COPPER TOXICITY SYNDROME
by Lawrence Wilson, MD

© revised, October 2008, The Center For Development

Do you know anyone who suffers from headaches, fatigue, insomnia, depression, skin rashes, spaciness or detachment, learning disorders or premenstrual syndrome? These can be symptoms of a copper imbalance. It is an extremely common nutritional imbalance. It is often overlooked, in part because it is not always simple to detect.
Copper is an essential trace mineral that is vitally important for both physical and mental health. It has been studied for years, including at government laboratories. However, its importance for health is still largely unappreciated. The following article is an introduction to the large subject of copper imbalance. The author is deeply indebted to Dr. Paul C. Eck, an avid copper researcher.

COPPER'S ROLE IN THE BODY

Copper is critical for energy production in the cells. It is also involved in nerve conduction, connective tissue, the cardiovascular system and the immune system. Copper is closely related to estrogen metabolism, and is required for women's fertility and to maintain pregnancy.
Copper stimulates production of the neurotransmitters epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine. It is also required for monoamine oxidase, an enzyme related to serotonin production.

SYMPTOMS OF COPPER IMBALANCE

Copper may affect any system of the body, but usually affects certain ones more than others. The most common symptoms have to do with the brain and the emotions, in particular.
Other systems that are greatly affected are the skin, hair, nails and connective tissue and the female reproductive tract. Others are the liver, in particular, with symptoms such as hepatitis C, liver tenderness, gall bladder problems and others related to the liver.

Children’s conditions. Copper imbalances is extremely common in babies and young children as well. This comes from their mothers copper imbalance, in many cases, which is passed on to the child through the placenta. This curious situation is discussed later under the topic of congenital copper imbalance.
However, this is not a genetic condition, so it corrects quickly, often within a few weeks to months, on a nutritional balancing program. However, it can cause even newborns to have common diaper and other rashes, ear infections, digestive problems, food sensitivities, autism, attention deficit disorder and even serious conditions such as cancers and seizure disorder, in which copper is usually involved along with mercury.

Children’s copper often biounavailable. One caution, however, is that many children under the age of about 10 are often fast oxidizers who absolutely require copper supplements. If they are placed on a program to lower their copper, it could harm them greatly, even causing death. Fast oxidation is explained later in this paper.
This seems scary and it is. We have seen many young babies placed on nutrition programs without doing a hair mineral analysis. These babies and young children are given the wrong vitamins and minerals and the children will not thrive on them. Please be careful this way. The topic of biounavailable copper is discussed later in this paper.

Nervous system disorders in older children and adults. In older children and adults, the most common copper symptoms are usually those involving the brain and nervous system. They may include spaciness, mood swings, violence, depression, anxiety, irritability, nervousness, bipolar disorder, phobias, panic attacks, migraines, nerve pain, mind racing, insomnia and even schizophrenia and epilepsy.
Connective tissues. Symptoms associated with connective tissue and joints include arthritis, osteoporosis, stretch marks, joint problems of other kinds, scoliosis, kyphosis (bad posture) and all diseases of the skin, hair, nails and some related to the muscles and tendons. These include hair loss, especially in women, tendonitis, back problems due to muscle weakness and others.
Heart disease. Low or biounavailable copper is associated with atherosclerosis and heart disease, as this is a connective tissue disorder in more than a few cases.
Female reproductive disorders are also extremely common. The most common one is premenstrual syndome or PMS. The symptoms of PMS mimic the symptoms of copper imbalance because estrogen levels and copper levels correlate well and increase before the menstrual period.
Others include amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, fibroid tumors, ovarian cysts, pelvic inflammatory disease, scoliosis, fibrocystic breast disease, endometriosis and other female-related complaints.
Infections, especially fungal ones. Copper imbalance is also very much related to all fungal and other types of infections such as candida albicans in the intestines and elsewhere. Copper is critical for aerobic metabolism, so a copper imbalances allows fungal organisms to thrive in the body and must be corrected to reduce these infections, in most cases. This is why some people simply cannot get rid of candida albicans, parasitic infections, sinus infections and others.
Anemia. Copper is needed for iron metabolism. Therefore, an important cause of anemia, especially in women, is a copper imbalance. On a blood test, it looks exactly like an iron-deficient anemia but it will not respond very well to the administration of supplemental iron. The copper imbalance must be corrected and then the anemia vanishes quickly.
Cancer is also quite associated with all three copper imbalances – deficiency, excess and biounavailable copper, a combination of the other two. This is one reason for the cancer epidemic we experience today.
The important topic of cancer and natural approaches to it, is discussed in other articles on this website. For example, the connection between estrogen levels and copper levels in the body, and between copper toxicity of the liver and cancer, are important links to understand.

