From fiber fixes to mineral megadoses—and a shocking twist.
In my last post, I shared how I first learned about vitamin A toxicity. That was just the beginning.
On April 1, 2020, I officially began my detox journey. I purchased a hair mineral analysis test, homeopathic detox therapy for Coumadin, and joined the Love Your Liver community. The first dietary changes were simple: I increased my bean intake and continued my usual morning oatmeal—one cup uncooked each day. At the time, I believed more fiber was better, so I was also eating about a can of beans per day and at least one pound of beef split between lunch and dinner.
I experimented with supplemental fiber too. Acacia fiber caused colic in my 6-month-old, so I switched to Sunfiber. That worked well, and I began taking one scoop 20 minutes before meals. I felt great.
But then came the labs.
When I received my hair test results, I tried interpreting them myself. Mistake. My copper was low, and every time I took zinc, I experienced what I thought were copper deficiency symptoms—based on online symptom searches. So, thinking I was being proactive, I started supplementing copper.
To make things easier on the family, we had a weekly cheat day with dairy and ketchup. Around this time, I also started taking vitamin B1 to help with urinary urgency and nighttime trips to the bathroom. It helped—at least for a while.
By August 2020, I began taking copper supplements—just a little. I should mention: I also had a copper IUD at the time, so I definitely wasn’t deficient. By November or December, I stopped copper and switched to low-dose zinc, thinking I needed to rebalance. That’s when my bowel movements went from great (three a day) to sluggish (once a day, sometimes less). I began developing symptoms of copper toxicity, although they still resembled deficiency. This time, though, I knew better.
So, I slowly increased my zinc, starting at just 15mg per week. I stopped Sunfiber and reduced beans. That’s when I started noticing vision changes—eye floaters and blurry vision. One morning, I couldn’t read two-inch text from five feet away. I took 30mg of zinc, and within 30 minutes, the blurriness cleared. But the symptoms returned, so I increased to 45mg, then 60mg. That finally worked.
Next, I focused on fiber balance again, reduced beans, and started increasing potassium. By April 2021, I ran another round of blood and hair testing and joined Garrett Smith’s first Hair Mineral Analysis Seminar. Around this time, I had my copper IUD removed. Leading up to that, I was applying topical magnesium up to three times daily and soaking in magnesium baths once or twice a week. After the IUD was removed, I felt a huge improvement.
But symptoms started ramping up.
I began taking molybdenum and lactoferrin. My body craved lactoferrin—especially the Nutrition Detective brand. I switched from Life Extension’s lactoferrin because it gave me symptoms: hair loss, restless energy, absent-mindedness. All of that disappeared after switching brands.
Then our bathroom project revealed mold—deep in the subfloor and halfway up the wall studs. Our house is on stilts, so mold had plenty of space to grow. This discovery hit my body hard: breathing hurt, my throat burned, and my Eustachian tubes flared with inflammation. Zyrtec helped, but I felt awful.
We found an IQAir air purifier at a thrift store and got new filters. It helped a bit. Still, the mold exposure caused my mineral needs to skyrocket. I was megadosing molybdenum, zinc, selenium, magnesium, and potassium. The emotional toll was heavy—I felt hopeless and weak. We moved into my husband’s workshop while he treated the house. Just a few days after leaving the house, I felt drastically better and could cut my molybdenum intake by two-thirds. The house required three treatments before I could reenter without symptoms.
That fall, I was diagnosed with copper-deficiency anemia. My doctor recommended five days of copper infusions. My gut said no, so I declined—and I’m glad I did. Instead, I stopped all supplements except potassium and magnesium (oral and topical). I added high-dose B12 and folic acid, eventually switching to injectable B12 to cut costs. That helped immensely.
In December, I tried reintroducing Sunfiber—just a tiny bit—and experienced awful gas. So, I combined it with charcoal, and that solved the issue.
At the end of December, I discovered LactoSpore, a probiotic that intrigued me. I started slowly and responded well but couldn’t take it daily.
In early 2023, I unknowingly ate bison sausage containing shiitake mushroom powder. It wrecked me—fatigue, headaches, rapid heartbeat, and more. Something inside kept saying “it’s copper.” I finally read the ingredients and realized I’d been exposed to a high-copper food. I did a charcoal-mineral bath and felt immediate relief.
Bloodwork showed a huge drop in white blood cells—likely from the copper overload. I wish I’d tested copper at the time, but I declined, against my better judgment.
Then, on March 1, 2023, everything changed.
I had two intense bile dumps. I threw up twice after meals, had painful gas, and could barely eat. For a week, I stuck to chicken, apples, and dry cereal. I stopped all supplements again. Eventually, I reintroduced small doses of zinc and molybdenum—microdoses compared to my previous mega-dosing.
In late March, I did another round of blood tests and scheduled a consult with Dr. Smith. My copper had gone from 12 (in December) to 57. Zinc had dropped from 200 to 171. I believe this was the moment my liver “cracked open,” as Garrett would say.
Then came the debilitating diarrhea—nothing helped until I started high-dose bifidobacteria and doubled my apple peel powder. Relief came after about three weeks.
Garrett also suggested trying calcium folinate (folinic acid). It was a game changer. Around this time, I noticed I couldn’t tolerate chlorides in my baths anymore—headaches and tension would follow. Garrett recommended balancing them with citrates, and it worked. I had previously wondered if it was possible to overdo chlorides and it turns out you can.
After another round of bloodwork, my copper and zinc were continuing to even out, but I was developing new symptoms: loose joints, cherry angiomas, and high EMF sensitivity. My thumbs and ankles ached like they were broken. It felt like estrogen dominance and copper toxicity all over again.
Then, in June… I found out I was pregnant.
Stay tuned for the next post: pregnancy, healing, and what I’ve learned about minerals, motherhood, and mold.
Thank you for sharing, Hope! Can’t wait for the next installment.
Oh wow, what a journey you’ve been on!
And struggling to decipher what was going on with your balance between copper and zinc with so many conflicting signals! Your perseverance is commendable.