Last week I blogged about the social anxiety condition called pyroluria (Pyroluria, high mauve, pyrrole disorder, malvaria, elevated kryptopyrroles and social anxiety) and received some great comments on this and the other pyroluria blogs.
One question on this blog: The Anxiety Summit: How zinc and vitamin B6 prevent pyroluria and social anxiety was related to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/CFS so I’ve decided to share this and some additional information I was able to find.
Hi Trudy, I’m calling from Melbourne Australia, I was wondering if you have had any of your clients present with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as well as pyroluria. I have just recently been diagnosed with CFS, I also have ADHD. Someone on a CFS forum that I belong to told me about pyroluria and said it is common in ADHD and CFS sufferers. While the link between ADHD and pyroluria is well documented, I haven’t been able to find any information regarding a connection between Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and pyroluria. I notice that there is an overlap of symptoms in the two conditions. I have all of the symptoms of CFS and many of the symptoms of pyroluria. I’m very interested in hearing your views about CFS and how it relates to pyroluria if at all. — Tom
I was not aware of a CFS/pyroluria connection until now but see there is some research showing how CFS and mood disorders/anxiety can have related causes and one of them is inflammation:
Low zinc is a factor in pyroluria and depression and of course we may also see low zinc in CFS:
I find this paper very interesting since many of these same nutrients are commonly low in folks with anxiety and depression: Nutritional strategies for treating chronic fatigue syndrome
A detailed review of the literature suggests a number of marginal nutritional deficiencies may have etiologic relevance. These include deficiencies of various B vitamins, vitamin C, magnesium, sodium, zinc, L-tryptophan, L-carnitine, coenzyme Q10, and essential fatty acids.
I’m surprised the above paper didn’t mention iron anemia. This is very common with pyroluria. This paper: Iron insufficiency and hypovitaminosis D in adolescents with chronic fatigue and orthostatic intolerance found this
In patients presenting with chronic fatigue and/or orthostatic intolerance, low ferritin levels and hypovitaminosis D are common
These are just a few of the links I found by doing a very quick pubmed search. There are likely many more.
Everything is so connected and inter-related! And it’s interesting how certain deficiencies can manifest in certain ways – one person may find themselves with a CFS diagnosis, someone else with arthritis and yet someone else with heart disease. I think we need to be thinking about addressing nutrient deficiencies, balancing biochemistry and getting healthy, perhaps more just than addressing a diagnosis.
If you score high on the Pyroluria Questionnaire I would suggest simply addressing the pyroluria which may have some ripple down effects and actually improve the symptoms of CFS.
Now the next post will have to dig into the link between ADHD and pyroluria. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, I’d love to see your comments/questions if you can relate to any of this. Also, please do share in the comments if you know you have pyroluria and find the nutrients have eliminated your social anxiety and inner tension symptoms, and have also helped your CFS.