SOURCES OF COPPER

Congenital high copper (children born with high copper or low zinc). Today, many children are born with excessive tissue copper. It is passed from high-copper mothers to their children through the placenta.
Stress from any cause contributes to copper imbalance. Stress depletes the adrenal glands and lowers the zinc level in the body.
Zinc deficiency. Whenever zinc becomes deficient, copper tends to accumulate. Our soil is low in zinc. Refined sugar, white rice and white flour have been stripped of their zinc. The trend toward vegetarianism reduces zinc in the diet, since red meat is the best dietary source of zinc.
High-copper diet. Copper is found in many foods, particularly vegetarian proteins such as nuts, beans, seeds and grains. Meats contain copper, but it is balanced by zinc which competes for its absorption. Chocolate is high in copper. A desire for copper may help explain chocolate cravings.
Copper pipes. Another source of copper is drinking water that remained in copper water pipes, or copper added to your water supply. During a recent dry summer, several Oregon cities added copper sulfate to their reservoirs to reduce algae growth. Accident and disease rates increased.
Mineral deficiencies. Deficiencies of manganese, iron, selenium, chromium and other minerals can contribute to copper accumulation.
Vitamin deficiencies. These include deficiencies in the diet of B-vitamins and vitamin C.
Adrenal weakness. Adrenal hormones help stimulate the liver to produce ceruloplasmin, a major copper binding protein in the body, along with metallothionein.
Liver and transporter problems. A sluggish liver or weak adrenal glands may cause copper to build up in the tissues. Other problems with metallothionein or ceruloplasmin often contribute to copper toxicity or biounavailability.
Other sources of copper are copper cookware, dental materials, vitamin pills, fungicides and pesticides residues on food, copper intra-uterine devices and birth control pills.
Case history. Mrs. Robinson and her 6-month-old, breast-fed baby both began to experience hair loss. The cause was a daily prenatal vitamin containing 4 milligrams of copper, far too much for this high-copper mother.

THREE COPPER IMBALANCES

It is possible for a person to become copper-toxic, copper-deficient or to have a condition called biounavailable copper.
What is biounavailable copper? In this very common situation, copper is present in excess in the body, but it cannot be utilized well. The reason it occurs is that minerals such as copper must be bound and transported within the body.
Biounavailability often occurs due to a deficiency of the copper-binding proteins, ceruloplasmin or metallothionein. Without sufficient binding proteins, unbound copper may circulate freely in the body, where it may accumulate primarily in the liver, brain and female organs.
When copper is biounavailable, one may have symptoms of both copper toxicity and copper deficiency.
Copper toxicity and biounavailability are seen most often. These occur almost always in people who are in a state called slow oxidation.
Copper deficiency occurs most often in people who are in the state called fast oxidation. This article uses the words copper imbalance when more than one of the three types of copper problems are possible.

DETECTING COPPER IMBALANCE

Blood, urine, feces and hair testing are used to detect copper imbalance. Liver biopsy is also used on rare occasions. Let us examine each method from my experience.
Blood serum or feces copper levels are not considered a reliable way to detect copper imbalance because copper may not accumulate in the blood or the feces. Serum ceruloplasmin may be more accurate.
Urine testing is also inaccurate because copper is stored deep in organs such as the brain and the liver. Urine challenge testing with penicillamine, a strong copper chelator, is better.
Urine challenge testing. With this procedure, one first gives a dose of penicillamine and then collects the urine for 24 hours. However, this still will miss much copper that is stored deep within body organs and tissues. Chelating agents primarily remove minerals from the blood and arterial walls. A liver biopsy for copper can be very accurate. However, it is costly, invasive and in my experience unnecessary. However, it is used rarely to assess Wilson’s disease (a rare inherited copper storage disease).
Hair testing, in my experience, is far and away the best method to detect copper imbalances. It can detect not only copper excess and copper deficiency, but copper biounavailability , too.
Hair is not a primary site of copper deposition. However, if one knows how to interpret the hair analysis, one can often rapidly and non-invasively assess copper status.

