Copper Detox Symptoms

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Your existing symptoms will get worse during copper detox
However ... there are ways to reduce detox reactions

If you are researching copper detox symptoms, you are likely struggling with adrenal fatigue, chronic fatigue, or some other chronic illness.

Great book on Copper Toxicity

Why Am I Always So Tired?

Some of the symptoms you have been experiencing for years may be due to excess copper.

Unfortunately, all of your symptoms will get worse for a while as you work on copper detoxification. Copper dumps can be pretty rough, but it is worth it in the long run.

For an explanation of how chronic stress causes you to accumulate copper, please see the article:
Stress, Adrenal Fatigue and Copper

I experienced most of these detox symptoms myself. They can be brutal, especially if you are not expecting them.

There are ways to reduce the severity of the symptoms ... but first the symptoms.

Symptoms of Copper Detoxification

The following is a list of symptoms that people often experience when working on copper detoxification:

Increased insomnia
Increased Anxiety
Rashes, Eczema, Psoriasis
Feeling very cold (copper affects your thyroid)
Metallic Taste in mouth
Increased irritability. Hard time controlling anger.
Nausea
Very intense headaches.
Balance problems
Extreme fatigue
Increased digestive disorders
Soft teeth, broken teeth
Increased sensitivity to chemicals, perfumes, etc.

What is the source for this list?

Can you do anything to reduce symptoms during copper detox?

Where does this symptom list come from?

The above list of symptoms comes from a few sources:

Observations of others on Curezone.com forums who worked on copper detox
The book noted above, Why Am I Always So Tired , by Ann-Louise Giddleman.
My own experience (I started working on copper detoxification in the fall of 2011)
Facebook groups of people on the Nutritional Balancing program , which uses Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (htma), and works on eliminating toxins and balancing minerals.

The following quote is from Ann-Louise Giddleman's book:

Typical copper-dump symptoms include nausea and other digestive disorders, anxiety, mental racing and hyperactivity, irritability, emotional volatility, headaches, insomnia, skin rashes, and mild flu-like symptoms.¹

Forum Posts about Copper Detox

Here are a few post from the Adrenal Fatigue forum on curezone. The threads are discussing symptoms that people experience when working on copper detoxification.

A few people in the forum posts noted that anger and emotionally volatility were are part of their detox symptoms. Since copper blocks GABA receptors^5,6, this is not really surprising. GABA is a calming neurotransmitter.

Psychological symptoms are a huge part of copper detox. Please read the info on the Internet, it's one of the main detox symptoms they discuss. For me I got very paranoid, insecure, rage etc? Keep the faith it does get better:)²

I became very emotionally volatile and irrational during my copper dumps. ³

I broke out in a rash all over my body. I have also had upset stomach issues that I think relates to copper detox⁴

My experience with Copper Detoxification

Your detox symptoms will be much worse if you liver and gallbladder are not able to clear toxins well

There are a few ways that chronic stress shuts down your ability to eliminate toxins. See the article Copper and Adrenal Fatigue for more information.

Stress leads to less bile (which carries toxins) being produced by the liver ^7,8

Unfortunately, bile excretion is the main way excess copper is supposed to be eliminated.^9,10. So less bile flow from stress means more retained copper.

So initially .... my liver and gallbladder were very ill-equipped to handle the flood of copper coming out of storage when I started taking zinc and other supplements that motivate copper to come out of storage.

This quote from Ann-Louise Giddlemans book sums up what happened to me:

If copper is released more quickly than the liver can eliminate it, copper levels in the blood rise too high, resulting in a mild version of copper poisoning.¹

I was initially a very poor eliminator. When I first started working on copper detoxification, my bowel movements were very pale (almost white) , which can mean bile flow is limited¹¹.

Copper was coming out of storage much faster than I could eliminate it ... so I had LOTS of detox symptoms:

Psoriasis
Scaly Skin
Severe insomnia
Headaches
Anger
Balance problems

How do you improve Bile Flow?

With coffee enemas and liver flushes, I was gradually able to improve the activity of my liver and bile.

The article Coffee Enemas for adrenal fatigue explains my experience using coffee enemas.

Summary

Copper detox symptoms can be very challenging, especially at first.

After almost 3 years, I still have lots of copper coming out of storage. See the following hair analysis:
2014-03-27-ARL-Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis.

Good luck ... and be patient. Symptoms that I have had for years are going away. It is well worth the temporary pain.

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