High Zinc on Hair Test

[Rebecca Parker]

Hi Dr. Woeller.

I have a 10 year old patient with ADHD who had very high (550) zinc on his hair test. His plasma zinc is 124. Would you suggest RBC zinc for this patient? What would you do in this case? What can be done to get zinc into cells if his RBC zinc is low?

Thank you!
Rebecca Parker, ND

[DrWoeller]

Rebecca,
Is his copper suppressed?

What is the reference range on the plasma zinc?

Is this child taking Zinc as a supplement?

I am not sure about the zinc into cells question. That would have to be researched.

Dr. Woeller

[Rebecca Parker]

Hi Dr. Woeller.

For some reason, I didn’t see your response. I will send you the hair test.

In answer to your questions, copper levels were normal on blood and hair tests.

Dr. Walsh uses the zinc reference range of 90-135. I think the regular range is 56-134.

He is not supplementing zinc yet.

His urinary pyrroles came back as borderline elevated, which usually means zinc (and B6) deficiency. Dr. Walsh says that extremely high levels of zinc in the hair nearly always indicate a deficiency. He says that people with high zinc in the urine and hair are not effectively recycling zinc into the blood due to metal metabolism disorders. But when I asked him how to treat this, I didn’t get a response back. Do you have any ideas?

I was thinking zinc with quercitin (zinc ionophore) to help get zinc into the cells, but I am not sure.

Thanks very much!
Rebecca

[DrWoeller]

Rebecca,
I am not sure either. The quercetin is an interesting idea.

Dr. Woeller

[Rebecca Parker]

Hi again.

It has been suggested to me that this patient might have PANDAS by a colleague. I just e-mailed you the blood tests and a GI MAP test. I did order an OAT but it has not come back yet. Does the elevated strep on the GI MAP suggest PANDAS? Please let me know your thoughts about what might be helpful for this patient. Would you suggest the Cunningham panel?

Thank you very much!
Rebecca

[DrWoeller]

Rebecca,
No. The elevated strep on a stool test is not diagnostic of PANDAS. In fact, PANDAS is a clinical diagnosis, along with serum ASO and anti-DNAse B titers and/or the Cunningham Panel (which should be done). In fact, I would do both the Cunningham Panel from Moleculera Labs and the Streptococcal Panel from Great Plains Laboratory.

Dr. Woeller

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