COPPER ASSESSMENT VIA HAIR MINERAL ANALYSIS

An “ideal” range of copper in the hair is about 1-2.5 mg% or about 10-25 ppm. Any number higher than this tends to indicate excessive copper in the hair tissue and, by extension, in other tissues of the body.
Swimming in pools. Rarely swimming in pools regularly or even regular use of a hot tub increases the copper level in the hair. This is due to the use of copper compounds added to the water as disinfectants. These, of course, are best avoided if one has symptoms of elevated copper.
Note that the hair must not be washed at the laboratory for accurate results. Only two labs in the United States, Analytical Research Labs and Trace elements, Inc., do not wash the hair at the lab, as far as I am aware. See the article on this site entitled, Hair Analysis Controversy concerning this important aspect of hair analysis procedure.
Avoiding washing of the hair at the laboratory is also even more important to assess copper indirectly, our next topic below.

Indirect copper indicators. The absolute copper level on a hair mineral analysis is NOT the best way to assess copper status. The reason is that copper does not often accumulate in the hair tissue. Below are the indicators that have been found sufficient to detect copper imbalance, based on reports from patients and other data involving hundreds of thousands of mineral analyses.

Assessing Low Copper. Following are hair indicators for a need for copper supplementation:
1) A fast oxidation rate. This is identified for you on tests from Analytical Research Laboratories. The criteria are a calcium/potassium ratio less than 4:1 and a sodium/magnesium ratio greater than 4.17;1.
2) A hair sodium/potassium ratio less than about 2.5:1. Copper may be low or is more often biounavailable. In this condition, one must give some copper, even if the absolute copper level on the test is high and even if the patient has symptoms of copper toxicity. This is difficult to understand, but it works in practice and is very important to assist some patients. I have written more about this in other articles on this website, such as A Low Sodium/Potassium Ratio.

Assessing Biounavailable Copper. When copper is present in excess, often it is biounavailable as well. This may give rise to a combination of symptoms of toxicity and deficiency. Primary indicators of biounavailability include:
1) A copper level less than 1.0 in a slow oxidizer.
2) A sodium/potassium ratio less than about 2.5:1in either a fast or slow or mixed oxidizer.

Assessing Copper Toxicity. Indicators include:
Slow oxidation. Most slow oxidizers have copper toxicity and often biounavailable copper. Slow oxidation is indicated on hair analyses from Analytical Research Labs and Trace Elements, Inc. The basic criteria for it are a calcium/potassium ratio greater than 4:1 and a sodium/magnesium ratio less than 4.17:1. Calcium/phosphorus ratio above 2.5 is also used at times to assess a slow oxidation rate.
More definite indicators in conjunction with slow oxidation are:
a. calcium /potassium ratio greater than 10:1.
b. zinc less than about 12
c: zinc/copper ratio less than about 6.
d: sodium/potassium ratio less than about 2:1. This is specifically an indicator for biounavailable copper.
e. copper level less than 1.0 mg%. This is specifically an indicator for biounavailable copper.
f. calcium greater than about 70 mg%.
g. potassium less than about 4 mg%.
i. mercury level greater than 0.03 mg%.

Indicators for copper toxicity that may be seen in both fast and slow oxidizers include:
1) A calcium level greater than about 70 mg%.
2) A potassium level less than about 4 mg%.
3) A mercury level of greater than 0.03 mg%. In the book I co-authored with Dr. Paul Eck, entitled Toxic Metals in Human Health and Disease (1989), we wrote that the mercury level needs to be 0.4 mg% for hidden copper to be present. I now believe the level is closer to 0.03-0.04.

