Oysters, copper, graying and allergies

[Cloudhands]

So for some context, last winter my hair started shedding really bad near the front of my hairline. I figured i may be zinc deficient so i started eating oysters everyday and I did a bunch of peat stuff and it started growing back. Upon growing back though, it grew in blonde at first, and then as it kept growing it was gray at the roots. I have dark red hair.
It was obvious, with all of my remaining symptoms, i had low copper. I got blood work done, and my all of my iron panels were high, except for ferritin, and my copper was really low as well. So i decided to eat liver every other day, and continued to eat half of a can of crown prince oysters every day, distributed thruout the day as like 1 oyster before every meal. Fast forward to now, and my hair is much grayer up front. Its not falling out anymore, but i also am experiencing allergy and histamine issues, sneezing and small rashes, and im extremely exhausted in the morning. I was doing a bunch of googling and alas, i found this study about a woman, who ate oysters every day, and developed a severe copper deficiency

[Copper deficiency myelopathy probably caused by long-lasting daily excessive intake of zink] - PubMed

We report a 39-year-old woman with slowly progressive spastic gait and paresthesia in the lower extremities. Cervical spinal MRI revealed high intensity in the dorsal column from vertebrae C2 to C7. Laboratory findings showed normal vitamin B12 and low serum copper level. By lifestyle history...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

So im posting this so i can warn some with my theory, and so that i can be open to criticism and feedback from others, to the idea of oysters causing copper deficiency, despite their high copper content, because of the overwhelming zinc amounts.

 

[xeliex]

Hi there,

Oysters for sure have plenty of both, copper and zinc. I wouldn't eat liver nor oysters that frequently. I look at them as powerful supplements. In the past, I had bought copper supplements to try to help with my greying hair, to no avail. My greying seems to slow when I take thyroid though. My histamine problems improved with olive leaf extract, vitamin D, calcium, and thyroid. Good luck.

 

[Cloudhands]

Hi there,

Oysters for sure have plenty of both, copper and zinc. I wouldn't eat liver nor oysters that frequently. I look at them as powerful supplements. In the past, I had bought copper supplements to try to help with my greying hair, to no avail. My greying seems to slow when I take thyroid though. My histamine problems improved with olive leaf extract, vitamin D, calcium, and thyroid. Good luck.

Yeah i take vitamin D, calcium, thyroid, etc. But i have signs of anemia and copper deficiency. Perhaps some SIBO is causing a bigger burden on my copper requirements.

 

[xeliex]

Yeah i take vitamin D, calcium, thyroid, etc. But i have signs of anemia and copper deficiency. Perhaps some SIBO is causing a bigger burden on my copper requirements.

I had been taking 5000 iu vitamin D and still was low! Have you done the full Monty iron panel? I am not really recommending it, but it might help along with your CBC and vitamin B12, etc..

 

[Cloudhands]

I had been taking 5000 iu vitamin D and still was low! Have you done the full Monty iron panel? I am not really recommending it, but it might help along with your CBC and vitamin B12, etc..

Yeah thats the test i did to figure out my copper and iron.

 

[xeliex]

Yeah thats the test i did to figure out my copper and iron.

If you are comfortable sharing the full results, go ahead. I will take a look and perhaps someone can help you with the interpretations.

 

[Cloudhands]

If you are comfortable sharing the full results, go ahead. I will take a look and perhaps someone can help you with the interpretations.

I did share, and got mixed responses. Ferritin and copper were low, transferrin and serum iron were high, vitamin D and A were meh and the nurse did the wrong magnesium test LOL.

 

[mrchibbs]

I think liver and oysters balance out each other. (liver has a lot more copper than zinc and vice versa for oysters)

 

[redsun]

I did share, and got mixed responses. Ferritin and copper were low, transferrin and serum iron were high, vitamin D and A were meh and the nurse did the wrong magnesium test LOL.

Excess zinc can also cause iron deficiency, hence high transferrin and low ferritin. There are studies you can look up of zinc supplementation worsening iron status. Poor iron status and excess zinc/copper may leave you with excess hydrogen peroxide. Copper may help sometimes but not always. The issue is not that you can't make melanin (needs copper), its that you have too much hydrogen peroxide interfering with melanin production. You need catalase enzyme and glutathione peroxidase to get rid of H2O2. Zinc and copper excess and lack of iron relative to these minerals may leave you with low catalase and thus too much hydrogen peroxide (SOD is copper/zinc dependent and makes H2O2). Catalase is an iron dependent reaction that neutralizes hydrogen peroxide. GSH peroxidase depends on glutathione redox cycle (which the B-vitamins are vital for).

If you take iron and B-vitamins your grey hair should change color again and anemia symptoms should improve. You should keep zinc and copper intake to daily values. Eat proteins that don't have as many minerals in it except maybe iron rich ones (red meat, chicken, pork) until you are better. I guess you can see for yourself you can still have too much of a good thing.

 

[xeliex]

I did share, and got mixed responses. Ferritin and copper were low, transferrin and serum iron were high, vitamin D and A were meh and the nurse did the wrong magnesium test LOL.

I see - do you measure your temps in the morning? What anemia/copper deficiency symptoms are you having?

