Page 40 - Winter2008

The other 5 mg of Dexedrine—so copper is equally as the urine. Pyrroles attract aldehydes, and vitamin

thing that stimulating as Dexedrine to the mind. As we B is an aldehyde. Once the pyrroles bind to B ,
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know, amphetamines can eventually make you that unit now becomes a real vacuum cleaner for
happens with psychotic if you keep using them. any zinc you might have lying around. So if you
high copper is The body will begin storing the excess cop- have pyroluria, from a very young age you are
slow per in the brain as the liver becomes overloaded. developing a B and zinc deficiency constantly.
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Copper stimulates the diencephalon, which is the It is hard to consume enough B to overcome the
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oxidation. emotional brain. Zinc stimulates the cortex, the drain that is happening in pyroluria.
new brain, the rational mind, and is calming to the About 52 percent of schizophrenics, 42
emotions. Thus, copper-toxic people often keep percent of psychiatric patients and 40 percent of
themselves in a state of high drama, and their alcoholics are pyrolurics. If alcoholism is associ-
symptoms can even mimic bi-polar syndrome. ated with nervous breakdowns, suicide or even
Carl Pfeiffer, PhD, MD, has found that one-half migraines, pyroluria is likely involved.
to two-thirds of schizophrenics have high levels A sign of low B is lack of dream memory,
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of copper and low levels of zinc and magnesium, or very disturbing dreams. And if your B is very
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especially during acute phases. Copper has an low, you will find it hard to take zinc. Zinc will
adverse effect on methylation, a metabolic path- make you feel nauseated, bloated or uncomfort-
way that is essential for detoxification and for able.
controlling free-radical activity. Poor methylation Family tendencies seen with pyroluria in-
can be an important factor in cases of autism and clude cluster headaches and migraines, depres-
schizophrenia. sion, fatigue including chronic fatigue, sensitivity
to cold, anemia, morning nausea and appetite
PYROLURIA problems, lack of dream recall, suicides and
A condition that can really put a person at suicidal depression, motion sickness, blood sugar
great risk for copper toxicity is pyroluria. Pyro- problems, glucose intolerance, sore lower back
luria is characterized by excess krytopyrrole in and upper left pain in the ribs.

COPPER, HEAVY METALS, HISTAMINE AND THE METHYLATION CYCLE

Copper-containing enzymes histaminase and ceruloplasminase regulate histamine, a neurotransmitter that makes us
wakeful and that plays a role in local immune response. Elevated copper increases the level of these enzymes and thus
promotes histamine breakdown. If you have high copper you will have low histamine and vice versa.
Histamine levels are related to the methylation cycle because methyl and histamine compete with each other. When
histamine is high, it is a sign of under-methylation and when histamine is low, there is over-methylation.
Methyl (CH3) is very common in the body, as it is present in most enzymes and proteins. The methylation cycle is the
process by which methyl groups are added to a compound; it is a metabolic pathway that is essential for detoxification
and for controlling free-radical activity. When a larger molecule has a methyl group added to it, it changes its structure
and function. Methylation has a lot to do with turning on and off gene expression—when the body attaches a methyl
group to a gene, it becomes active and when it is removed, the gene is turned off. Methylation is very important for body
development, including building the myelin sheath and all cell membranes in your brain. If it is impaired a lot of things
are going to be impaired including histamine production.
With too much methyl the body will overproduce dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine and serotonin. This fact
may explain why high copper is associated with high levels of these neurotransmitters. With too little methyl, the neu-
rotransmitters are low.
SAMe (S-adenosyl methionine) is the main methyl donor in the body. When it donates its methyl group, it becomes
S-adenosyl methionine homocysteine. Then the body can get a methyl group from the folic acid cycle and turn SAMe
back into methionine. This is called the methylation cycle. When you have oxidative stress, which is what happens with
toxic metals such as mercury, it will divert the homocysteine. The homocysteine will go to the formation of glutathione
which is probably the primary detoxifier of heavy metals in the liver, and it will go to produce metallothionein, which
you need to handle heavy metals. This will happen if your adrenals are working properly because you can’t form good
metallothionein without good adrenal function. If you have a lot of heavy metals in your body, you are going to start
under-producing methyl to some degree because it is all being diverted to detoxification.
40 Wise Traditions WINTER 2008