THE COPPER PERSONALITY

There exists a high copper personality. Positive traits include a warm, caring, sensitive, emotional nature, often with artistic orientation and a child-like quality. Often high-copper people are young-looking.
Many traditionally feminine traits are associated with copper such as softness, gentleness and intuitiveness. This may relate to the qualities of metallic copper, which include softness, malleability and an excellent conductor of electricity.
When the personality is not fully integrated or the copper becomes too high, negative traits show up. These include spaciness, racing thoughts, living in a dream world and naiveté.
Other qualities include childishness, excessive emotions, sentimentality, a tendency to depression, fearfulness, hidden anger and resentments, phobias, psychosis and violence. Artists, inventors and other high-copper types often "live on the edge", in part due to their high copper level.
The copper personality tends to accumulate copper easily. Copper can function as a psychological defense mechanism. It causes one to detach slightly from reality. This provides relief from stress for the sensitive individual.
It works well as long as the copper does not become too high. Very high copper can cause a psychotic break from reality, a type of schizophrenia.
Case History. An 18-year old schizophrenic patient had a hair copper level of 41 mg% (normal is 2.5 mg%). She hallucinated and attempted suicide twice while in the Scottsdale Camelback Mental Hospital.
When her copper was brought back into the normal range with a nutritional balancing program, her symptoms disappeared and she has remained well ever since. This case is described on page 224 of Nutritional Balancing and Hair Mineral Analysis. No chemical chelators were used.

COPPER AND SOCIETY

Is it possible that our mineral balance affects our attitudes? Copper is called the 'psychic' mineral, the 'intuitive' mineral, and a 'feminine' mineral because it is so important for the female reproductive system. Its level generally parallels that of estrogen.
While many factors influence our attitudes and values, the rise in tissue copper levels in both men and women in the past twenty years parallels renewed interest in feminism, in psychic and intuitive knowledge, and 'nurturing' movements such as environmentalism.

COPPER AND SEXUALITY

Women tend to have higher levels of copper than men. Women also have more symptoms related to copper imbalance. These include yeast infections, migraine headaches, adult acne, various menstrual symptoms and depression.
Copper-toxic women are often estrogen dominant. They may benefit from progesterone therapy to help balance their hormones. Women with biounavailable copper are often low in estrogen.
Their bodies are often more linear in shape. Of course, copper is not the only factor affecting hormones. Some pesticides, for example, mimic the effects of estrogen and can affect the hormone balance.
Men, by contrast, should be zinc-dominant. Zinc, a 'masculine' element, balances copper in the body and is essential for male reproductive activity.
Today, however, many men have symptoms of copper toxicity including depression, anxiety and other symptoms. Homosexuality may be related to copper levels. This is because secondary sex characteristics are greatly influenced by hormones, which are in turn influenced by copper and zinc levels.

COPPER AND CHILDREN

Children are born with high copper levels. Young children are very sensitive and intuitive. They often lose some of their sensitivity as their copper levels diminish around age four.
Today, however, persistently elevated copper levels in children are commonly seen. At times, the copper is hidden.

Why children have copper imbalances. The copper problem for children often begins during gestation, when high-copper mothers pass on excessive copper (and often low zinc) to the fetus through the placenta.
This is called congenital, rather than genetic high copper. It can be prevented by correcting one's copper metabolism before becoming pregnant. After birth, poor nutrition, stress in the home, and overuse of prescription drugs can aggravate a child's copper imbalance.
Copper imbalance in children is associated with delayed development, attention deficit disorder, anti-social and hyperactive behavior, autism, learning difficulties and infections such as ear infections.

VEGETARIAN DIETS

Excess copper interferes with zinc, a mineral needed to make digestive enzymes. Too much copper also impairs thyroid activity and the functioning of the liver. If severe enough, a person will become an obligatory vegetarian. This means they are no longer able to digest meat very well.
Conversely, if one becomes a vegetarian for other reasons, most likely one's copper level will increase. Vegetarian proteins are higher in copper, and lower in zinc.
At times, the vegetarian orientation is health-producing. In many people, however, restricted diets do not work well. Fatigue, spaciness and other symptoms begin to appear.
Many people, including the author, felt they were becoming more spiritual on a vegetarian diet, when in fact it was just copper poisoning! The taste for meat often returns when copper is brought into better balance.
Some people with high copper dislike all protein. They crave high-carbohydrate diets. Protein feels heavy or causes other symptoms. Eating protein stimulates glandular activity.
This releases stored copper which causes the symptoms. However, these individuals usually need to eat protein. The symptoms will eventually disappear.
Copper-toxic individuals may also be drawn to sweets or salty foods due to adrenal insufficiency. Some sea salt is often beneficial. Sweets, including fruit juices, provide a temporary lift but may worsen the condition.

ADRENAL BURNOUT OR HYPOFUNCTION

Adrenal burnout, characterized by chronic fatigue and other symptoms, is often related to copper imbalance. Although correcting emotional and other factors are necessary, improving the copper imbalance, supporting the adrenals and releasing fearful thoughts go hand in hand to restore optimum health. Click here for more information about adrenal burnout syndrome.