I know for me, SIBO was real. I treated it with a pro-metabolic diet along with rifaximin. I had to use a lot of rifaximin for a while. What helped my histamine problems as I addressed the SIBO where olive leave extract, cyproheptadine, and neuroprotek. This last one was very expensive so I stopped it and kept taking the Olive leaf extract till I got better. Now I take it every now and then.

My issue seemed to have been SIBO, probably related to a low thyroid function - both of which can manifest as all kinds of metabolic disturbances.

 

[Nemo]

So i decided to eat liver every other day, and continued to eat half of a can of crown prince oysters every day, distributed thruout the day as like 1 oyster before every meal. Fast forward to now, and my hair is much grayer up front. Its not falling out anymore, but i also am experiencing allergy and histamine issues, sneezing and small rashes, and im extremely exhausted in the morning. I was doing a bunch of googling and alas, i found this study about a woman, who ate oysters every day, and developed a severe copper deficiency

The best thing Chris Masterjohn ever did was a series on vitamins and minerals and how much you need each day.

And you're right, you developed a copper deficiency from too much zinc from too many oysters.

The optimal oyster consumption for most people would be one oyster every night and one oyster every morning. I'm basing this on the size of the Crown Prince larger oysters. If you get a can of the smaller ones, take 2 to equal one of the larger ones.

Men may need an extra oyster a day, or even two, for a lot of sex. And if you get a short-term craving for oysters in connection with an illness, I'd eat an extra oyster or two a day then.

But usually you take one at night and one in the morning for optimal absorption of something. I can't remember whether it's zinc or B12.

The optimal way to take liver would be to eat 1 ounce of beef liver daily six days a week.

Add four drops of Energin per day to this, and a few ounces of hamburger now and then, and you've got a perfect balance of zinc and copper, all the Vitamin A you need for the week, and all the B vitamins you need to thrive.

You can still add extra niacinamide for various special therapies without throwing the whole thing off.

 

[Motif]

I was eating two oysters everyday over almost two months and my slight copper, zinc , ceruloplasmin deficiency is now slightly not in deficiency anymore. But that’s not much improvement. Something is just wrong.

@Cloudhands

how long did it take for your hair to grow back?
when did it start after adding oysters and when was it really back?

so you think zinc was responsible for hair loss and copper for graying and histamine?

Edit: btw I found my first white hair in 36 years two weeks ago ??‍

 

[Motif]

I btw think my digestion could cause those deficiencies

 

[Cloudhands]

I btw think my digestion could cause those deficiencies

It was more then just oysters, it was a ton of things i fixed, mostly calcium/vitamin D metabolism.

 

[Cloudhands]

Excess zinc can also cause iron deficiency, hence high transferrin and low ferritin. There are studies you can look up of zinc supplementation worsening iron status. Poor iron status and excess zinc/copper may leave you with excess hydrogen peroxide. Copper may help sometimes but not always. The issue is not that you can't make melanin (needs copper), its that you have too much hydrogen peroxide interfering with melanin production. You need catalase enzyme and glutathione peroxidase to get rid of H2O2. Zinc and copper excess and lack of iron relative to these minerals may leave you with low catalase and thus too much hydrogen peroxide (SOD is copper/zinc dependent and makes H2O2). Catalase is an iron dependent reaction that neutralizes hydrogen peroxide. GSH peroxidase depends on glutathione redox cycle (which the B-vitamins are vital for).

If you take iron and B-vitamins your grey hair should change color again and anemia symptoms should improve. You should keep zinc and copper intake to daily values. Eat proteins that don't have as many minerals in it except maybe iron rich ones (red meat, chicken, pork) until you are better. I guess you can see for yourself you can still have too much of a good thing.

My copper levels were low, but really so was my zinc, just not as low, i just think the chronic intake of zinc was blocking copper absorption

 

[Motif]

It was more then just oysters, it was a ton of things i fixed, mostly calcium/vitamin D metabolism.

How did you do that?

 

[Cloudhands]

G

How did you do that?

Rubbed vitamin D oil on my skin, got in the sun, and increased my calcium intake. And i rubbed vitamin K oil on too and toom magnesium

 

[Motif]

G

Rubbed vitamin D oil on my skin, got in the sun, and increased my calcium intake. And i rubbed vitamin K oil on too and toom magnesium

How long did it take. To the hair regrowth from there.

 

[Motif]

I did share, and got mixed responses. Ferritin and copper were low, transferrin and serum iron were high, vitamin D and A were meh and the nurse did the wrong magnesium test LOL.

Were you able to raise your copper levels?
i don’t know why , but mine are not going up no matter what I do

 

[Motif]

I see - do you measure your temps in the morning? What anemia/copper deficiency symptoms are you having?

I know for me, SIBO was real. I treated it with a pro-metabolic diet along with rifaximin. I had to use a lot of rifaximin for a while. What helped my histamine problems as I addressed the SIBO where olive leave extract, cyproheptadine, and neuroprotek. This last one was very expensive so I stopped it and kept taking the Olive leaf extract till I got better. Now I take it every now and then.

My issue seemed to have been SIBO, probably related to a low thyroid function - both of which can manifest as all kinds of metabolic disturbances.

i took rifaximin for ten days, but it did nothing for me unfortunately.

olive leaf extract helped your histamine symptoms ? How is that ?