Do you see your self/yourself/YOU! or someone you're responsible for and/or care for/about diagnosed or undiagnosed but with symptoms of any of the following conditions? I'm posting the % of people in the various groups that will have "pyroluria" and the main 'handfull' of category groupings: (Some say 'pyrrole disorder', others 'pyrole disorder'.

You'll notice that many sources will give percentages, such as the source below, and those will vary from source to source as well.  Realize this is emerging information that's being researched by credible people and organizations but it's 'outside the box of convention' and will take some processing to figure out what information YOU think is the most appropriate.  

This is a very long topic, with much to whittle away at learning or to overview and select which parts you wish to read in depth. I think this is an incredibly important area that conventional and outside the box providers and consumers are often totally unaware of and therefore worthy of a great bit of attention. 

 

This disorder is connected to an abnormal production of a group of body chemicals called pyrroles. Pyrroles are a worthless byproduct of hemoglobin synthesis. Most people have very little if any of these pyrroles circulating in their bodies. We know that through measuring levels of pyrroles excreted via the urine. Some of us, however, are not so fortunate. Pyrroles are abnormally high in about:

• 30% of schizophrenics
• 40% of persons with psychiatric problems
• 11% of normals
• 25% of disturbed children
• 40% of alcoholics  (There's a separate topic about pyroluria and addiction which was the initial topic I created on Lumigrate about pyroluria, where I have other sources I really like too, such as Primal Body, Primal Mind's website information, and a Front-Range treatment program started by the former NASA flight medicine director. That link is: www.lumigrate.com/forum/addiction-recovery-and-biochemical-restoration-function-and-integrative-medicine-inner-balance

Pyrroles do damage to us by binding to aldehydes throughout our bodies and causing their excretion along with the pyrroles. B6 (pyridoxine) being an aldehyde is systematically removed from its many needed sites and a severe B6 deficiency results. Equally damaging is the further scavengering done by the combination of B6 and pyrroles. Together this duo also seeks out and attaches itself to zinc and so both of these essential natural chemicals (B6 and zinc), are promptly dumped into the urine.

The loss of B6 and zinc is a psychiatric disaster. Many seemingly unrelated symptoms develop. Our interest in pyroluria is that it creates symptoms of inner tension, and bouts of nervous exhaustion and fearfulness that can be traced back to childhood or teen years. Without proper identification and treatment, pyrolurics slowly tend to become loners to avoid stressful situations. Their lives become an ongoing struggle to protect themselves from too much emotional and physical stress.     ----- (see source, below). 

January 7, 2015, I found a great resource in a Facebook group that I wanted to make people aware of.  Naturally, the FB group is a resource (be sure to check out the documents at the Files tab if you go), but in particular to place here in this topic at Lumigrate I found "Pyrrole Disorder for Therapists", in Issue 3 Oct-Dec 2013 at Neuropsychotherapist, written by Caryn Talty and Matthew Dahlitz a really great article.

The article is accessible in several places on the Internet, most which require subscribing / signing up, but this is a resource you can read the article from the link: www.neuropsychotherapist.com/pyrrole-disorder-for-therapists/

---

As I frequently do, in order to show people what they will find if they take my advise and follow the link, this is a small portion of what you'll find near the front / top of this article: 

What is pyrrole disorder? 

Pyroluria, or pyrrole disorder, is a condition caused by stress that depletes the body of certain vitamins and minerals before they are able to be absorbed.

In short, there are three main nutrients that are not properly absorbed in the pyroluric sufferer:

• vitamin B6
• magnesium
• zinc.

This trifecta of deficiencies can cause a debilitating combination of symptoms that will vary from person to person.  Most naturopaths will tell their patients that a good B complex is necessary to promote positive mood, and that magnesium is a wonderful mineral to promote a sense of calm.  B6 in particular is necessary for the creation of red blood cells.  It increases energy levels and proper cognitive function.  A deficiency of B6 will often cause inflammation, depression, and sometimes anaemia.  Magnesium is often used as a muscle relaxant for athletes, and a deficiency can be the cause of painful neck aches, sleeplessness, constipation issues, and even nervous twitching.  Zinc, on the other hand, is vital for concentration, memory, and good digestion, and when lacking, can lead to anorexia, leaky gut syndrome and digestive disease.

One person in treatment for pyroluria recently described in an interview his symptoms during a flare-up. He said he often had issues with concentration and a decreased energy level when dealing with stressful situations at work or at home.  He often developed insomnia and had very restless sleep patterns.  The lack of sleep exacerbated his condition, making it harder to concentrate and focus on what needed to be done.  “Procrastination is a coping mechanism sometimes,” he joked.  “Of course it only makes things worse.  Before diagnosis, I found it harder to deal with everyday problems without feeling anger and resentment toward the people that were dependent on me to do things.  After treatment I’ve noticed a mighty overall change in my mood.  Now when my stress levels rise and I start to feel that tension build, I know it’s time for a temporary increase in my dose.”

The client with pyroluria

The presence of pyroluria in our clients can have a profound effect on their mental and physical well-being due to the deficiency of these vitamins and minerals in their system. .... (take the above link to read the rest of the article, it's worth the trip!) 

 

Pyroluria / pyrrole disorder, was included on this topic about blood sugar and mood disorders, addictions, and other mental and behavioral as well as physical conditions, and at the very bottom of the list of resources at this link you'll see that I make a note and hope that people see that I'm drawing attention to the diet information and work of Pam Killeen, who I had the priviledge to have a phone conversation with, cementing for me her 'fit' with what I want Lumigrate YOUsers to have knowledge of.  www.lumigrate.com/forum/silent-diseases-mood-disorders-and-blood-sugar

---

"Pyrole Disorder for Therapists" is in PDF form in the Files/documents at the pyrole disorder Facebook group page. The link to the FB group (which is simply 'Pyroluria') is: www.facebook.com/groups/pyroluria/

Note: There had been 2,840 reads of this topic thread at Lumigrate by this date. Always interesting to keep track of the number of people finding what topics at Lumigrate of interest.

---

February 2, 2015 (and up to 3,262 reads on this topic thread, meaning 422 reads in 3-1/2 weeks, on a path for 500/month). POPULAR TOPIC!  Adding on AGAIN, with a link to a really cool website that had a topic about pyroluria that I found searching specifically with 'self centered people' in conjunction with pyroluria.  It was added just before new years so I am pleased to have found it (and the new resource to help people if they wish to use the experts from the Fern Life Center of Washington state, USA center).  www.fernlifecenter.com/pyroluria-a-missing-link-in-bipolar-disorder-depression-anxiety-autism-and-schizophrenia/  DEFINITELY outside the box and integrative, this center appears, I'm so envyous as this is exactly what we'd envisioned for the center we collaboratively started in 2008 but the one in charge of it went into a whole other (and less natural) direction (which is where the short-term money was, they just could not get their heads wrapped around having a simple hair cutting person in one room, not a laser hair removal business, etc.)

---

February 14, 2017  12,860 reads of this is what's showing now!  I had gotten back to looking on the Internet for new sources of information about pyroluria because I wanted to show someone who has a current focus on "carpal tunnel syndrome", since even in conventional hand therapy in years and decades past, they were aware of deficiency of B6 being connected .... then we can easily see how that's a 'point' of 'overlap' with pyroluria.   What I found was great! And so look in the boxes below, as I'm adding it in here: 

Pyroluria and Candida - Twin Causes of Modern Diseases, by Walter Last, at www.health-science-spirit.com/pyroluria.htm   .  This is 21 pages to print, I suggest PRINTING IT.  Then take a writing or colored writing utensil for everyone you're working on behalf of helping with their wellness in your circle / home / etc., and every time Mr. Last's words remind you of someone you're caring about helping with health, mark it.  Perhaps make copies and have the others do the same, or ask them to also print it out wherever they are. 

Who is Walter Last? Here's a link and a bio at the link, which has another link for a more extensive history / Story, as you can see: the-heal-yourself-series.com/Author.html 

Click here for "An Interview with Walter Last - The Walter Last Story".

WALTER LAST combines the training and work experience of Research Chemist, Biochemist and Toxicologist with that of Pacticing Nutritionist and Natural Therapist.

He was born and grew up in Germany and has held positions in medical institutions at the Universities of Greifswald, Cologne and Munich, working in research and toxicological investigations. He was Chief Forensic Chemist at Cologne and worked at Bio-Science Laboratories in Los Angeles.

In 1970 he settled in New Zealand and dissatisfied with drug-based medicine practiced as a Natural Therapist. He has lived in Queensland since 1981 and has investigated and experimented with a wide range of natural therapies to improve the effectiveness of natural medicine in treating serious and medically incurable diseases.

Walter Last is the author of "Heal Yourself", "Healing Foods" and "The Natural Way To Heal - 65 Ways to Create Superior Health", which is now available in e-Book and print form as "Heal Yourself - The Natural Way". He is the main contributor to the "Self Help Cancer Cure" book. He is a regular contributor to "Nexus" magazine and other publications. His latest books are the "Heal Yourself Series" of self-help handbooks which are available on this website. His other websites are: www.health-science-spirit.com, www.healing-yourself.com and www.heal-yourself.com.au.

