High Copper, Low Zinc, Low iron
I'm starting to piece together more about my iron issues. As soon as I treated my H.pylori, my iron percent saturation shot up to 46% from 19%! But sadly it fell down just four weeks later to 20% when I stopped supplementing because 46% is too high (that's where a man's saturation should be and considered toxic for a woman).
I was bummed. What is the deal? I've been trying to raise my iron for 14 months now!
I started supplementing iron again and also started learning about the relationship between iron and my high copper levels. Here is what I've learned:
"In many cases of iron deficiency anemia, as it is called, the cause is
not really poor iron levels. It is copper toxicity, and or
biounavailable iron. . . . This is a most confusing aspect of “iron deficient anemia”.
In fact, many physicians prescribe iron to patients who do not need it,
including most menstruating women who have copper toxicity and copper
biounavailability causing their anemia. This wastes their time and
leads to worsening iron overload problems in these young women." Dr. Lawrence Wilson
I also read on ARL's site that "Diminished adrenal activity is perhaps
the single most important physiological reason for copper problems
today. The reason is that adrenal activity is required to stimulate
production of ceruloplasmin, the primary copper-binding protein."
I also read that "When adrenal activity is insufficient, ceruloplasmin synthesis in the
liver declines. Copper that is not bound cannot be used and unbound
copper begins to accumulate in various tissues and organs." This
makes sense because stress depletes zinc, which then raises copper.
Also, estrogen dominance raises copper and high copper raises estrogen. Oh, bad news.
Magnesium, P-5-P and Molybdenum can help remove copper from the blood stream as it's being detoxed from the cells, the latter of which zinc picolinate and a high quality Vitamin C, such as liposomal, are good for.
I've been taking 400-800 mg Magnesium Citrate and 50 mg P-5-P tablets daily, as well as 5.5 mcg zinc picolinate and 75 mcg molybdenum every 3-4 days. When I started taking liposomal Vitamin C each day (500 mg for 1 week, then 1,000 mg for the second week), the detox really picked up! I got a host of symptoms, including:
- Irritability
- Fatigue
- Weepiness
- Feeling blah, slightly depressed, and an extreme lack of motivation
- Cravings for foods high in sulfur, such as meat and eggs
- Reproductive Cycle Irregularity
- Increase in seasonal allergies
- Increase in candida - vaginal yeast infections
I've stopped those supplements except for the magnesium and P5P, and I'll resume possibly in about a week. Copper detox can be awful, so slow and steady is the key.
Dr. L. Wilson writes on his site
that coffee enemas, sauna therapy, foot reflexology, genital bath,
limited juicing, and sulfur-containing amino acids can also be helpful.
Sources:
http://www.westonaprice.org/mentalemotional-health/metals-and-the-mind
http://drlwilson.com/articles/IRON.htm
http://www.arltma.com/Articles/CopperToxDoc.htm
http://www.menopausehealthmatters.com/estrogen-dominance.html
http://www.johnleemd.com/store/estrogen_dom.htmlhttp://www.imoa.info/HSE/environmental_data/biology/copper.php
http://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternativemedicine/herbsvitaminsandminerals/molybdenum
