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Pyroluria and high Zinc

PeterPositive

Senior Member
Messages
1,426
Hello,
I did a test for pyroluria which came back positive with moderately elevated HPL (387pg/L) and Kryptopyrrole (19.4 pg/L).

I proceeded with raising my dosage of Zinc from 15mg to 50mg for 6 weeks and P5P to 50mg. Not huge megadoses, but significantly higher than what I was taking earlier, just to see if I could see any improvement and while waiting for the doc to come back from vacation.

Didn't see any major improvement to be honest and now I have tested my zinc/copper serum levels:

Zn: 120 pg/dL (range 68-107)
Cu: 68 pg/dL (range 70-140)

So it seems that after a month or so of high Zinc I almost overdid it and it's starting to imbalance the copper status (unless it was already low, which would correlate with my hair analysis)

I suppose I should stop the Zinc or maybe lower it to a regular 10mg and add some copper.

Any thoughts?

Before the blood test I stopped taking Zinc for 24 hours. Is it possible that I got a falsely elevated value because I didn't stop for a longer time?

Thanks
 

Martial

Senior Member
Messages
1,409
Location
Ventura, CA
Could be because the supplement was still in your system, low copper shows you shouldn't push it too hard though. Low copper levels can lead to neural degeneration and anemia if left severely deficient for too long. Talk to your doctor this is a condition that needs close monitoring with its doses.