RESEARCH & OBJECTIVES

Walter Last has spent almost 40 years researching health issues. His knowledge is based on sound scientific principals and up-to-date information on the causes and 'cures' of diseases, especially the number of metabolic illnesses which beset society today.

The author is constantly updating his articles and books as new research is carried out and new discoveries are made and his articles are regularly featured in NEXUS magazine worldwide as well as in various other publications.The main objective of these books is to increase each individual's knowledge of the functioning of their own bodies and the gradual transition to a more healthy state with the use of natural therapies. This is of benefit in helping to avoid various drugs, many of which merely 'mask' the illness.These methods have been proven to be extremely effective for a great many people.
Perseverance is the key.

Of course, this is not the path for everyone, as it takes dedication and patience. This is different to normal drugs which work almost instantly to relieve symptoms, but which do not necessarily cure. The aim is to bring the body and the immune system back to a state where a 'cure' follows as a natural consequence. Naturally, for any serious disease, or if you are unsure of a particular course of action, seek the help of a competent health professional.

Good luck with your efforts!

I took the link that's offered in what's in the box above, for the 2008 story / interview, and highly recommend you do as well.  Here's a paragraph that will directly apply to most people who are looking for information here: 

"However, the explosive increase in modern chronic diseases started 50 to 60 years ago with the widespread use of antibiotics. Because these are commonly prescribed and used without fungicides and probiotics, most people now have the wrong kinds of microbes in their intestinal tract, and have been invaded by Candida and other microbes and parasites. Instead of correcting this problem, sick people are just given more toxic chemicals as drugs and so continue to deteriorate. The other main reason is our capitalist system, which makes it so very profitable for the medical-pharmaceutical system to produce as many chronically sick people as possible, while natural healing methods are discouraged because they are not very profitable."

The larger packages in Lumigrate's graphic = the major concepts being brought up in this interview ..... But YOU can think about what YOUR 'elevator of health status' would be ...... Perhaps take a bit of a breather and think about this for a moment. ~ Mardy

And this: "Walter Last: It is unhelpful to believe that an expert knows more about your body then you do. Become your own expert then you can make your own mistakes and learn from them. That is how I learned. The main principles of Nature Cure are cleaning the body with fresh raw food, restoring the natural bacteria in the intestines, eliminating harmful microbes, finding access to fresh water, clean air, sunshine, outdoors activity and a satisfying emotional life.

Everyone needs to become his or her own specialist in self-healing. If there is no natural therapist or nature healer in your area and you need specific advice, then search on the Internet for an answer. I have a large website with information on natural living and self-healing on www.health-science-spirit.com, and .... If you read all this and try to understand and apply it, then you will be able to overcome most diseases and health problems without expert advice. Soon you will be able to teach the experts."

Doesn't THAT support what Lumigrate's all about? YOU becoming the key, central person in your health world -- and chosing what resources to use (that are representing surrounding YOU!) ~ Mardy

                           

 

I suggest: Set a goal of how long you'll work on it every day until you've gotten through it --- some people will have the time and energy / ability to do it in one sitting, or one day.  Others might need to just say 'every day we'll do a page, starting ________, with the exception of _________ (some people honor Sabbath, for example. OR that might be a day that they're working on spirit/mind/body and would dedicated study time to well-being work. ) It's up to YOU! ~~ Mardy

Or maybe there are certain days of the week that you canNot even imagine having the wherewithall to study one page of information.  Or maybe you just know that some days you're just too overdone to do anything like this, so you'll give yourself X# of passes to NOT study that day -- get a paperclip, put 'passes' under the paperclip, and use them as needed.  But THAT is how important I think this information is for people to read.  43% of people, I've read somewhere recently (or heard), now have pyroluria -- 3% is what will have it from genetics, and how many people used to have the conditions that you see from it, as a result.  Gradually, we've had unwellness overtake our people, and THIS does a major job of explaining why! So even if you study the 20 pages of info and don't feel YOU have pyroluria, it's pretty guaranteed someone you know WILL.  And what a blessing you will be to them if you can help turn them onto what will reverse their symptoms and make them feel better and live a longer, safer, happier, more fulfilling life! 

Another resource is at YouTube at C. Gray's channel.  Titled "Pyroluria, My experience."  This is the channel of Carolyn Gray, and she calls her podcasts she's doing "The Wellness Buzz".  In this case, I was using a different symptom search word combined with 'pyroluria' -- as I said, above, I was specifically looking for 'carpal tunnel syndrome' info to do with pyroluria when I found the above source.  On this one I was at YouTube and used a symptom though of as from the mind, psychiatry, behavioral -- personality disorders.   That chained me via YouTube's giving you 'up next' .....

Then Hawthorn University, also at YouTube if you wish or find their website because documents referred to by their invited guests are mentioned in this podcast and you'll be able to then download them (for free), presented on 6/17/14 by Food Mood Expert Trudy Scott, CN.  Titled Pyroluria, a Social Anxiety Condition.  Her websites are www.everywomanover29.com, www.antianxietyfoodsolution.com, and www.theanxietysummit.com.  (So they were providing this just after I'd done my scouring of things to create this topic at Lumigrate.  It's amazing to reflect on how much I found when I learned of pyroluria, and how it's just mushroomed from there with so many new sources, such as this one via Hawthorn University. 

I also went on to find at Lumigrate a lot of information about pyroluria and behavioral health that's provided by a company that does CME credits for learners in the professions which require CMEs.  That was geared a bit differently because the presenter was from more mainstream medicine circles where they see patients coming to them with the usual medication cocktail mix prescribed by mainstream medicine, so they were naming the medications by brand name and specifying they were doing so rather than their generic name because that's what providers will most relate to is the brand name.  I hope these NEW sources I'm editing in, above, assist YOU in finding the path to heath and well-being via information sources that I have found to be worth mentioning here.  ~ Mardy

You will see below a more complete listing of symptoms which can be experienced if a person has undiagnosed and/or improperly treated pyroluria. This is a topic emerging in functional medicine, not recognized, and even 'naysayed' by the orthodox/conventional medicine stronghold, so it's understandably not yet well known and it's also not as 'straightforward' to get information about, so keep that in mind as you read on. But I hope that I have sorted through what I could find on the Internet for health professionals and consumers alike to have a streamlined, thorough experience as a Lumigrate YOUser on the subject of pyroluria: 10-11% of Americans, OVERALL, will have pyroluria. Among certain groups of people there will be a much higher % than 11% as you can easily see.

Something which was even MORE difficult to find, which eventually I did find, was that one of the experts in the US from way back about this, who basically thinks he re-vitalized this discussion years back by picking it up when it was off in the ditch being not quite figured out totally, believes that Lyme / borrelia causes the pyrole disorder condition to onset.  That would be Dr Dietrich Klinghardt, MD.  And for those who have not studied the information about Lyme that's outside of he mainstream, organized medicine's circles, we have it in depth at Lumigrate --- and essentially it's thought that perhaps 3/4 of the people in the US have Lyme in them at this point in time, most without having the knowledge that symptoms are from Lyme, and some without symptoms (so far). 

Be sure to look over all the info, as there are sometimes opposite advisements about when to take which supplement, and there's one professional who says 'good theory but I've yet to see the results myself, though I'm a big supporter of those who developed the theory'. I had to really HUNT for something like that, though. It seemed like everyone who was talking about it was very supportive of it, and the 'usual naysaying' that goes on from conventional angles is to be expected, you have to learn to respect that as what this is about and interpret it for yourself. 

In order to teach 'how to DIY', Search words for researching terms is important to share with YOUsers ... like many of the complex chronic illnesses (labeled and identified as: chronic Lyme disease (aka chronic Burrelia or Burreliosis), fibromyalgia, MS, Parkinsons, Alzheimers, etc.), learning disabilities, and mental/behavioral differences and difficulties ('mood disorder' or 'personality disorder').

"Inner tension" is one of the symptoms that simply heads up the lists and information at various sources, over and over. Seeing that Lumigrate is about an integrative approach with functional medicine, I'm going to present a variety of information from different types of providers --- PhD, ND, MD, and some who don't have D's behind their names yet are on-board this material and are out in the mix with information, services, and products to address it with apparent validity. Naturally, decide for yourselves, that's the key for YOUsers to know -- looking to others is for resources and guidance but YOU're ultimate the decision-maker about YOU.  

Important to note: there are more than one location to get test kits in a DIY way, which is empowering to the patient/consumer to be in control of of getting a laboratory involved. You'll see them below in the information from the various sources I suggest.  One is located in Illinois, which has an $80 test for pyroluria, and I learned about them by their leader having placed an incredible statement that just showed her 'chops' on a blogsite that had some things that weren't well shored up. She righted the thread and was impressive enough that I went to see the website she had left in her signature information. It wasn't 'spam', she clearly had processed what was being said and addressed things and just left her signature information if anyone wished to know where to find her.

