What kinds of symptoms are seen in Disorders of Porphyrin Metabolism?
The “acute” porphyrias always display neurological symptoms affecting the central, peripheral and/or autonomic nervous systems. These may include any combination of abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, constipation, seizures, headaches, difficulty concentrating, personality changes, weakness and aching in muscles and joints, unsteady gait, poor coordination, numbness/ tingling of arms and legs, retaining fluids, rapid heart rate, increased blood pressure, increased sweating, and intermittent fever. Acute and chemically-acquired cases also show increased sensitivity to a long list of exposures that may both bring on symptoms and make them worse. These include certain medications (the focus of much porphyria research), toxic chemicals (such as PCBs and dioxin), alcoholic beverages (including beer and wine), other liver diseases (like Hepatitis C and cancer) as well as more subtle factors like hormonal changes and a low carbohydrate diet. (Skipping meals and dieting make symptoms worse, whil
