The zinc story goes on…
Firstly, my acupressurist developed an enormous (5’‘x4’’?) erysipelas (a form of cellulitis) on her lower leg, incl. a blister more than an inch high. She had to take 3 types of antibiotics to get the levels down. So her supposed ‘zinc sfx’ were likely due to that coming on. She still blames the zinc & one other thing tho for weakening her immune system which is usually good.
Now I’m considering taking zinc, cos my blood levels are roughly in the middle, not high, and it helps with the GABA/serotonin etc. where I’m not really making further progress.
I’ve taken the product she used back (I’d ordered it for her) and was trying to find out how to take it without getting the same. She had read about OptiZinc being best, meaning specially bioavailable zinc monomethionine & asked me if I could order it. Looking at the amazon product reviews closely, I’ve now slightly embarrassingly realized that these are very critical of the fact that the manufacturer recommends taking half tablets, but that this isn’t possible, as using knives as suggested pulverizes or thirds or quarters or whatever. Everyone is asking why they don’t just provide half tablets instead. Doubt my acupressurist halved them…
As to me: The possible zinc sfx I often get from everything are heartburn, indigestion & skin reactions.
I’ve gone back to looking what the zinc recommendation for GABA etc. said: It’s to keep calcium down, as that increases glutamate. Doesn’t make sense to take it now, esp. as balancing out the GABA with glutamate seems better for me. It says there that magnesium does a similar job and I’m taking 3 sorts of that anyway, around 240mg. Phew.