COPPER AND ADDICTION

Compulsive behavior may be related to copper and the adrenals. Exercise, for example, stimulates the adrenals. This helps keep copper available and makes one feel better. If one stops exercising, unbound copper builds up and one may feel fatigue, mood swings and depression. In some people, this can create a compulsive need to exercise. Other ways to temporarily control copper toxicity include the use of caffeine or other stimulants.
Part of the appeal of cocaine, Ritalin and amphetamines may be their ability to help lower copper temporarily by stimulating the adrenals. Cadmium found in marijuana and cigarettes drives copper back into storage. These drugs may make one feel better by affecting the copper balance.

COPPER AND YEAST INFECTIONS

Our bodies use copper to help control the growth of yeast. This may be because copper favors aerobic metabolism. Copper is required for the electron transport system, where most of our cellular energy is produced. Yeast organisms use anaerobic metabolism.
Copper sulfate is often sprayed on crops to kill yeast and fungus. Copper is also used in some swimming pools and hot tubs to control yeast and bacterial growth.
When copper is out of balance, our bodies cannot control yeast overgrowth. This often lead to chronic candida albicans infections that are resistant to treatment.

COPPER AND CANCER

Copper imbalance impairs the immune system.  Research is underway investigating the role of excess copper in tumor angiogenesis. Elevated copper on a hair mineral analysis, when the level is above about 12 mg% and persists at this level, is often related to a tendency for infections and even cancer.

COPPER AND CONNECTIVE TISSUE

Copper is required for collagen formation.  Copper deficiency is association with atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular conditions.  Excess copper or biounavailable copper often cause connective tissue problems, interfering with the disulfide bonds in connective tissue.  Symptoms may include stretch marks, tendon and ligament weakness, mitral valve prolapse, skin and hair problems and other conditions affecting connective tissue. 

BALANCING COPPER

The author has dealt with severe copper imbalance in himself and with many others for the past 29 years. Seven methods can be used at the same time to reduce copper in the tissues and are described below.
In most cases, however, restoring adequate adrenal gland activity is even more important than applying these methods. Therefore, this section is divided into methods to reduce toxic levels of copper and methods for improving the activity of the adrenal glands.

Reducing Copper In The Tissues. At least several of the following methods should be used at the same time for best results. This is often overlooked, leading to temporary or incomplete restoration of health.

1) Inhibit the sympathetic nervous system. This is easier said than done. Copper toxic individuals often complain of their mind racing. Turning off the sympathetic or fight-or-flight nervous system can be a challenge. Methods that are helpful include electric light sauna therapy, meditation, relaxation techniques, deep breathing, supplemental calcium, magnesium, ox bile, pancreatin, kidney glandular and coffee enemas.
2) Reduce exposure to sources of copper like copper intra-uterine devices, swimming in pools and high-copper vegetarian diets.
3) Antagonists such as zinc, manganese and iron compete with copper for absorption and utilization. Other antagonists include vitamins B6, folic acid and selenium. Research indicates copper may be excreted by binding with glutathione and metallothionine which require these nutrients.
4) Chelators of copper include many natural substances. Among the best known are vitamin C, molybdenum and sulfur-containing amino acids. These bind to copper and help remove it from the body.
Synthetic chelators may be used, but can have harmful side effects. The most common one is penicillamine, sold under the names Cupramine or Depen. This toxic method has been around for years. It is not often recommended due to side effects that can include kidney damage, blurred vision, B6 deficiency, ringing in the ears, ulcers, jaundice and other liver damage, abdominal pain, bloody urine and more.
5) Enhance the eliminative organs, such as the liver, skin and colon.  Digestive enzymes, especially pancreatin, are very important. Also excellent is sauna therapy, especially with an infrared electric light sauna.  Other methods of enhancing the eliminative organs are coffee enemas, colonic irrigation and skin brushing.
6) Balance body chemistry, enhance energy production and improve adrenal gland activity. To support the adrenal glands, avoid sweets, eat protein with each meal.
Supplements that assist the adrenals include vitamins A,C and E, manganese, zinc, adrenal glandular and B-complex vitamins. Animal protein is very helpful due to its higher content of zinc, B-vitamins and sulfur amino acids including cysteine and taurine. Adrenal glandular substance is also frequently helpful.
7) Reduce fear and stress. Methods range from a change in location or work to meditation, therapy, more rest and other changes.

