Posted by chemist on June 21, 2004, at 8:16:57
In reply to Pyroluria: Larry H., chemist, anyone...any help?, posted by Simus on June 21, 2004, at 0:20:39
> After a lifetime of illness, both physical and mental, I did some on-line investigation and matched my ongoing symptoms to pyroluria. A positive test confirmed my suspicion.
>
> First of all, can someone tell me why the medical community generally seems to not be familiar with this condition?
>
> Second, I am having only moderate success treating it with supplements. The meds I am on are 150mg Wellbutrin and 1mg Xanax (after eight years of SSRIs). I supplement with a multivitamin, B6, zinc, magnesium/calcium, C, and quercetin daily. And I take B3, B5, B12, Evening Primrose oil, and a few other supplements, but not quite on a daily basis. I drink ginseng/ginger/green teas daily which does help.
>
> I would be appreciative for any response. Thanks in advance.hello there, chemist here.....this one threw me for a loop! i couldn't even find the word ``pyroluria'' in my merck manual, my taber's, even voet and voet on the off-chance, and even checked my webster's. doesn't even make an appearance in goodwin and jamison, although that is the definitive text for manic depression....so i hit pubmed - what else to do - and got 2 hits: number one is entitled ``Pyroluria: a poor marker in chronic schizophrenia,'' Am. J. Psychiatry 135:1239-1240 (1976), no abstact, and i'm not heading down to the library for this one. the second hit is more informative, ``A new prostaglandin disturbance syndrome in schizophrenia,'' Med Hypotheses 19:333-338 (1986) where the hypotheses that some schizophrenics are deficient in an enzyme called delta^{6} desaturase. as the name implies, desaturases take saturated fatty acids and desaturate (i.e., induce the formation of a double bond where there was formerly a single bond) the fatty acids. the designation omega-6 and omega-3 refers to the position of the double bond. so, if you are lacking in the delta^{6} desaturase, you have elevated levels of omega-3 c.f omega-6, which in turn leads (to among other things) to an important precursor for arachadonic acid, which in turn goes to things that help relieve pain, etc. (the stuff in question is cis-linoleic acid). now, pyroluria is the opposite, but the one abstract i am reading indicates that elevated cic-linoleic levels are not due to mutant delta^{6} desaturase, but to something else. so, fasting insulin levels get higher, and some compound they refer to as a urinary kryptopyrolle shows up. the part that interests me is that this condition has either been renamed or dismissed as being something that can be addressed with proper omega-3/omega-6 supplementation or ruling out diabetes (i'm uessing mellitus). heck, it's not even in the DSM-IV TR. maybe i'm looking in the wrong places, but it sounds like this could have been a medical hypothesis that didn't make the grade....in any event, i wish you well, and hope this helps (i sure learned a lot!)....all the best, chemist
poster:chemist
thread:358464
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040613/msgs/358509.html