There's a disorder called PKU. If I remember right people who have it can't get rid of P. They take a med called Kuvar which is BH-4. So if I take this, should it lower my P levels? Or are there other supplements that would do the trick? Oh yeah, P (or is it aspartame?) is found in protein. So I'm going to have to change my diet big time.
PKU is a very serious but rare genetic disorder which manifests in the newborn - one of the inborn errors of metabolism. You wouldn't have survived to adulthood untreated if you had this.
It is the result of a defective enzyme, phenylalanine hydrolase (PH) which converts phenylalanine to tyrosine. In a small subset of PKU patients, the enzyme is ok but there are various defects in production of the cofactor for the enzyme, BH4. The result is the same, they can't make tyrosine, and thus can't make the neurotransmitters derived from tyrosine, viz dopamine, adrenaline and noradrenaline.
You can make tyrosine and these neurotransmitters.
Still phe is very elevated and it would be worth trying to get to the bottom of it.
Is there some concentrated source of phe in your diet? Read the PKU literature to look for hidden sources of phe.
There is a condition called
hyperphenyalaninaemia , essentially PKU lite, which appears to result from low (but not absent) function of the PH enzyme.
I'd be asking for a plasma amino acid test to know what is really going on in blood rather than just urine. The urine result could be due to something else (though I can't think what at the moment).
If you have done 23 and me it could be worth researching SNPs on PH.
If not, and particularly if you find blood phe is high and tyr relatively low, it could be worth finding out about genetic testing for PH.
I wouldn't be rushing into a protein restricted diet until I knew a lot more.