Note that just taking copper antagonists and chelators may not work very well. This is because these, of themselves, do not assist to rebalance body chemistry. In fact, they can make the overall balance of the electrolytes worse.
This is why a complete program of balancing body chemistry with nutritional balancing science is far preferable. I will assist any practitioner who wishes to learn about this method of copper removal.
For example, zinc is often used to correct a high copper. However, it lowers the hair tissue sodium level, which is often dangerous if persisted in.
Molybdenum, another excellent copper antagonist and chelator, raises sodium. Vitamin C, when used in high doses, tends to cause other imbalances because it can remove other metals besides copper.
Each vitamin and mineral affects overall body chemistry. For best results, I strongly recommend an integrated nutrition, lifestyle and detoxification program based on a properly performed and interpreted hair mineral analysis. It is worth the extra time, cost and energy to get better results.
It can also avoid the purchase of unnecessary and costly supplements and other problems that come from their use. Also, be careful with chelating methods, including natural products such as Metal Free, NDF and others.
These are fine for a short period of time but may remove other critical minerals from the body. This may cause long-term difficulties in some instances.

Adrenal Gland Restoration. Restoring the adrenal glands is often absolutely necessary to prevent copper from accumulating over and over again in the body. This is because the adrenal glands signal the liver to produce ceruloplasmin, the principal copper binding agent in the body, along with metallothionein. To restore the adrenal glands, the following methods may be extremely helpful and necessary in many instances.

1. Rest is number one. Get at least 11 hours of sleep daily. This may be broken into night time plus a nap or two. A year of more of extra rest is often needed.

2. Diet is also critical. The diet should be high in fresh vegetables, in particular, as well as healthful proteins and some whole grain rice and corn, if these can be tolerated well. For the recommended diet, see the document Slow Oxidizer Diet.
This diet is appropriate for most of those with copper imbalance, though not all. A small number are fast oxidizers. They must have much more fat and oil in their diets, and less protein at times. Other special cases also exist due to more complex nutritional imbalances, food sensitivities and other rarer conditions.
Equally important, the diet must be as low as possible in sweets and sugars as possible. These foods, along with all stimulants, stress the adrenal glands and tend to make copper imbalance worse.
Stimulants include sugars, caffeine and food additives such as MSG, aspartame and other excitotoxins in the diet. Many other food chemicals and additives, however, even including too much salt, also stress the body and are not helpful for copper imbalance.
Strict vegetarian diets usually aggravate copper imbalance badly. Wheat and refined flour products, in general, are also not helpful at all. These are some of the most important dietary considerations, especially for slow oxidizers.

2.Carefully chosen nutritional supplements are also extremely important to reduce copper imbalance. These are best determined by the use of a hair mineral analysis, in our view.
Other methods to recommend supplements are far less accurate and helpful, in our view. These include kinesiology or muscle testing, electronic machines, homeopathy and others.
Many doctors give symptomatic remedies for copper These are nutrients that are known to lower or to balance copper in the body. They include vitamin C, garlic, zinc, molybdenum, vitamin B6 and others.
We do not endorse or recommend this method at all. It is far too likely to fail, though it will often give some quick relief. Please beware of using remedies to lower copper without getting a hair mineral analysis from a doctor or nutritional consultant who understands how to interpret the test.
Programs we design always help to support the adrenal and thyroid glands and include a digestive aid along with targeted nutritional support depending on the mineral ratios in the body.
We also do not like the use of most herbs for the adrenal glands. We do not use ginseng, licorice and other herbs that may be stimulating, as these eventually cause more severe problems, though, once again, they offer quick results in many cases.
We also do not use any hormones such as DHEA, pregnenalone, testosterone, progesterone or cortisol. These also give quick relief in most cases, but upset the delicate hormone balance and eventually usually worsen copper imbalance. Click here to read more about Hormone Replacement Therapy.

4. Lifestyle modifications. Most people with copper imbalance are extra sensitive people. Many also need to slow down, relax more and learn to meditate, perhaps.
Some also need to make big life changes in their relationships, location, work and other important aspects of their lives so that they “live their truth” to a greater degree. Living a lie is often the copper personality’s biggest problem, in fact.

