Exactly. An exerpt from my own article on the subject.

In the 1980s, with Dr Hoffer having retired, Dr Pfeiffer was joined by Dr William Walsh who had met him on the very day that Dr Pfeiffer had been nominated for a Nobel prize by double Nobel laureate Linus Pauling. Together they made a number of findings about what eventually came to be called Pyrrole Disorder due to the fact that the symptoms that were associated with the elevated HPL were eventually theorised to be caused by oxidative stress.

The HPL (“pyrrole”) was recast as mostly just a marker of this oxidative stress although it had also been shown to have neurotoxic effects of its own in animals. These symptoms were varied but were typically associated with diagnoses of depression, schizophrenia, and other brain, behavioural, and affective disorders.

It has been reported recently that, as a metric of oxidative stress, HPL is found in elevated amounts in people with any kind of illness, stress, toxicity (especially heavy metal), or injury, though the levels are highest in those exhibiting symptoms of the mental or behavioural disorders mentioned previously.

This gets confusing, in a chicken-egg sort of way. I have to wonder why is there high oxidative stress in the first place, which presumably is different for each person. If one is under high emotional stress or has high burden of toxic metals, for example, and this is causing increased oxidative stress and thus elevated HPU, then the high HPU would be a symptom, and the B6/zinc symptom management.

1. They do, in that the elimination of psychiatric/mental symptoms tend to result in better stress response and avoidance strategies, thereby lowering the oxidative stress which is theorised to be a cause of the elevated HPL and nutrient deficiencies in the first place.My levels have gone from 40.6 ug/dL initially to 29.7 ug/dL after just over a year of heavy B6 and zinc supplementation (amongst other things). Symptoms had disappeared within 2 weeks.

1. Are you saying that B6 and Zinc supplementation actually reduce elevated HPL? I thought these supps were taken only to bring B6/Zinc levels up to normal.

2. When you say “High urine pyrroles may not necessarily result in a deficiency of vitamin B6 or zinc (R). It is important to confirm their levels before supplementation.”… you are applying that only to Pyrroles and not HPU? Elevated HPU is a definitive diagnostic for Zinc, B6 deficiency correct?

3. William Walsh in his book “Nutrient Power” still refers to the disorder as one of elevated Pyrroles.