And I've seen a YouTube video by some woman who was nice to make a video about pyroluria, and she said the labs were $35. You might be able to find that independently, it's just nothing I had come across in my process and I'm not seeing how super low cost labs can have good quality; I've heard there are some places that do hair analysis for $10. How can they afford to open the mail and send you results for that, let alone run the sample? So I've stuck with some sources I felt were demonstrating knowledge and hopefully quality of service follows. 

This could be a topic that will be time and energy consuming for those who are interested, but at least the solutions presented have a reasonabe price tag affixed to them. I hope that if YOU put in the time and energy to take in and study the information presented at this topic, you'll see the 'connections' about information that's generally been 'disconnected', and how this is a 'missing link'. "Infections" being just one of them, which is one of the key symptoms of 'fibromyalgia'. And I have added in various differing "opinionators", below, that I have found the most interesting to consider about this zinc issue, whether it's pyroluria or otherwise. The symptoms (as presented by ONE source I wanted to present here for YOUsers to learn of, see credit where credit is due, below): 

• abdominal tenderness 
• constipation
• light/sound intolerance 
• hypoglycemia/ glucose intolerance
• China doll look or someone fits the symptoms popularized/called "Indigo Children"
• tremor/ shaking /spasms
• environmental and food allergies 
• autism/ most symptoms of ASD
• poor breakfast appetite
• cold hands or feet
• eosinophilia
• delayed or early puberty / sensitized hormone receptors
• stress intolerance
• emotional lability
• explosive anger
• anxiety / withdrawal
• paranoia/ hallucinations
• perceptual disorganization
• nail spots
• pessimism
• knee and joint pain
• depression
• crime and delinquency
• substance abuse
• attention deficit / ADHD
• amenorrhea/ irregular periods
• B-6 responsive anemia
• retention of toxic metals and environmental toxins
• poor dream recall
• acne
• stretch marks (stripes)

• coarse eyebrows (this was also described in another list as 'you know when the hairs get long and the eyebrows are hanging over the eyes ....'  Man, how MANY people have we spoken with who have that going on? We're likely more aware of it than they are! That's OFTEN the case with health symptoms in general ... hardest to see things in our selves, oftentimes.  

Editing this topic in early November 2014, as I've found a new resource that I think is really good that I'd like to add in up near the top AND say that when I have brought this up to people since learning of it, people want to just take more zinc and B6 and they don't seem to realize that this is NOT like saying 'vitamin C is good to take and this is how much of a range' -- this is complicated. It's something that people should thoroughly study and then decide how to proceed, and have qualified advisors if you're not at an expertise level to try this type of thing independently.  Join groups on Facebook that can help to support education and skill, and connect to other resources. 

Better Health Guy has this wonderful article as a PDF at this address: 

www.betterhealthguy.com/images/stories/PDF/kpu_klinghardt_explore_18-6.pdf

and I got that link by clicking on the teaser version of it at the website, here is the link:

www.betterhealthguy.com/kpu-explore

And this is their little overview information: 

Article: Kryptopyrroluria (aka Hemopyrrollactamuria): A Major Piece of the Puzzle in Overcoming Chronic Lyme Disease
Publication: Explore! / November 2009

Summary: A review of KPU and its impact on Lyme Disease with Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt MD, PhD

To view the article, click the article name link above or click here.

- See more at: http://www.betterhealthguy.com/kpu-explore#sthash.ozKWvTR1.d...

LABORATORY TESTS - HOW TO

In order to see a fairly DIY setup at the start, and get us thinking outside the box, here's the laboratory in Illinois that I referred to, above. (And you'll see that the BetterHealthGuy's article addresses this as well). So look into PyroluriaTesting dot com (link below) -- you can't get more right on than that! You'll see that they offer additional consultation services through a couple of physicians located nearby who have come through the orgnaization that trains about this.

The pyroluria test is $80, and I've seen a video on YouTube where a woman states that you can get testing for $35 --- I might be wrong, but a business can't proficiently open an envelope hardly for a $35 fee. It's about half a dollar now to send a piece of mail inside the US.....

I look for QUALITY in the progressive realm and offer options based on what I sort out from the pile on the Internet. With pyroluria, there's not a TON of information, but I really believe this is a major issue and am focusing on it considerably.  

Therefore, I've put this laboratory up 'front'... but you'll see at the bottom of this, the Integrative Psychology information will include testing you can order from them and they also have consultations. They're outsourcing that and are a practice of NP and MD, whereas this is a laboratory that outsources to the providers. And who knows what undisclosed arrangements go on between businesses that are connected -- sometimes there's nothing and other times there are things that are illegal or unethical or both.  

I also want to add in here that this well-known laboratory has a link about pyroluria testing but the information at the link to me is vague about how this is going to tell you about pyroluria.  I can see it'll give you zinc and many other things, and heavy metals ... They are a resource that providers I've worked with recently have been referring patients to generally, particularly if they don't have insurance and are paying out of pocket for all the labs that are needed for the provider to give direction to the patient/client/consumer. 

Many options today which simply require more time and energy on the consumers part to investigate, so hopefully I've pared things down and save YOU time by finding and posting the best (in my opinion) to this extensive 'core topic' at Lumigrate. 

 pyroluriatesting.com/

www.directlabs.com

I've selected this protocol for pyroluria from a naturopathic doctoring perspective, which was prepared by a Bastyr graduate, same as the ND who was the first to grace the 'stage' on Lumigrate in two videos, so I know it's a quality program she's been through; Sherri Jacobs, ND, CNS. It can be found at the NDNR website. It was strange, though, they give her website link in the credits, and when I clicked to follow out it took me to a 404 dead end within the NDNR website that said something like "some guy must have gotten here before you and broken the link". Which -- if a person doesn't understand what a 404 error is, they're going to really be confused. But I did want to include a naturopathic doctor in the mix here to remind people that in their live communities or online, remotely, YOUsers might get an ND on team YOU!.  

Essentially, we aware that there's a 'divide' in the naturopathic community because the traditional naturopathic doctor programs were extensively in-person, and similar to going to a program to become an MD or DO. Then the online and distance learning revolution came and programs sprouted up which didn't give as solid an education, yet they ended up with the same degree and initials after the name. States that didn't license NDs couldn't regulate what type of program, etc.

So that has been shifting and changing in various states in the US and you'll need to familiarize yourself a bit with what goes on where you are, but they're wonderful resources for this type of information, when it comes to the diet and how it affects mind, body, and spirit. 

Dr. Jacobs, at the link, provides a very easy to follow overview and protocol with a case example, so I encourage you to go see the details. Here's the link:  

ndnr.com/anxietydepressionmental-health/pyroluria-a-cause-of-anxiety/

(For general information about naturopathy and providers: www.naturopathic.org/)

You will see that the above resource doesn't have a lot in their reference list, just two things. One was Joan Mathews Larson's book Depression Free, Naturally, so I looked for a resource online for "Larson, pyroluria" (for those wanting to learn more about Searching these things out independently as we want YOU to become experts at this too): 

www.joanmathewslarson.com/HRC_2006/Depression_06/D_Hide_In_Closet.htm

"The most exciting research that we utilize is the identification and treatment of a genetic chemical imbalance called PYROLURIA, which is responsible for many signs and symptoms in nervous diseases." You will find this powerful statement as the lead-in  to a new heading and section which I am going to provide a portion of here so that you can see the kind of information they provide in this topic. I think this is a very good website for information and I want YOUsers to see a good example, with a portion of how they cover pyroluria.

This is one portion of the topic, and this topic is just one topic amidst a website of similar content. Please go see what else they have if you're intrigued by this, below from Depression Free, Naturally. [I will bold things that they don't have bolded at the source for YOUsers who have difficulty reading due to their fatigued brains (which they'll think is 'eyes' but it's as much the brains for perception. If a person has pyroluria they have a higher likelihood of learning disabilities so bolding can help with readability for them/us. (as I have many LDs, and, I recently realized, pyroluria)]

The second resource she used is from Jeremy Kaslow, MD, of Santa Ana, California. I will provide next, the information from his website's pyroluria topic. His website has similar style on a number of other topics, some of which are interrelated to this, so please go and see these sites! Pyroluria, An Inborn Mistake

This disorder is connected to an abnormal production of a group of body chemicals called pyrroles. Pyrroles are a worthless byproduct of hemoglobin synthesis. Most people have very little if any of these pyrroles circulating in their bodies. We know that through measuring levels of pyrroles excreted via the urine. Some of us, however, are not so fortunate. Pyrroles are abnormally high in about:

Pyrroles do damage to us by binding to aldehydes throughout our bodies and causing their excretion along with the pyrroles. B6 (pyridoxine) being an aldehyde is systematically removed from its many needed sites and a severe B6 deficiency results. Equally damaging is the further scavengering done by the combination of B6 and pyrroles. Together this duo also seeks out and attaches itself to zinc and so both of these essential natural chemicals (B6 and zinc), are promptly dumped into the urine.

