Could Copper Deficiency Be The Root Cause Of My Problems?

[ecstatichamster]

i am curious ... how do you take these? dosages? form? do you take them daily?

trace minerals unlike vitamins always seem to have profound effects on me and are imo very underrated in the healthsphere with maybe the exception of zinc.

I took 50mg zinc, 2mg copper, 8mg manganese, 1mg lithium, 200mcg selenium. I stopped just to cycle. I felt my eye sight has improved since I started. I took them over about 2 months.

 

[rzero]

I started taking 10mg via copper sulfate solution about 12 days ago, mostly as an experiment.

I've done several periods of high-dose vitamin C over the course of my life, which I hear depletes copper. I started going gray when I was 18. I wouldn't be surprised if I was deficient.

I had upped the dose to 20mg for a few days, but I felt "off" mentally and physically, so I took a day off and today I'm back to 10mg.

Apparently some studies say this is a "safe" dose, but I'm being cautious and have no plans on trying to "push through" anything that doesn't feel right. It's unfortunate that people develop beliefs about supplements that cause them to ignore feedback from their bodies.

Though I haven't looked into the research personally, it does seem that copper supplementation is under-studied if nothing else.

So about two weeks after this I contracted a nasty virus from my vaxxed-up three year old niece. I stopped the copper supplementation, thinking I may have depleted zinc and left my immunity vulnerable. I spent the following three weeks with a sore throat, runny nose and congested lungs, and none of the usual go-to supplements seemed to really work, including a multi-vitamin with zinc.

I finally turned the corner a few days ago, following a few days days of neti pot flushes and liquid zinc sulfate supplementation, and one night of heavy albuterol inhaler use. I would encourage daily neti pot with salt water for any infection with these strange and new viruses that seem to be going around, even if they primarily seem to be affecting the lungs. My lungs would improve almost immediately after the neti flush. There is some type of nerve stimulation going on that would help me cough up phlegm afterwards, and I think it simply cleans out a main hangout for these viruses.

Anyway, I plan on continuing the zinc without the copper for now as I've felt this calm virility the past few days and wonder if it may be the zinc.

 

[Andy316]

From notes I had written from another forum, ones estrogen has to be optimal for good copper status. Copper is a female mineral and can be depleted by aromatase inhibiting foods. Someone in this thread pointed zinc and fructose as copper antagonists, and both are aromatase inhibitors. I may have given myself a copper deficiency by eating mangosteen (High fructose) all year round last year, as seen from an increase in grey hair recently.

 

[Dave Clark]

Even though silicon is looked down upon here, having a good silica intake in the form of OSA may be a good way to increase copper status:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/095528639090086Z?fbclid=IwAR0SfvnLSfKbXZEFDw2jFg5rp6LDKhrEW_IODBcik4l8AMZzkdhZEi8hgMo

 

[charlie]

Even though silicon is looked down upon here, having a good silica intake in the form of OSA may be a good way to increase copper status:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/095528639090086Z?fbclid=IwAR0SfvnLSfKbXZEFDw2jFg5rp6LDKhrEW_IODBcik4l8AMZzkdhZEi8hgMo

Yeh that is bad advice all around, Dave. And likely to hurt people. We have entered a new paradigm where we can stop poisoning ourselves now. Below is a Dr. with actual clinic experience and knows a thing or two about the supposed copper "deficiency".

View: https://x.com/NutriDetect/status/1757403164163314076?s=20

 

[charlie]

View: https://x.com/NutriDetect/status/1767979634296238486?s=20

 

[Barbarossa]

So I'm sure a lot of people remember me from a year ago, where I said I was going to die, and posted a thread on here with the title 'I'm Going To Die.'

I was mainly complaining about shortness of breath, PVCs and also some histamine issues, such as skin flushing, watery eyes and itchy skin. Sadly these symptoms have not left me, and some days i still feel like im going to die, I feel hypoxic and cant do normal things anymore. I can only exercise so much to the point after that my body will feel like its shutting down and all my symptoms will get worse, more heart palpitations, SOB and red hands and feet and bloating.

I started losing hope a couple of months ago until i switched my diet, to mainly fruitarian, quitting starch all together, where I also decreased fat substantially and that seemed to help with my red feet and bloating a bit. Unfortunately my symptoms are still here, just ever so slightly improved from a year ago. I still cant do normal things and have issues tolerating any kind of stress at all.

I noticed the switch in my diet was giving me higher copper and much lower zinc than i would normally get. Then it occured to me that most high zinc foods made me considerably worse, muscle meat, oysters, hard cheeses.. I started to look into copper and if I could be deficient in it. I found out that zinc antagonizes copper, apprently vitamin c does this too but to a lesser degree.

I have noticed that eating anything in general makes me more anxious, but i feel like that could just be the bloating increasing my heart rate, and then the hypoxic symptoms coming after that.
I also had my MCV level tested multiple times throughout this hellish journey, and found them to be low or bordering low on every blood test. (MCV tests the volume of each blood cell on average in the blood stream)

I then came across histamine intolerence and copper deficiency being a possible cause, as its one of the main cofactors for DAO or Diaminoxidase, which is an enzyme that breaks down histamine. I have had high histamine level symtoms since the beginning of these symptoms.

After this I came to know that copper deficiency can cause blood cells to be immature,and as a consequence be inefficient in carrying oxygen around the body, this also lowers its MCV level, which was present in all my blood tests.

I also notcied I was and still am waking up with numb hands and feet, which is indictive of a neuropathy. I realized that copper deficiency could be behind this too, as it can cause myleaneuorthpathy, which is basically diabetitic neuropathy, but caused from not enough copper.

I eventually got fed up with feeling like im going to die every day, so i got a copper blood test, where they tested my copper, zinc, iron and a bunch of other things. Most of the things came back normal and expected inclduing my zinc and iron, but.....

MY COPPER WAS OFF THE CHARTS LOW. I found my copper to be well below the reference range, even though its only a serum score, it makes so much sense to explain all my symptoms, and maybe if got more tests to make sure i actually am copper deficient i nthe tissues too, i could go about fixing it and possibly fix all these health issues i have been dealing with as well.

I emailed Ray in the past about copper deficiency and breathing difficulties:

Me: Hey ray

Can Copper deficiency cause breathing problems ?

I can’t breathe deeply and satisfyingly, and I have the feeling to control my autonomic breathing permanently.

Ray Peat: It could increase allergic-histamine reactions.

hope that helps a bit!

 

[Dave Clark]

Yeh that is bad advice all around, Dave. And likely to hurt people. We have entered a new paradigm where we can stop poisoning ourselves now. Below is a Dr. with actual clinic experience and knows a thing or two about the supposed copper "deficiency".

View: https://x.com/NutriDetect/status/1757403164163314076?s=20

I doubt it is bad advise for two reasons, one, it doesn't 'increase' copper levels, it just improves 'copper utilization, second, regardless of what Peat or this forum thinks, OSA is beneficial to the health and structure of our body, proven empirically, even though that is eschewed around here. I wasn't suggesting anyone had copper deficiency or toxicity, and all the so called experts don't know what they think they know about copper anyway, it is all speculation on data that can be construed to fit any narrative about toxicity or deficiency. Sorry, not buying the bad advise all around suggestion.