a variety of psychiatric disorders.

Symptoms of pyroluria include:

anxiety, shyness or fearfulness

mood swings

inner tension since childhood, but hiding these feelings from others

bouts of depression or nervous exhaustion

poor dream recall, stressful or bizarre dreams, or nightmares (low vitamin B6)

excessive reactions to tranquilizers, barbiturates, alcohol, or other drugs, in which a little produces a powerful response (low vitamin B6)

sensitive to bright sunlight or noise

frequent fatigue

prone to iron anemia or low ferritin levels

cold hands or feet

frequent colds or infections

allergies

adrenal issues

problems with sugar metabolism

neurotransmitter imbalances, especially low serotonin

Pyroluria is easy to reverse once you determine that it exists. You can confirm with a urine test called Kryptopyrrole, available at:

http://www.pyroluriatesting.com/ This lab will ship internationally.

Rapid recovery is often seen once nutritional supplementation has begun.

Typical approach is:

Zinc 25- 75 mg (use taste test to determine dose. continue to increase until the test shows zinc levels are adequate.

Vitamin B6 – as pyridoxine 100 – 200 mg/day; for Pyridoxal – 5- phosphate, the active form, 25-50 mg. Continue to increase dose until regular dream recall occurs

evening primrose oil – 1300mg per day

Improvement is often noted within days, sometimes weeks and less frequently changes take 3 months to manifest.

Other references:

http://www.drkaslow.com/html/pyroluria.html

http://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/pyroluria-questionnaire-from-the-antianxiety-food-solution/#sthash.tBffOdch.dpuf

http://drritamarie.s3.amazonaws.com/materials/Pyroluria.pdf