The loss of B6 and zinc is a psychiatric disaster. Many seemingly unrelated symptoms develop. Our interest in pyroluria is that it creates symptoms of inner tension, and bouts of nervous exhaustion and fearfulness that can be traced back to childhood or teen years. Without proper identification and treatment, pyrolurics slowly tend to become loners to avoid stressful situations. Their lives become an ongoing struggle to protect themselves from too much emotional and physical stress.

Are you Pyroluric?

An abbreviated form of The Pyroluria Screening Test found in Depression Free, Naturally is shown below. If you answer postive to several of the items, you may wish to consult the full version in the book. The purpose of the test is to help identify physical and neurological symptoms that develop from losing large amounts of B6 and zinc.

B6 is the co-enzyme (meaning it is absolutely essential) in over FIFTY enzymatic brain reactions where amino groups are transformed or transferred. B6 has an important role in your nervous system's balance. It is required to utilize protein for energy. Brain depletion of dopamine and serotonin occur without B6, creating ongoing anxiety and depression. B6 slows the conversion of pyruvate to lactic acid. Elevated lactic acid creates anxiety.

Zinc deficiency also results in multiple disorders. The brain uses at least sixty zinc enzymes so zinc deficiency has a marked effect on mood states. Anxiety and depression have been observed in patients who develop zinc deficiency from intravenous feedings. These patients experienced prompt relief from their acquired depression after zinc was supplied.

Zinc plays a starring role in our immune functioning and our brain development and performance. A deficiency means poor growth and poor sexual development. We will suffer with a raft of "emotional" problems: irritability, fatigue, apathy, amnesia, depression, as well as poor appetite, and poor sense of taste and smell. In the last decade, over 50 papers in professional journals established the link between anorexia nervosa and zinc unavailability.

Zinc has the job of removing toxic metals from our brains, particularly copper, lead, cadmium, and mercury. Without zinc to do this, high copper levels result in paranoia, violent behavior, mood swings and schizoid behavior. High lead leads to learning disabilities and behavioral disorders. Mercury toxicity results in anxiety, emotional liability, exaggerated responses and insomnia. Elevated cadmium causes hyperactivity, hallucinations and central nervous system toxicity.

Maintaining adequate B6 and zinc in our bodies is an absolute MUST! It is easy to see how their continual destruction can turn a normal human being into an emotional cripple. The gradual changes in over one hundred body systems of pyrolurics slowly take their toll as the years pass. Now you have the opportunity to investigate for yourself the possibility of pyroluria being the cause of your ongoing anxiety. If you score high on the test, take heart. PYROLURIA is correctable. The important task is to identify it.

What would an MD, if you had one who was 'into this kind of thing' teach you about pyroluria, if you had one? If you lived in, or could visit Santa Ana, California and have the means to become a patient of Dr Jeremy Kaslow, he'd likely say much of this to you in person. Or give you a handout, or have a seminar about it where you could go and learn in-person. Fortunately, Dr Kaslow has provided a great deal of information at a website -- nothing fancy but it's organized really well. So, from www.drkaslow.com, the pyroluria topic. I'm providing one topic from his website to 1) demonstrate what you'll find if you GO TO the website as a resource for other information and 2) I'm able to make it easier for our brain-weary YOUsers by editing to make things easier to read (bolding, shorter paragraphs, adding commas, bulleting of lists  -- I change nothing in the content however!) Enjoy the read! Please 'go see the sites' too! 

PYROLURIA

Pyroluria is a genetically determined chemical imbalance involving an abnormality in hemoglobin synthesis. Hemoglobin is the protein that holds iron in the red blood cell. Individuals with this disorder produce too much of a byproduct of hemoglobin synthesis called "kryptopyrrole" (KP) or "hemepyrrole." Kryptopyrrole has no known function in the body and is excreted in urine.

Kryptopyrrole binds to pyridoxine (vitamin B6) and zinc and makes them unavailable for their important roles as co-factors in enzymes and metabolism.  These essential nutrients when bound to kryptopyrrole are removed from the bloodstream and excreted into the urine as pyrroles.  Arachidonic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid) also becomes deficient.

The effect of pyroluria can have a mild, moderate, or severe depending on the severity of the imbalance. Most individuals show symptoms of zinc and/or B6 deficiencies, which include

• poor stress control,
• nervousness,
• anxiety,
• mood swings,
• severe inner tension,
• episodic anger (an explosive temper),
• poor short-term memory and
• depression.

Most pyrolurics exhibit at least two of these problems. These individuals cannot efficiently create serotonin (a neurotransmitter that reduces anxiety and depression) since vitamin B6 is an important factor in the last step of its synthesis. 

Many of these persons appear to benefit from SSRI medications such as Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Celexa, etc. However, as with all mind-altering drugs, side effects occur and the true cause of the mental difficulties remains uncorrected.

In addition, these individuals often have frequent infections and are often identified by their inability to tan, poor dream recall, abnormal fat distribution, and sensitivity to light and sound. As you can imagine, an SSRI will not correct these metabolic effects. More healthful benefits may be achieved by giving the appropriate supporting nutrients.

Pyroluria is detected by chemical analysis of the abnormal pyroles in urine detectable as a purple (on testing paper) metabolite in called "the mauve factor." Most persons have less than 10mcg of KP per deciliter. Persons with 10-20 mcg/dl are considered "borderline" pyroluric and may benefit from treatment. Persons with levels above 20 mcg/dl are considered to have pyroluria, especially if the above symptoms are present. The chemical analysis for KP is difficult due to the tendency for this chemical to decompose. Sometimes it is necessary to repeat the urine test to properly determine the level of KP being excreted.

To make the initial diagnosis, no vitamins or minerals should be taken for two days before the urine is collected (This is to avoid false negative results). The specimen should be handled properly as well - collected and frozen immediately and protected from any light by being placed in aluminum foil. A repeat test to determine if the condition has been improved may be helpful.

People with mild-moderate pyroluria usually have a fairly rapid response to treatment if no other chemical imbalances are present. People with severe pyroluria usually require several weeks before progress is seen and improvement may be gradual over 3 - 12 months. Features of pyroluria usually recur within 2 - 4 weeks if the nutritional program is stopped.  Thus, the need for treatment is indefinite.

Pyroluria is managed in part by restoring vitamin B6 and zinc.  The type of replacement therapy is very important as zinc must be provided in an efficiently absorbed form. Vitamin B6 is also available in several forms. Both zinc and B6 supplementation need to be directed by the doctor as too much can be toxic, use of the wrong form will be ineffective, and avoiding competing minerals and supplements may be necessary.

Other nutrients may assist in pyroluria, include niacinamide, pantothenic acid, manganese, vitamins C and E, omega-6 fatty acids and cysteine. Food sources and nutritional supplements containing copper and red/yellow food dyes should be avoided.

Because pyrolurics are stress intolerant, they seem to be especially vulnerable to cumulative stress over many days. For example, parents of a pyroluric child should use discipline that is "short and sweet" rather than "long and lingering." It is not unexpected that pyroluric patients are prone to relapses, especially during illness, injury, or emotional stress.

Much of the information we have about pyroluria is from the work of the late Carl Pfeiffer, M.D. in the 1970’s.  Some references include:

 Irving DG: Apparent non-indolic ehrlich-positive substances related to Mental illness. JNeuropsychiat, 1961;2:292-305.

 Hoffer A, Mahon M: The presence of unidentified substances in the urine of psychiatric patients. J Neuropsychiat, 1961;2:331-397.

 Irvine DG, Bayne W, et al: Identification of kryptopyrrole in human urine and its relationship to psychosis. Nature, 1969;224:811-813.

 Pfeiffer CC, Lliev V: Pyrroluria, urinary mauve factor, causes double deficiency of B6 and zinc in schizophrenics. Fed Proc, 1973;32:276.

 Jackson JA, Riordan HD, Neathery S: Vitamins, blood lead and urine pyrroles in Down Syndrome patients. Amer Clin Lab, 1990:Jan- Feb:8-9.

 Jackson JA, Riordan HD, Neathery S, Riordan N: Urinary pyrroles in health and disease. J Orthomol Med, 1997: 12;2:96-98.

 Out of the United Kingdom, I finally find something -- as I've been searching and looking -- that might provide some 'balance' from an outside the box provider. I actually didn't find this resource until using search word undermethylation. You'll see that he provides a simplified and common sense approach to this matter, and credits the developer of the theory OVERALL, but clearly is saying he's not sold on this himself but thinks it's something that should be included in his educational efforts to people.  There's much at his website relative to mental health and nutrition, so it's a good resource to be getting into the mix for people to look around in general, perhaps.   www.balancingbrainchemistry.co.uk/40/Histapenia-Histadelia-Under-methylation-Pyroluria.html

AND ... "America's Pharmacist", who writes as Dear Pharmacist, fellow Coloradoan Suzy Cohen has a comprehenstive topic about methylation. Link: 

suzycohen.com/articles/methylation-problems/

NOTE, March 2015 -- I had found a different appearing topic from Suzi Cohen --- it just didn't look familiar -- about methylation, when searching on something else.  And was glad I did.  In looking at the link that I had here, it was dead ending, as it appears she has a new website.  So the link, above, is working at this time AND I have now read the information over at the link and think it's as good as I remember it the first time at the previous link and website.  