5. Detoxification. Copper imbalance responds beautifully to the use of coffee enemas and colonic irrigation if enemas are not possible. In addition, the use of a near or far infrared sauna is absolutely essential for some people, especially those with emotional problems connected to their copper imbalance.
Other methods of detoxification are less effective, in our experience. These include methods such as cleansing diets, which can make the copper problem worse.

COPPER DETOXIFICATION SYMPTOMS

One of the difficulties in reducing excess copper are symptoms that arise during the process of elimination. As the body begins to mobilize excess copper from tissue storage sites, it enters the bloodstream on its way to the liver and kidneys for elimination.
While in the bloodstream, the copper can cause headaches, skin rashes, racing thoughts, strange odors, digestive upset, mood swings and energy fluctuations. In men, testicular pain is not uncommon. Women’s periods may be affected.
Certain methods of lowering copper cause these symptoms more than others. Zinc, vitamin C and manganese tend to cause more symptoms, perhaps because zinc and manganese replace copper in the liver. Molybdenum and sulfur compounds such as Russian black radish tend not to produce copper elimination effects.
If one knows what is occurring, it is possible to take measures to minimize these temporary elimination symptoms. Enemas, sweating, and drinking more water can help promote copper elimination.
Reducing the nutrition program for a few days may also help slow the reactions and reduce symptoms if they are severe. Supplements of molybdenum, bile acids, laxative herbs and vitamin B6 may also mitigate elimination symptoms. A more complete article on copper elimination is available by clicking here. An excellent copper toxicity case history is available by clicking here.

ATTITUDES AND SPIRITUALITY HELP BALANCE COPPER

Besides more rest and sleep, techniques to reduce all stress and improve coping ability are wonderful to assist with copper imbalance.
In addition, people with copper imbalance are often the more aware or sensitive people in society. They must acknowledge this and love themselves more for it.
Life is not always easy for the copper-toxic person. One can become resentful, angry or depressed easily. A method we highly recommend is a meditation-observation exercise that we offer on a compact disc. It is also offered on the internet by Mr. Roy Masters at www.FHU.com. This is a Judeo-Christian exercise that is tremendously grounding and centering.
It was a great help for me with copper imbalance and has helped hundreds of other clients as well. We cannot recommend it highly enough. It is simple to do and will slowly reduce all causes of stress as it brings more truth and light into one’s life.
In addition, prayer, reading the bible and any other true spiritual activity will often assist copper-toxic individuals. This is the case because it helps them to know they are all right, they are loved and God is present in their lives. This can be vital for a copper-toxic person, though it is helpful for everyone who cares about spiritual matters.

THE BLESSING OF COPPER TOXICITY

I suffered from copper toxicity for at least 10 years before I even knew why I felt so bad. I was always tired, depressed, achy and often anxious, too. However, today, some 30 years later, I know clearly it was a blessing in diguise.
Copper toxicity led me into natural healing, into meditation and eventually into myself and my gifts. Copper imbalance, indeed, is often a sign that one is not living one’s gifts and truths. If it takes copper imbalance to move you in a different direction, then it is a wonderful thing, though the suffering may not seem worth it right now.
With enough compassion for yourself and a complete nutritional balancing program based on hair mineral analysis, almost all our clients become well and much happier, also. Then the creative, intuitive and loving qualities of the high-copper individual can shine through to the world.

Resources

1. Eck, P. and Wilson, L., Toxic Metals in Human Health and Disease, Eck Institute of Applied Nutrition and Bioenergetics, Ltd., Phoenix, AZ, 1989.
2. Gittleman, A.L., Why Am I Always So Tired?, Harper San Francisco, 1999.
3. Nolan, K., "Copper Toxicity Syndrome", J. Orthomolecular Psychiatry, 12:4, p.270-282.
4. Pfeiffer, C., Mental and Elemental Nutrients, Keats Publishing, New Canaan, CT., 1975.
5. Wilson, L., Nutritional Balancing and Hair Mineral Analysis, L.D. Wilson Consultants, 2005.
6. Wilson, L., Sauna Therapy, L.D.Wilson Consultants, Inc., 2006.
7. Many technical articles on the sources, symptoms and correction of copper imbalance are available on the worldwide web. They are too numerous to list here. The books and articles mentioned above contain more complete references.

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