Dear Triffid,
Thank you for brief reply once again as I forgot to mentioned my results for Hair analysis report which I did on 18th Sep 2012.
calcium----------83 High (28 – 81)
Magnesium-------9 High end (4 – 9)
Sodium-----------12 L (13 – 45)
Potassium------------2 L (5 – 18)
iron-------------0.7 L (2 – 4.5)
copper-------------0.9 L (1.5 – 3)
Manganese------------.007 Low ( 0.02 – 0.0006)
Zinc-------------------17 ok ( 16 – 26)
Chromium----------------------0.081 Low (.008 – 0.16)
Selenium-------------0.061 Low (0.12 --0.21)
Phosphorus------------12 low ( 12.8 - 19.2)
Nickel------------------.009 (Less than 0.03)
Cobalt--------------.001 Low (Less than 0.03)
Molybdenum------------------.005 Low (Less than 0.03)
Boron----------zero
Lithium--------------.003 Low ( 0.2 and above)
I did 24 hours urine test in mid 2012 as well which showed my zinc was in upper high limit. Its really confusing and in my entire life as never took cal or mag supplement. I tried to take cal citrate with Mag and K from gnc brand but my breathing problem got worse so I stopped them.
Anyway I really appreciate the help you provided me and that for sure I am going to implement it esp introducing all active B in my life.
May God bless you and take care
Nina, I want to say that I am not a doctor and I do not have my on=wn problems solved, I am only passing on clues that may or may not help you. I do not measure my zinc I only take it based on symptoms and observed relief. I have been taking zinc since I was a kid because I read in a book kby nutritionist Adele Davis that "alldiabetics are low in zinc" and diabetes runs in my family and the Nutrition desk Referenxce says it is safe even at high doses. It was my childish theory that maybe I could prevent diabetes by never getting low on zinc. In fact I had a friend who slipped and fell on the ice and it made her become a diabetic, a brittle diabeteic, and she later died of diabetes. It was my theory that the adrenal rush used up all her zinc causing the diabetes. idk if preventing low zinc can prevent diabetes but I do not want to find out. Especially since I have been experimenting blithely with it for years based on observing symptoms. So I paid attention for a metallic tatse to determine if I had too much, not very scientific, but a crude measure nonetheless. And to symptom reversal...being able to breath and still function when I have a cold or allergy. I have no idea what my zinc lab is and I have doubts whether the lab is reliable. For instance I know that serum copper is bogus as is serum magnesium...the blood robs these minerals from tissues to attempt to keep the blood levels normal. what other minerals might it do this for? You could research it, but I have not. So I can make no comment at all about lab values of serum zinc as I just don't know.
But I am very curious about your calcium and magnesium readings as didn't you say that 6 months ago they were low? What changed between readings? Did you take D, K? Do you eat a lot of greens? Did you start to eat a lot of greens? Switch to some calcium fortified product? Oh, I see this is via a hair analysis. I do not know what these readings mean in hair analysis.
I don't know anything about potassium values in hair. I *do* trust potassium readings in serum. Have you had serum potassium tested? When I get a CBC I get it from
www.lef.org and it comes with a chem which shows serum potassium. If you serum potassium is below 4.0 you should do whatever you feel is safe to raise it. I would never run my serum potassium below 4.2 because it is too easy to lose a bit and then get cramping and muscle problems (which is VERY painful, and your heart is a muscle so think about it). Doctors are not concerned unless it is below 3.5, but you WILL get symptoms at 4.0 or below. And cramping may not be all...I recall being so uncomfortable and - potentially shortness of breath and sweaty palms. Anyway it is the antithesis of being peaceful. So I like to keep a buffer of at least .2 away from symptoms and stay at 4.2 or above. I do not want it to hit 5.0 because I also want a buffer the other way. The problem I am having now is that if you have a kidney problem (including UTI) then you have a problem getting rid of potassium so you do NOT want to supplement. So...to supplement or not to supplement...I am guessing based on symptoms, but I don't like guessing. However Freddd has made a big deal here about how improving methylation (supplements like B12, active B's, TMG, SAMe, choline) opens up biochemical pathways that need potassium and thus LOWERS your potassium. So IF YOU ARE LOW IN POTASSIUM you need to especially beware.
Where did you have your hair analysis done? (Mine were via traceelements.com) If the lab does not wash the hair sample they may be reliable. Looks like you need molybdenum. If your symptoms are due to allergy, your most likely fix is to take molybdenum. Low moly causes inability to get rid of heavy metals and some toxins which results in allergy or sensitivity to them hanging about in the body. This is only a guess but if you are low moly it seems like it would make it hard for you to get rid of homocysteine. So once you supply the moly you may find your methylation is not as good as it looks anymore. You may find you need methyls like methionine/TMG/choline to raise it back up and maybe active B's to process it. But wait to get a new homocysteine reading and see.
Your thyroid was indeed a little low at 2.3 or so and it looks quite clear one reason may be low selenium (if you trust this hair analysis). You can take 200-400 msg (or whatever units) / day. Brazil nuts are high in selenium, so you could try them if you'd rather. I read once you only need 1/day but I have no idea if that's true. You might be somewhat low iodine as well. No major deficiencies but your thyroid is a little off and you'd feel better if it were not.
You do not want to be low chromium. Chromium was one time identified as one of the top 10 supplements to lead to long life. Chromium helps your cells take up energy (helps prevent metabolic symdrome). For dieting, Dr. Braverman recommended one man take a high dose of 1000mcg?(whatever units). A non dieting dose may be 500. You'd have to check to be sure but I think you get it in pepper, so you could consider just peppering your food every day if you'd rather. (You'd have to consider dose effectiveness). Pepper does improve your digestion and thus can affect medicine dosages if you are on anything.
Phosphorus is everywhere so I wouldn't worry about it unless you eat an Atkins-like LOW CARB diet. If you eat bread you will get all the phosphorus you need. It is also in pop but I wouldn't touch the stuff.
In general if youer minerals are all low I would suspect you do not eta a lot of vegetables because they are the main source of dietary minerals. I personally would not take lithium. If you do, research the heck out of it because it may affect other nutrient levels and you need to understand that before taking it.
One more thing...they are now saying that allergic rhinitis progresses to asthma with age. It may be you are getting asthma. I always wondered what caused one person to have allergic rhinitis while another had asthma and I have suspected the difference might be molybdenum level. I have a high moly level, don't know what I eat to achieve it. I have never had asthma so even before I took vitamins I still did not have asthma. So I suspect it has to do with eating a lot of fish or shellfish. My family has always been big on little canned aquatic things...oysters, crabs, mussels, shrimp, etc. They are high in zinc and copper, but maybe other minerals as well. I think they are high in purines and my family has some kind of purine issue that makes us crave shellfish. My hair analyst advised I eat more purines for some reason but I was incredulous because my family has occasional attacks of gout (purines cause high uric acid). So maybe some biochemical blockage causes up to crave purines and we cannot easily judge how much we need ...or not.
I don't know if anyone else can help you any more. I wish there were more readers of this thread to jump in./ If anyone even so much as lithium experience to share it would be worth hearing.
Triff