You'll see she presents two options basically for treatment and one is with to take action without looking so much at testing and spending the resources (time, energy, money).  The other is to do the testing and also take action with treatment.  I just added a video by a Dr Rawlings (MD from the state of Washington) to the resources on Lumigrate about MTHFR gene mutation / methylation problems, and he was of the mindset to go by clinical symptoms and forego testing.  I also have more recently communicated with a health expert focused on diet and mental health, who is a supporter of Westin A Price Foundation type diet advise and she was downplaying the MTHFR aspect of things, saying it's become a marketing thing and leading people a bit off track in many cases. 

I wanted to provide the link to the Pfeiffer website: They are based out of Illinois (the midwest of the US) but they show that they travel to various cities and set up appointments to meet with interested parties. They have a very nice website and are a nonprofit organization. They had originally focused entirely with the young end of the spectrum of age, but due to the underlying problems found in young people with behaviors being what contributes to dementia, they also have a tab for "Alzheimers". 

However, in further Searching and reviewing of information, I came upon William Walsh, PhD, who is in the same area of Illinois with his nonprofit institute, whose information includes that he used to work for the Pfeiffer Institute, left about five years ago and that Pfeiffer is not longer in existence. You might learn from their website, however, if it's still up, as it was in March 2014 when I created this topic or April when I was adding this NEW information in about Dr Walsh and the cache of information that comes up when you use his term 'pyrole disorder'. Having been a part of a clinic startup in 2008/9/10, I can only imagine what all might have occurred, I'd just keep it in mind and continue looking for resources that seem to 'fit your bill'.  

Here's information I'd suggest from Dr. Walsh's website:  From the About Tab:

About Walsh Institute:
The Walsh Research Institute is a 501(c)3 public charity. Our mission is to bring the benefits of advanced biochemical therapy to millions of persons challenged by ADHD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety, clinical depression, behavior disorders, autism, and neurodegenerative disorders.

 

Then at the videos tab on a dropdown, the slide and auditory digital 'interview' that I found via YouTube, titled Advanced Nutrient Therapies for Bipolar Disorder. Now, whether you're more interested in anxiety, depression, behavior disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, schizophrenia or the learning / attentional disorders, and I'd add other learning disabilities such as dyslexia into the mix, autism, etc.  

 

I think this is an hour worth spending and he provides a nice pace, shows good information in his slides, and helps people understand the EPIGENETICS portion that has to do with everything for all of us. See that last part of the description? "... epigenetic regulation of synapse activity, and cripple the body's protection against environmental toxins."  This is really KEY information (core some might call it, foundational .. critically important to understanding all this stuff!) And it's VERY recently prepared. You'll see at their website he's speaking/presenting at a lot of conferences now, and you'll hear at the link that they just had 20+ doctors complete the training and more are getting batched up for future trainings. 

www.walshinstitute.org/videos.html  --- The overall videos tab at WI

 

Advanced Nutrient Therapies for Bipolar Disorders

 

William J. Walsh, PhD, explains how brain-changing imbalances occur in bipolar disorder.  Discover how these imbalances alter brain levels of key neurotransmitters, disrupt epigenetic regulation of synapse activity, and cripple the body's protection against environmental toxins.  

 

 

 

 The information, above, talks about undermethylation (and overmethylation) and he refers people to contact the Mensah Medical folks in one of the questions in the Q&A portion of this seemingly well thought out production. I wanted to provide a link to there to continue on the 'bunny trail' of looking into the providers and information sources available online. This is the undermethylation link for the Mensah website: www.mensahmedical.com/resourcecenter/undermethylation.html .    

I hope that anyone who's asked themselves why there seem to be so many 'successful' people in position we value, but their personal lives seem to be frought with dysfunction, I hope you look at the undermethylation information. NOTE ALSO, that there's a plea to people who consider themselves to be possible undermethylation types, to seek counseling related to family planning as there is a correlation with autism in offspring. When we then factor in what Dr. Klinghardt says about sleep position of the mother and electromagnetic exposures before and during pregnancy, you either start to see different theories that 'compete' or which form layers and add support to one another. Any any rate, it's fascinating information and I hope that YOUsers find it valuable to pursue learning. 

I think the whole history of pyroluria (or whatever you wish to call it) is INTERESTING because if you're reading this carefully, you'll see there were maybe some friendly competitors at play in this pyroluria discovery and groundwork about five decades ago. It reminds me of something similar with Drs. Alzheimer and Lewy, two researchers working on the same thing at the same time and discovering different things; plaques and bodies, respectively. One's a well-known disorder and the other was one I suspected was not yet discovered, but it actually had been and nobody I worked with or knew about (or read about) ever had a LBD diagnosis. I've never found anywhere WHY it was Lewy was relatively 'unheard of' until recently, despite it being more common than EVERY other type of dementia except Alzheimer disease. Things that make you go "hmmmm"! 

Despite extensive patient care experience with the elderly since 1996, until 2009 and my father's diagnosis of Lewy Body Disease, I'd never heard of it. I'd not been taught about Asperger's in my conventional medical/occupational therapy program either, by the way. After my father "totally fell apart", fell down even, and had episodes thereafter with lack of reality, he was missed diagnosed despite my saying to everyone in the path of his health care that the 'dementia' diagnosis they'd given "didn't account for the symptoms", he clearly had something like Parkinsons yet they were totally missing that and putting in feeding tubes and all kinds of things.  All those decisions were made with me available by phone but not able to be in person due to a massive snowstorm for four days. By then the plan was set and it was real interesting to go along for the ride after that. (Other family was present taking care of 'business' and we were in contact at least once a day but -- nothing's stronger than the 'weakest link' and with the HIPPA laws as they are, that prevented me from talking directly to staff and having to go through the present family members, who were my father's preference anyway.

He was one who would stick only to what was allopathic and science-based so that's how his treatment progressed and it was amazing what modern medicine does with a situation like that when they have good insurance. (Just sayin'.)  And I'm from the school of patient care where you allow the patient their right to do or not do, so I ironically went along for a 1-1/2 year ride with that whole situation that was VERY educational and I am an grateful for it. Same as the medication bungling that occured with my sugery in 2006 that had me in bed for 24 hours loopily thinking 'I can't believe this can happen in this good a hospital and city known for medical care and with my knowledge -- someone HAS TO DO SOMETHING'. So I created Lumigrate within 1-2 years. 

For anyone's benefit who's reading: I had pushed to get him to the primary care doctor for years and he had refused. I'd worked with families like these professionally. It's so much easier to be one of the itinerant workers who comes into a situation and the real responsibility is falling on the shoulders of the family system. And he didn't have lifeline because his paranoia about someone knowing how to get into his home. And that had been something I'd grown up with: we had left the keys in the cars so people wouldn't come in the house and hurt us, they'd just take the car if they needed one. I had symptoms I now realize were from pyroluria, most likely, very young, such as "worrying" when I'd go to bed about things like people coming to the house to harm us, or it starting on fire. I was given a night light but couldn't remember to turn it off in the morning and so he took it away. He took away my camera for no reason, throwing it in the trash bag in one of his visits after bedtime to go through the bedroom I shared with sibling. So you can do your work as an adult on these issues that the mental health experts will all attribute to behaviors and stress, and they've typically not looked at the underlying biochemistry of the body (which includes the brain) that are driving or at least feeding into these behaviors. I hope by sharing my story from my perspective today it will help light bulbs come on for readers whether providers or consumers. 

Later when I'd have pains in my legs I'd worry I had cancer like the popular movie of the day. Oh, man, do I want THIS information to get to YOU! Young and old, and anyone in between. How differently my life might have been had this TRUTH / information not been sequestered and kept from getting out to people.  I understand it sometimes takes a while to get TO THE TRUTH and that was the case with pyrole disroder/ pyroluria, but why it's not gotten out to the 'outside the box' providers that I've hired personally to help me, or to the providers who have shared part of what they know on Lumigrate for YOUsers' benefit.  So far at least! I have let the most recent tier of experts all know about it -- they were all unaware and were enlightened by what Lumigrate provided. 

My poor father, he was not a complainer when it came to himself, he ruminated about things and was very negative, but he had so many signs of pyroluria, it's just staggering! And really special to me that I stumbled upon this information a month ago when researching for someone wanting information about mental health/ addictions / treatment in the Front Range of Colorado and I knew of a facility on the Front Range of Colorado (see addictions/pyroluria topic in the mind/head forum or find the link, above) and they had new resources on the website that included this OR I'd just missed it the first times I'd gone. Never looking back with regrets, only at the present and looking forward. On we go with MORE about pyroluria ---    

What if a psychiatrist were on team YOU! ? What would they say about pyroluria? 

