Introvert, social anxiety or pyrolles?
"He's a bit sensitive..."
"She just feels safe around Mum, give her some time to warm up..."
"He gets a bit of social anxiety..."
"She's very introverted..."
Ever heard any of these phrases about your child? You might have said them yourself. You might even describe yourself this way.
For a while we thought being introverted was just a personality thing. It was just the way we are, and that is true, but there are also many cases where there is much more going on.
This is the person who finds it hard to deal with stress, can get social anxiety, and as a result, they tend to limit the social situations they are in, hang around one or two other people and like routine because it makes life less stressful.
This is perceived as being introverted. It is also how a person with pyrroluria behaves.
Signs and symptoms of pyrroluria are:
- being anxious
- shy or fearful
- poor dream recall or stressful, bizarre dreams
- not hungry in the morning
- slight nausea in the mornings
- joints that pop, crack or ache
- disliking protein, tend to be vego or vegan
- sensitive to bright sunlight or noise
- cold hands or feet
- frequent colds or infection
- pale or fair skin
- avoiding stress because it upsets you
- being dependent on one person
- prefer the company of one or two friends
- uncomfortable with strangers
- learning and behavioural disorders
Let's look more into what is going on and why these signs and symptoms occur.
Pyrroles are produced in everyone's body. You make them, I make them, my neighbor makes them... but some people produce more than others and this is where the problem occurs.
When your red blood cells break down, they produce a pyrrolle, which then binds to the mineral Zinc and the vitamin B6 and excretes them both out through the urine.
So if your body is producing a lot of pyrroles, you are loosing A LOT of Zinc and B6 resulting in a severe deficiency. This is where the problem lies and this is what causes the signs and symptoms listed above.
Without Zinc and B6, your body can't make neurotransmitters. All those beautiful neurotransmitters that keep us calm and regulated, they are all going to be affected and be low.
Zinc and B6 are ESSENTIAL minerals when it comes to mental health. Without it, anxiety is going to be prevalent and a person will feel shy and fearful.
Without these two nutrients, a person will have a poor appetite and feel slightly nauseous in the mornings.
When Zinc and B6 is depleted, a person will not be able to deal with stress and stressful situations and will withdraw from social settings, prefer the company of only one or two people, feel uncomfortable around strangers and can be upset by criticism and small things.
When I see a new patient in my clinic, I will ask them lot's of questions around this and often they will reply with "Oh yes, I'm more of an introvert, it's just my personality" or they will describe their child as being "a bit sensitive and a bit shy".
What if it was a Zinc and B6 deficiency instead?
Personality is personality, we can't change a persons personality, but we can help them deal with stress better and the fist thing we need to check is their Zinc and B6 levels.
How do I know if they have elevated pyrroles? I send them off for the wee test. Basically, I order the test for you through the lab, you go in, wee in a container in the dark (they do give you particular light so you can see a little) and the lab quickly sends it off for testing.
Why in the dark? The wee is tested for how many pyrroles are in it and light destroys pyrolles, so if the sample is exposed to light if will affect the results of the test.
If your results come back as elevated, we get to work on fixing the problem and resolving those deficiencies
WHAT PRODUCES PYRROLES?
GENETICS: It is thought that there is a genetic component to pyrroluria as it is very common within families. The specific gene itself has not been found yet, but it is estimated that if one parent has pyrroluria, there is a 50% chance of their child having pyrroluria. If both parents have pyrroluria then that percentage goes up to 75%.
With the children I see with pyrroluria, I will ask the parent about how they were as a child and they will usually describe themselves in a very similar way.
POOR GUT HEALTH: If a persons gut health is poor then they will produce more pyrroles. I often say that in nearly every disease, disorder and syndrome there is some element of dysregulated gut health.
Getting the ecology and health of the gut right is a big focus when dealing with pyrroluria.
PHYSICAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS: Being stressed out and anxious will cause more pyrroles to be produced. It's a bit of an awful cycle that is on repeat: anxiety causes pyrroles and pyrroles cause anxiety. Dealing with physical and psychological stress must be incorporated within the plan moving forward.
OXIDATIVE STRESS: This is any kind of stress that is caused within the body, usually by some fort of infection. This can include an underlying viral infection, a bacterial infection (can be a gut bacteria overgrowth) or a parasitic infection. We all know how common parasites are among kids! Dealing with these infections can give incredible results.