Pyroluria

Now days there still remains conjecture as to exactly what defines urinary pyrroles. This article was updated August 2024. Companies like Nutripath have stopped testing for this. One issue with testing is that Urinary pyrorles fluctuate day to day in response to physical and psychological stress. Other labs methodologies vary considerably therefor may be inconsistent and perhaps unreliable. Here at the clinic we tend to look at signs and symptoms and family history as a guideline until research catches up with more accurate testing.

What are pyrroles? In the late 1950's , the Hoffer Group found that the urine from patients with psychological disorders , namely schizophrenia, reacted to an Ehrlich reagent whereby a mauve colour appeared on the chromatographic testing paper. This became known as the "Mauve factor."  Further investigation identified this mauve factor as a small pyrrole thought to be kryptopyrrole. However this was incorrect as later studies found the mauve factor to be hydroxyhemepyrrolin-2-one.(HPL) they are similar but n to the same. Using them interchangeably is simply not correct. So nowadays if pyroluria is a real thing it may be when HPL is greater than 20mcg/dl.  It will be interesting to watch further studies in this moving forward. More recent research from New Zealand brings to question the validity of the original findings of mauve factor as an indication of elevated pyrroles.

People with this proposed  condition may have all sorts of nervous system, immune, cognitive and digestive disorders to name just a few. Some people have mild symptoms and some severe. People with this conditon are worse under stress. There is more known about this now but still some practitioners do not think to have it tested. Please ask one of our practioners if you would like to be tested for this. It is amazing how much better you can feel when nutritionally this is managed.

The most common symptom of so called Pyroluria as we knew it is that they are more prone to depression or anxiety. People can come in to the clinic with depression but once the Pyroluria is considered the depression lifts. 70% of depressed people are found to have pyroluria.  When you think how many people could be helped purely with nutrients surely this could reduce the amount of antidepresssants prescribed and taken.

 The list is long however some main presentations of proposed Pyroluria are:

1. No dream recall or very little dream recall
2. Recalling only nightmares
3. Poor Short term memory
4. No reading for pleasure
5. Tendency to skip breakfast
6. Chronic dry skin
7. Frequent Ilness
8. Sensitive to loud noises
9. Sensitive to bright lights
10. Anger/ Mood Swings / Short Temper
11. Preference to stay up late

Whether it be real in regards to pyrroles or not, the good news is that with B6 (especially the activated B6) and zinc, symptoms can improve dramatically. Some pyroluria clients also respond well to some fish oils.  Consideration should be given to the role of the gut , food intolerances and allergies effecting absorption of ket nutrients, and the relationship with psychological stress and oxidative stress and subsequent elevated HPL.

The bad news is that because it is genetic tendency it is a lifetime treatment and management.

Consequently if you have more than 15 of the symptoms listed below it would be well worth while getting the urine test for Pyroluria. Just ask your practitioner and discuss appropriate dosages for you individually.

We look forward to further research on this topic in years to come. 

Please do not heistate to talk about this with your practitioner. 

ref: Biomedica Research Update.