I've been a follower since 'discovering' Emily Deans, MD, and her 'evolutional psychiatry' blog the weekend that "Newtown" happened in December 2012. I told people I'd provide my answer to the question on everyone's minds: why are these things happening? Since autism spectrum disorder was in the mix in the media story from day #1, I went to certain Search words that lead me to Emily Deans. I like to provide a 'balance' of information on any topic at Lumigrate and this one is no exception. You'll see if you follow this link about zinc as an antidepressant that she refers to pyroluria at the very end of the topic. BUT she says 'the general population' -- doesn't that mean the average? And 10% is not the average. So I hope that there's a LOT of looking at the various aspects that zinc affects the 'general' as well as the 'special' population, however you'd define that. Here's the link to her Psychology Today article about zinc, the brain, and pyroluria : www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201309/zinc-antidepressant

A resource I've suggested to our YOUsers since early in 2013 is an Australian website about hypoglycemia, which I was pleased to see had something from 2011 about pyroluria. The topic is about PTSD and hypoglycemia. If you look at the list of symptoms, above, that can be associated with pyroluria, more 'dots connected' for me when I read this article, so I suggest you do as well.  

I recall the research I learned of at my excellent internship (to become an occupational therapist) in the "psyche unit" at the Veterans Administration hospital in Denver, Colorado in the fall of 1996 which wowwed me at the time: The brains of Vietnam veterans who were diagnosed after the war/incidents of war with post-traumatic stress disorder had structural differences in three areas within the brain (if I'm recalling correctly).

A retired military officer who would come into the unit for the incredible group the OTs facilitated three mid-days a week quizzed me on what those were and thankfully I'd read the material and answered the question of which areas correctly. He seemed surprised and pleased, simultaneously at the 'student' having done her homework.

They also provided me with research to read and discuss that essentially was a study conducted on veterans who had been in the same or very similar stressful situatioins in war and typically the people who would have a diagnosis of PTSD after had not had the best of experiences growing up in terms of families teaching them coping strategies. My impression was that the inference was being made that was looking more at 'behavior' and 'psychology' than any type of underlying physiologic or biologic contributors. 

I've written elsewhere on Lumigrate that I'd wondered about diet when I was doing my internship, as I had gone to a wheat- and dairy-free diet based on IgG allergy testing I'd had done in 1994/5 which found I was highly allergic to components of both foods.

When I created the topic integrating The UltraMind Solution and Wheat Belly early in 2013, adding onto it every day through the typical 'New Years Resolutioner' time period, I focused on the research presented by Dr Davis in Wheat Belly relating the research done in the 1960s at a VA hospital psyche unit on people with schizophrenia which clearly showed a connection to diet and gluten and/or wheat (they were presuming it was gluten but didn't feed people another glutenous food as a replacement, they removed gluten from the diet so it could be something different in the wheat. I'd not been found to be allergic to gluten, my body reacted to something else in wheat, and new research is showing it's the Roundup / glyphosate being used that's made wheat products cause reactions in those who consume it as well.)  

Those are important details to mention here, in my opinion. But the overall biggie information about that 1960s research, which was replicated by two other groups of researchers, is that nothing came of it in terms of what they fed the patients in psyche units from the 1960s when that was discovered (and replilcated/confirmed) and 1996 when I was doing internships.

What they were doing, same as in the 1960s was providing a host of medications to patients. There was a man who had been greatly aided by a medical for schizophrenia who was coming into 'the unit' to be taken off of that medication due to side effects having developed, and going onto a new medication that was in clinical trials. The veterans, I was told by my overall fieldwork coordinator at the VA, were so used to having things done to them, and people learning on them, that it was a great place to do internships compared to the private sector where the consumers/patients weren't used to being practiced on.  

So many people today have the symptoms of PTSD, those who have served as one of the people in our country in one way or another, whether they were in the military or encountered a stressful situation in their personal time. Whether they were children, teens, adults or elderly. I think this is absolutely some of the most critical information for all medical professionals and consumers look into, the very overlooked pyroluria condition.

How many people have the issues with blood sugar? (Many.) How many people use alcohol, appropriately or not, to 'self medicate' and part of what's going on has to do with blood sugar? Or if they're not using alcohol because they have a reason not to use the commonly condoned and even suggested substance are using something else?

 

The link to the Australian resource about hypoglycemia and mental health/ PTSD is:  

www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/2011/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd-and-hypoglycemia/

Another source of information about pyroluria:

Dietritch Klinghardt, MD of Germany and Seattle, Washington, USA

I knew of Dietritch Klinghardt, MD as one of the "Lyme Literate" doctors, as he is one of the MDs in the documentary Under Our Skin, which I viewed when it circulated on the Internet for $0/free in recent years. And please keep in mind that Lyme is now an 'umbrella word' -- you know how Forrest Gump talked about the box of chocolates of life? Well, I talk about the box of crayons that are the chronic illnesses -- same basic reasons and many of the same symptoms. 

So I am pleased to introduce Dr Klinghardt to Lumigrate's YOUsers if you're not already familiar with him. His website for The Kinghardt Academy offers this at the link about chronic disease, after a nice introduction about lead poisoning in the Roman empire times, mercury taking out famous composers when being treated for a sexually transmitted disease. If you keep looking around at what's online from him, you'll see a shift in what he presents and more recent work is about electromagnetics and energy medicine, etc. So, he's a very 'out of the box' provider that shares about his shifting to some extent, in what I viewed and read. But as you'll see, things are included, below, that explain these things, such as his foray into talking about 'Codex'. (Read on. View the video, learn or re-fresh about it depending upon where YOU are at with your education 'all this stuff'. Yes, it's a lot. No, if you're looking for fast answers and solutions this is not possible. If you don't put in the time and energy at some point, your wellness is going to suffer for it. I hope people will find and interact with the information as early as possible so they can best strategize for how to stay as well as possible, or return to as well a place as possible. 

.... "So in the long run, the situation looks different: the cells of the body are harmed by toxic metals whereas the invading microorganisms can often thrive in a heavy metal environment. Research by Ludwig, Voll and others in Germany, by Omura and myself here in the US, showed that microorganisms tend to set up their housekeeping in those body compartments that have the highest pollution with toxic metals.

The body's own immune cells are incapacitated in those areas whereas the microorganisms multiply and thrive in an undisturbed way. The teeth, jawbone, Peyers patches in the gutwall, the groundsystem (connective tissue) and the autonomic ganglia are common sites of metal storage - where microorganisms thrive. Furthermore, those body areas also are vasoconstricted and hypoperfused (by blood, nutrients and oxygen), which fosters the growth of anaerobic germs, fungi and viruses.

The list of symptoms of mercury toxicity alone, published by DAMS (dental amalgam support group), includes virtually any illness known to humankind: chronic fatigue, depression and joint pains are the most common.

To keep it simple: mercury alone can mimic or cause any illness currently known - or contribute to it." (Bolding added by me)

---

Highlights from the About tab at the website: (please visit for the FULL bio, this is just highlights:

Dr Dietrich Klinghardt MD, PhD, is Founder of the Klinghardt Academy (USA), the American Academy of Neural Therapy, Medical Director of the Institute of Neurobiology, and lead clinician at the Sophia Health Institute, located in Woodinville, Washington. He is also Founder and Chairman of the Institute for Neurobiology (Germany) and (Switzerland). Klinghardt Academy (USA) provides teachings to the English speaking world on biological interventions and Autonomic Response Testing assessment techniques.

Klinghardt received the Physician of the Year award from the Global Foundation of Integrative Medicine in May 2007, and the 2011 Physician of the Year Award for the International Academy of Biological Dentistry and Medicine.

Klinghardt studied medicine (1969-1975) and psychology (1975-1979) in Freiburg, Germany, completing his PhD on the involvement of the autonomic nervous system in autoimmune disorders. Several publications followed. Early in his career, he became interested in the sequelae of chronic toxicity (especially lead, mercury, environmental pollutants and electromagnetic fields) for the course of illness. While working in India as a junior physician, he encountered Eastern concepts of disease etiology and blended them with his Western training. This laid the foundation for his 5-level system of Integrative Medicine.

After immigrating to the USA, he spent three years as a full-time emergency physician before becoming Medical Director of the Santa Fe Pain Centre. Increasingly aware of the limitations of conventional medicine when dealing with chronic conditions, he trained in Ericksonian hypnotherapy and began to include body-oriented psychotherapeutic and counselling approaches in his work, along with neural therapy, mesotherapy injection techniques and applied psychoneurobiology (psychokinesiology and mental field therapy).

Since the 1970s, Dr. Klinghardt has contributed significantly to the understanding of metal toxicity and its connection with chronic infections, illness and pain. He is considered an authority on this subject and has been instrumental in advancing various fields within biological medicine -  non-invasive pain management, injection techniques for pain and orthopaedic dysfunction, anti-ageing medicine, toxicology, paediatrics (neuro-developmental disorders), energy psychology, biological dentistry, and others. He has also developed Autonomic Response Testing, a comprehensive diagnostic system that has helped many practitioners to become accomplished holistic physicians. 

AGAIN, please visit the website for the full biography as this is only about half of the amazing overview provided there.

