PSA:Suffering from anxiety/depression/bipolar/schizophrenia/psychosis? Read about a medical mimic...

[Satori]

I have been to hell and back with my 10 yr old dd who was dx'd with ADHD/ODD at only 6-7 yrs old and at 8 we got a shocking Dx of Bipolar 1 with a wee bit of psychosis. Meds helped subdue her but life was still hell. After 2 years I opted to quit meds and try another direction and we went with Empower+ from TrueHope and that was the 1st time we saw improvement. 9 months later I learned about Pyroluria online and it was an "ah ha!" moment. (we now know it was the 75mg of zinc in the Empower she was responding to) I got the pedi to order the test so I could send it though Quest labs (which meant my insurance co would pay for the test) who in turn sent it to Biocenter which is one of the few labs who correctly perform the test. Her level was 90! Severe pyroluria! We got her on the right treatment which is HUGE doses of Zinc (100mg/day for the 1st month to bring down the pyrolle level) and B6/P5P (1000mg/day total for now) with several others. She is a very different child now after only a month on treatment! Were running tests next week to check for problems with histamine, homocyctine and copper (high copper is a problem with pyroluria)/heavy metals.

So I urge you, if you think its a problem, GET TESTED! Its $80 though Biocenter.  If you or a your child have problems with anxiety/depression/bipolar/adhd/schizophrenia , get tested! DRUGS WILL NOT FIX IT, how ever, $30 mo on the right vitamins will return life to normal. Its exciting to think that in a year all this will be a memory instead of daily reality. Treatment is for life but thats better then a lifetime on drugs that don't work and have horrible side effects. Best of all, you generally start noticing a huge difference in just 3 days on treatment:)

http://www.naturopathyonline.com/PatientRoles/pyroluria.htm has more info and a screening quiz.

[blessedwithboys]

Thank you so much for this info!  My 9yo ds is on an AAP for Mood Disorder-NOS (probably Bipolar) and it's helping some, but not enough for me to justify it much longer.  My exdh is schizophrenic, and I see ds going down the same road, which scares the living hell out of me.  I've never heard of this particular issue, but I do believe that mental illnesses are essentially nutritional issues, so I'm not surprised at all to learn of this condition.

I did the self-check screening quiz and my exdh scored an 11 while ds scored an 8 or 9.  Some of th equestions weren't applicable, like late onset of puberty and acne, since he's only 9.  I am giving serious consideration to ordering the test for him.

Thanks again!  I never stop learning on MDC.   :)