"Copper toxicity is a major factor in irritable bowel syndrome because copper is excreted through the bile and certain things will cause you to suddenly dump copper. If you have been building up copper, anything that causes an increase in your metabolic rate will cause a copper dump and it comes out through the bile. If you are copper toxic and suddenly under a lot of stress, this may bring on an irritable bowel episode because suddenly excess copper is moving through your bowels and irritating them"
https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/mental-emotional-health/metals-and-the-mind/
[mention]Canari[/mention] interesting!
DITTO
The tendency of copper to build up in the body is similar to iron, which is another essential nutrient that is also a heavy metal. They’re both highly electrical, very conductive metals that produce a lot of free radical activity and have to be bound by special proteins, such as ceruloplasmin and metallothioine. The production of these proteins is controlled by the adrenal glands, and they are produced in the liver. If the adrenals are not functioning properly and the liver is impaired, possibly from copper buildup, you will not produce these binding proteins, so copper remains in free form. That makes it a toxic and reactive free-radical generator capable of causing a lot of damage.
When this happens, the body starts to sequester it. It tries to stash it somewhere so it will do less damage. Thus, while you may be building up a lot of copper in your body, you may also have the symptoms of copper deficiency because the copper is bio-unavailable. The copper is not in a usable form so you will have both deficiency symptoms and symptoms of toxicity.
The body has an intricate system of checks and balances which operate through the mineral levels and ratios. If you are deficient in one mineral, another mineral accumulates and can become excessive. For example, when sodium and potassium levels go down, calcium and magnesium rise. When copper drops, iron increases. If zinc rises, copper goes down. If iron rises, chromium goes up. There is a constant and complex dance of minerals going on in the body, and the body very specifically retains and releases minerals in order to control certain body functions.
When we retain copper, this makes sodium rise. Sodium is required to produce aldosterone, the adrenal cortex hormone that causes sodium retention and high blood pressure when produced in excess. An increase in aldosterone is a defense against stress—you need that high aldosterone production during a fight-or-flight state, when you are trying to guard yourself in some way against a threat. When aldosterone increases, the body retains copper and releases magnesium, which is a calming mineral that slows you down. That is why a lot of people use it to sleep or to relieve muscle cramping. So if you are going into fight or flight, your body drops the magnesium very quickly. It is the first thing to go, because the body is trying to rev up. Increased aldosterone production will also cause a drop in zinc, which allows the copper to be retained and the sodium to go up.
The increase in copper is stimulating, it gets you going, which is just what you need in the short term. But chronic unremitting stress never gives you time to recover, you never get to address your biochemical imbalance, you never have that down time to excrete the excess copper now.
When your adrenal glands are in great shape, you can excrete excess copper whenever you need to. But when your adrenal glands are just hanging on by their fingernails, just barely able to mount a stress reponse, you have an excess of stimulating copper. It becomes very hard to go to sleep and the mind races. You think, think, think, worry, worry, worry, and all of that makes it worse. You are always worn out. In fact, people with chronic fatigue often wake up tired because they don’t really ever rest.
We also use up tryptophan in these situations, as tryptophan is needed for serotonin production. Serotonin is used up under stress. You can’t replace your tryptophan by eating turkey when it is being used up so quickly. What this tells me is that the body is not designed to be constantly under stress. We are meant to spend time sitting in a hammock somewhere, or weaving a basket!