And to answer a question right up front: The medical term for white spots in the nails is "leukonychia", and sometimes the experts toss the word into the salad of words as they speak, but overall "white spots on nails" is what's said the most often. So leukonychia is one symptom of pyroluria, and pyroluria is one word that's easiest when it comes to all the variations, which you'll see Dr. Klinghardt goes over, below, AND specifies that if you want to get a thorough reference list of what's out there about the condition you need to use all the search words.

We've covered fingernails as a 'teaching platform' or put in point, since early in 2010, and I'm going to provide the link here to that topic if you wish to go look at it at some point: There's a link there to bring people here as well, so you can go in a loop with links if you wish. It was from our formative year when we were utilizing some talented women who had been disabled from fibromyalgia to write a few topics on Lumigrate about what their areas of expertise are in, and one was a nail technician/esthetician and then we had expertise from an environmental medicine MD and ND add on and 'converse'. www.lumigrate.com/forum/nails-what-they-say-about-body-and-what-do  .  If you go, you'll see that I've done my homework to share with YOUsers about the differences when Searching with 'white spots on nails' versus also adding 'zinc deficiency' to the search; it's basically what sorts you to inside the box versus outside the box of conventional, allopathic sources. A good exercise for YOUsers to learn, I felt. 

Thankfully, he's done that for us and provides that in his resources if people wish to simply utilize his shared resources. I like that he teaches the tricks to the trade AND then sets you up with what he has to offer in such a generous way. Naturally, everyone has their fans and their detractors so we always teach YOUsers here to study the topic thoroughly enough and decide for YOUrself who you are going to follow in terms of advise. We're just, basically, doing what I just said: being generous with what we have to offer at Lumigrate based on doing our research and telling YOUswers how we go about it so YOU become as empowered and capable with wellness information as possible. 

Since Lumigrate's cornerstone is the YOU model and our core concept is helping consumers and providers alike with finding the various resources/provider types to put on your own YOU model, or for those of your clients and patients, whenever we can provide a new 'dot' that 'connects the rest of the dots', it's a 'GRATE day', and I feel this information about pyroluria/KPU,etc. will 'be the missing link' for many providers and consumers, alike. Our focus is going just the right amount 'outside the box', into functional medicine and integrative medicine where you're going to the underlying causes (plural, typically) to address the symptoms if there is a lack of ideal wellness. Ideally everyone would be in prevention mode but in today's complex world, virtually everyone has some sort of symptom or a whole host of symptoms.

Our YOU model YOUsers' path 

In this video (or by reading over the written notes I provide), you'll see that Dr. Klinghardt and others were close in the past, for many years and even decades and then he was fortunate to connect with a doctor who had also picked up the threads and this time knitted things together, integrated them, and connected the dots for his patients. Dr. Klinghardt then adopted it for his clinical practice and after a year presented it at this 2009 conference which was videotaped and then published to YouTube in 2011 (by someone else and perhaps unrelated, I'm not really sure of the relationships within the Lyme literate community.)

Under Our Skin was eye opening, and I highly recommend seeing it. The link, below, to Dr. Klinghardt's website will take you to where you can find it from his website but his link takes you to the official link where you can watch a trailer or purchase a DVD it says; I've been able to find it free online in the past -- naturally, these things change all the time so you might have to some checking.

One of the stand outs from the film was the map showing where the cases in the US (and world) have been reported -- it's spread everywhere and in my opinion what state a person has lived in should not even factor into the equation in terms of suspecting if it's Lyme or not when someone has the symptoms. Coming from Colorado, this has been a hold up in my case in the past.  You'll see that I've created a topic recently about Lyme now being thought to be transmitted sexually. I learned this years back from the film and was waiting for other sources to be picking up and writing about it -- it was, per the movie, a theory that was not yet being shown to hold water.

After something's been out for years and there's been no retraction -- that's one thing for validation; "time will tell". But when it's standing up to scrutiny and being circulated in other sources, that's added validation, so I thought it was finally time, 2014, to include it for our YOUsers at Lumigrate, and have created recent topics about Lyme and suggest the documentary as a resource .. with a caveat, and it gets back to the thing I hope people learn at Lumigrate or otherwise have at the top of their 'filters' -- "follow the money".

I've wondered about who funded the film, I've now communicated with someone who is affiliated with the organization. My concern was and still is, that the ONLY treatments shown in the film are ones that come from BigPharma, and the ONLY experts shown doing research or treatment with patients are M.D.s. No D.O.s, N.D.s, PhDs, DVMs -- no, no Doctor Doolittles. It just was something I 'noticed' and "I'm just sayin'...."  But I do recall that Dr. Klinghardt/ his clinic were one of the places patients who were shown in the film went.

THEN I found him as one of the major YouTube resources when I recently researched the word "pyroluria", which was worked into a very small component of a very nice 30 minute video about an innovative substance abuse program in Loveland, Colorado. Irony of that is that not only does the video open with the trails I learned to mountain bike on in 1992, the treatment facility is in earshot of the integrative clinic that helped me with my 'baffling' case of what was ruled out as not being MS back in 1994/5 -- the MD knew of a simple, inexpensive and barely invasive way of finding out that I was as allergic as you could be to dairy and highly allergic to a protein in wheat (not gluten, it turns out). So there must be a concentration of 'innovation' around Loveland!

The link to the topic where pyroluria was mentioned briefly by the Inner Balance Treatment Center's clinical director (who I somehow knew through working at the University Health Center in the early '90's): www.lumigrate.com/forum/addiction-recovery-and-biochemical-restoration-function-and-integrative-medicine-inner-balance . The treatments at this center look at the underlying, root causes for a person to use alcohol or other drugs for a variety of feelings they have that make them feel unwell or uncomfortable, such as anxiety. This is a clinic founded by a former head of medical programs for space flight at NASA, who you'll see if you take the link/trip to their website. They look for pyroluria in both tests and symptoms of feelings/behaviors. 

 To interject, here's a link to the topic at DiagnoseMe, a website that seems less 'cooked' or 'baked' than WebMD (which seems to have bigPharma's hands all over it, remember that 'follow the money' thing --- www.diagnose-me.com/symptoms-of/pyroluria.html . You'll see they make a very strong case about this condition being at play in those who like to use alcohol. (And when you follow the catch 22 about alcohol depleting certain things from the body, as well as the person is likely simultaneously giving up some nutrition in terms of intaking....). 

Keep this in mind that it's to your benefit to look into the providers you are going to gain education or seek treatment from and there will be, always, those who discount any provider outside the box and well known enough to get the professionals hired to smear on the Internet -- that's just a fact of how the system works is to hire people to discredit those outside the box in an attempt to dissuade people from seeking advise and treatments outside the box. (And there are some who simply don't understand how expensive it is to do things, particularly when insurance won't pay for what you provide and they don't 'get it' about how it's just easier for the patients/consumers to have the provider selling them things they're suggesting --- and the provider can stay in business helping people who want that kind of help.) 

Also, keep in mind when you watch or read my notes of the video, they are 'drafty', you'll see if you look over them, below. But you can see that Dr. Klinghardt says repetitively what a frustration it is that a $55 test is not being done more often. This condition affects 11% of people (in the US, I presume that statistic is for). Are YOU one of them? I suspect I am based on my heavy metals challenge results from 2005 and 2010. (My father was so curious about what would be found, he paid for my testing as a 45th birthday present. After he passed when I was 50 I had a retest done -- these are the more expensive tests that you'll hear Dr Klinghardt refer to in terms of how we're often running the more expensive tests and not the less expensive ones. I also was benefitted by a $55 urine challenge test out of a Lakewood, Colorado laboratory to test my iodine absorption, which found I only absorb 50% of available iodine, not the usual 90%.  

Look at the YOU model -- in my case, mine has a holistic / 'cranial' dentist (in addition to a general dentist, we proved the 'money's worth' part of second opinions with THAT one and it's covered elsewhere in forums for details ...) the holistic dentist working on cranial restructuring, which leads into things to do with the endocrine system). Please spend some time drawing up your current YOU model of providers and then dream a little bit perhaps and draw up an 'ideal' or 'dream' model if money and time and energy were not factors. I think I'd put Dr. Kinghardt on mine! 

Dietritch Klinghardt, MDs Presentation on HPU / KPU / Pyrolurea at the

L.I.A. Foundation's 2009 Annual Conference

 

What does LIA stand for?
LIA stands for Lyme Induced Autism.  This organization was started because parents with Lyme disease were finding that their children with autism were also testing positive for Lyme disease and experiencing symptoms of Lyme disease and associated co-infections.

