9/20/06 The Copper Overload Chain of Events

EDIT as I compile these for the new blog: A live journal post I made trying to make sense of all the swirling information in my head at the time. This was my first awakening that all these issues were related and that there was a bigger underlying problem, not just as simple as having hypothyroidism, or fibromyalgia, or PCOS, etc. I was starting to see that all these diagnosis were just labels as doctors tried to make sense of all these overlapping symptoms.

While I no longer believe that copper overload alone is at the source of all these issues, I continue to believe that all these things are related. I now believe that the cause is abnormal gut flora and abnormal body chemistry passed through the generations. These conclusions are confirmed by the work of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride and her book, Gut and Psychology Syndrome. With her medical knowledge she is able to paint an even clearer picture of how many mental issues are connected to the gut. She is soon to release another book, Gut and Physiology Syndrome where she will connect the gut to physical complaints like fibromyalgia and MS. I can't wait to read it. I think she is right on.

September 20, 2006 The Copper Overload Chain of Events

Over the past year I've been reading reading reading things on health and wellness. I've come across many little pieces of the puzzle that have helped me to better my health and begin the healing process. But what I also want to know is how all these little clues are connected.There seems to be a wider spectrum of connected issues, some I have and some that I don't have but that I see in others. I've been working on a hypothesis as to how this spectrum of things is connected, slowly adding ideas and thoughts to it as I go. I've decided to post it to my journal for posterity. It is still a work in progress, and who knows, my random notes may not make much sense to anyone but me, but feel free to offer any tips or insights you might have to add, or questions about what the hell I'm trying to make sense of here. I've titled my notes, The Copper Overload Chain of Events, but the list isn't exactly in chronological order, some things may be a direct result of earlier ones, others are more in a vicious cycle or co-contributors to an overall issue. anyway, this is just my attempt of making order out of all the pieces of the puzzle that I've gathered. Still needs a lot of work.....

The Copper Overload Chain of Events…….(or one example of how our western diet is destroying us)

• High grain American diet and genetic predisposition create copper overload
• Grains (especially wheat and gluten grains) inhibit zinc absorption
• Dairy and calcium slows elimination of copper
  
• Cholesterol scare causes many to limit meats, especially red, which are good sources of zinc
• Many foods common to our diet are high in copper
• pesticides sprayed on our foods contain copper
• stress, coffee, alcohol, sugar, high carb diets, and use of corticosteroids deplete zinc stores rapidly
• Women are more prone to copper overload because high estrogen usually means high copper levels. If estrogen is too high, the liver can't eliminate excess copper properly.
  
• Women’s body’s aren’t designed to deal with so much estrogen; normally we’d be pregnant for 9 months and then nursing with delayed return of menses for up to 2 years, but now days we experience many more periods (due to less pregnancies, bottle feeding, early weaning, etc) and exposures to high estrogen levels; we also are exposed to xenoestrogens
• Pregnancy needs deplete zinc levels even further
• Birth control pills contribute to copper overload
• Copper IUDs also contribute to copper overload
• Copper overload passed onto each generation and furthered through diet
• copper overload passed to child through placenta
• Chronic fatigue
• Caused by copper overload in the body
• Adrenal fatigue
• Caused by stress and diet (sugar and caffeine to deal with chronic fatigue burns out adrenals), which depletes available zinc, reinforces copper overload
• Low zinc state further enforces adrenal failure
• Endocrine system in chaos
• Copper overload and stress makes body incapable of converting T4 into T3 properly, symptoms of hypothyroidism result, with normal lab values (endocrine system set in chaos including all the classic thyroid symptoms)
  
• When copper is high, the body can't handle excess estrogen as well, resulting in fibroids, endometriosis, PCOS, infertility, and woman stuff run amok.
• Mental problems
• Anxiety, panic attacks, racing mind, bipolar symptoms, depression etc all have biological links to copper overload
• Hypoglycemia and then Diabetes
• High sugar/carb diet (cravings caused by need for more energy because of chronic fatigue) result in system that can’t balance blood sugar levels. After too long, hypoglycemia can turn into diabetes
• Liver is overloaded trying to rid body of toxins and can’t respond fast enough to body’s request to increase blood sugar levels using glycogen
• Decrease in digestive enzyme activity
• Caused by lowered body temp due to incomplete function of thyroid hormones
• Large food particles remain undigested in gut, others leak through into the body (leaky gut syndrome)
• Food sensitivities/allergies
• Caused by large food particles entering system
• Body learns immune reactions to foods eaten in excess, most common are gluten grains, citrus, dairy, eggs, and soy although in food eaten in large amounts is suspect
• Celiac
• More progessed form of sensitivity to undigested gluten
• Caused by lowered enzyme activity (due to body temp) specific to gluten and/or genetic lack of said enzyme?
• Autoimmune disease
• Molecular mimicry between undigested food particles and body’s own tissues causes body to create antibodies against itself
• Suspected links:
• Gluten and thyroid autoimmune disease
• Dairy and rheumatoid arthritis
• Others?
• Fibromyalgia
• Caused by food sensitivities, toxicity in the body, what else?
• Is fibromyalgia just the culmination of all these issues created by the copper overload chain of events?
• IBS
• Caused by undigested food particles that disrupt normal ecosystem of the gut
• Use of antibiotics and corticosteroids also disrupt normal ecosystem of the gut and contribute to IBS
• Chronic candida
• Caused by loss of good bacteria in the gut that normally would keep candida in check
• Normal copper amounts in the body would naturally help to inhibit candida but in those with longstanding copper overload, the copper is bio-unavailable due to body’s maladaptive attempts at dealing with the excess copper
• Use of birth control pills also contribute to yeast overgrowth
• Use of corticosteroids also contribute to yeast overgrowth