The LIA Foundation has become much more than another "autism" organization or another "Lyme disease" organization.  In fact, we fit in neither of these categories very well.  We believe that good basic information is available from other organizations, but we try to take it to the next level, opening our minds to all potential healing methods.  We refer to this as an "Eclectic Healing Approach".   ...........Their website address is: www.lymeinducedautism.com/whatislia.html

Please look at Dr Klinghardt's website, it has a lot of interesting information. Link: www.klinghardtacademy.com/

I thought I'd include what someone affiliated with the organization that put out the film/paid for the film said when I let her know that I'd suggested the film but was concerned about outside the box people having the same impression/concerns I had. The response:

 

• "Thank you Mardy! As I've said, the film's focus on antibiotic treatment is solely due to the fact that the CDC set guidelines for antibiotic treatment which is inadequate. Once a Dr treats with antibiotics more than 30 days he/she jeopardizes loss of their Medical License. Holistic MDs don't face this issue. Nor are they vulnerable to Insurance companies reporting them to Medical Boards as is the case with MDs who prescribe antibiotics. In addition, it is Pharma who has primarily set the course for the CF that is Lyme and the challenges in getting diagnosed and treated adequately. There's much more $$$$$$ in symptom meds and in treatments for conditions such as MS, ALS, Cancer than in antibiotics. .... Not to mention the irony, one can get a prescription for Doxy indefinitely if one has acne, however, not so if one has a potentially fatal infection."

From YouTube's about: (as explained, above) Pyroluria, also known as Pyrrole Disorder, Pyrroluria, Kryptopyrroluria (KPU) or more precisely hemopyrrollactamuria (HPU). Pyrolle Disorder, is a genetic chemical imbalance involving an abnormality in hemoglobin synthesis. Suffers of this condition produce too much of a byproduct of hemoglobin synthesis called hydroxyhemopyrrolin-2-one (HPL) and hydroxy-2,3-Dimethylpyrrolidin-5-on, also known as Pyrroles.

HPL binds to or inhibits the nutrients; Zinc, Vitamin B6, Biotin and the Omega 6 Fat GLA from reaching their targets within your body. This effectively renders these nutrients unavailable for their many important physiological functions in the body such as co-factors for enzymes in metabolism. These essential nutrients when bound to HPL are removed from the bloodstream and excreted into the urine as pyrroles.

The effect of pyroluria can have a mild, moderate, or severe depending on the severity of the imbalance. Symptoms may include: poor stress control, nervousness, anxiety, mood swings, severe inner tension, episodic anger, poor short-term memory and depression.

Other symptoms include: Abdominal pain, Acne, Loss of appetite, Allergies, Low libido, Amnesia spells, Low tolerance to stress, Migraines, Anxiety/anxious, Mood swings, Argumentative -- likes to argue, morning nausea, Cold hands and feet, Motion sickness, Constipation, Much higher capability in the evening than mornings, Creaking in joints, Nervous exhaustion, delayed puberty, Nervousness, Delusions, Overwhelmed in stressful situations, Depression, Pale skin, poor tanning or burn easy in the sun, Difficulty remembering dreams, Panic attacks, Dramatic, Paranoia, Dyslexia, Pessimism, Early greying of hair, Poor memory, Eczema, Poor morning appetite/tendency to skip breakfast, elevated eosinophil's, Preference for spicy or heavily flavoured foods, Emotionally unstable to name a few!

Pyroluria is often associated with: Acute Intermittent Porphyria, Criminal Behaviour, neurosis/Neurotic, ADD/ADHD, Depression, Post Natal Depression, Alcoholism, Down Syndrome, Schizophrenia, Allergies, Epilepsy, Substance Abuse, Asperger's Syndrome, Learning Difficulties, Tourette's Syndrome, Autism, Lung Cancer, Bi-Polar Disorder (Manic Depression)

It's onset usually occurs with a traumatic incident or stress. There is evidence to suggest that Pyroluria is a genetically based ailment. Statistics indicate that if a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother or sister has suffered from major Depression, Bi-Polar Disorder, Alcoholism, Schizophrenia or has suicided, there is a greater risk of Pyroluria in other family members. Poor dietary choices and poor digestive health can also lead to an increase in Pyrrole levels

My overview of the video --

While this presentation was given to a professional audience at the LIA conference in 2009, there is a real balance of 'dots' about Lyme disease, autism, and overall environmental medicine concepts where a lot of these 'dots' connect if you're able to put in the time, energy and focus.  I hope that my providing some notes, below, of the highlights helps with that process, that's something we do for our YOUsers that makes it more streamlined to look over if you want to invest in watching something, for one thing, and if you're a visual learner or that helps reinforce what you hear at the presentation, all the better.  

The presentation to watch takes just two hours and he speaks very slowly and in a relaxed manner, so it's a relatively easy two hours if all you're doing is watching and learning. It's not that easy to do the notes, however, as he is presenting a lot of information here.  I found him very holistic (body, mind, spirit whole person) and he has some funny stories to share. He also clearly understands the 'game' of medicine in the world, and doesn't seem to be hung up on the frustrations of 'the system' at hand, he includes great stories that show how you simply adapt and do your best with what's available and keep plugging away.

From Roadblocks to Recovery

June 25-28, 2009

Nice introduction and 'sinking in' for this long presentation. 

At 7 minutes in, he talks about 'tomorrow going to the waiting room of my practice and those will be my failures sitting there' because those who have gotten well aren't going to be sitting there. (LOVE THAT!  humility it seems ...)

And I had found information along these lines elsewhere in researching in recent year(s) as I had all on my own noticed something about families where the first born was a boy -- I was suspicious there was something going on with the baby detoxing the mother. I'd known a woman with environmental illness who had a baby and she got so much healthier afterwards, which when I was younger and didn't know all this environmental medicine stuff so much, it just shocked me.

 

Someone who just sprang up after pregnancy to be healthier than ever ... then the years went by and the child had difficulties with things initially diagnosed as 'physical' but then 'mental'/behavioral / learning (along with how many other students?) and then substance / drug abuse as a teen.

 

I personally see that as more physical and less mental -- truthfully you cannot separate them into categories sometimes.) (This topic points that out, with Hoffer's history attributing childhood trauma. By the way, we have a topic about that at Lumigrate -- Search for ACE, Adverse Childhood Trauma - I used 'autoimmune' disorders and there is a 27% increase in adults who had high ACE scores. I route people to the ACE Questionnaire, which is one page and very fast, it's really ideal to give patients as part of intake paperwork and I think should be used by ALL medical providers to get to know their patients, not just 'mental health' because the mind/body connection is a reality. But to bring the epigenetics of the trauma's effects on genes for up to three generations back as this video does by Dr Klinghardt -- GRATE!

Note interjected: In bringing information to this topic about the foundation for this work, which is what Dr K is referring to in this portion of the video, I wanted to go to 'sources', and found this link at the Pauling blogsite. Linus Pauling is a founder of this type of medical thought, as well as the aforementioned Abram Hoffer.

 

You'll see at this link that they're referring to a publication made in Science . Whenever we're talking about this outside the box information, to show that there were more than one cook in the kitchen coming up with these innovations is only to the benefit of YOUsers, who can see the reinforcement. Sometimes the experts didn't agree on everything and so others in their footsteps will gravitate to one more than the other, same as YOU might bravitate toward some of these I provide on this topic more than others in terms of where you go to study. I try to present them uniformly and let YOU decide which YOU prefer. The Pauling link: paulingblog.wordpress.com/2009/01/22/orthomolecular-psychiatry/

Testing - HPL complex 

(Sidenote - I found in the patients I have worked with, if you use the ACE questionnaire and work, funded by Kaiser Foundation and very studied and documented, that shows a relationship that's direct between amount of childhood trauma and lifespan (inverse relationship), because of the chronic diseases that onset in those with trauma.

 

I became aware of this by doing the seminar series LIVE in the Primary Care Partners building with Dr Chris Young (psychologist, neuropsychology and pain management specialty) back in 2007, which was the year I'd started out after the problems in the hospital with the clear 'insight' given to me that I needed to do more with patient education. By the end of 2007 we had a very desired seminar series and a small fraction of people could come who desired to and I felt that online was the next step.

 

So Lumigrate launched in late March of 2009, while, coincidentally, I was back at my old building hearing Dr and Cheryl Young present to a group of mental health providers from town about ACE. "What to do about it, though", he said to me afterwards when he asked me to come meet in his office in a small amount of time he had blocked out for the presentation "is something maybe a good occupational therapist could help us with."  

 

He laughed when he saw me going through my mental rolodex of OTs in the area -- "oh, you mean ME?".  There's ANOTHER presentation given by Dr. Klinghardt more recently about how he addresses 'the issues in the tissues', the mental aspect -- it took me five years almost to the day, but I found the needle in the haystack! I want to see Dr Klinghardt's work be a huge knitting needle in the haystack of information out there, I think it's 'where it's at!'. I have never worked with anyone with 'fibromyalgia'/Lyme who was imparied enough to be seeking resources and help that did not have significant childhood trauma, so I wanted to interject that I've found something different than what Dr Klinghardt relates in this video.)

 

1. Early childhood psychological trauma
2. Infection

NOTE: I ended up looking into both definitions -- Herxheimer and healing crisis as I learned they were two different things and what I found online indicated I was right and he's mistaken in interchanging these two terms here.  I wanted to mention it as it can cause a lot of confusion if it perpetuates.