A copper overload, a mysterious pelvic pain, and a birth story I never expected.
After discovering I was pregnant in early June, my first instinct was to get blood work—not just a pregnancy test, but a deep dive to figure out why I was still experiencing copper toxicity symptoms.
At that point, my copper levels were continuing to rise. My doctor grew concerned and referred me back to a hematologist. Sure enough, I tested positive for pregnancy, just as I had suspected. A month later, in late July, I had another round of tests—my copper levels were nearly 150. That’s technically still within the “normal” range by conventional standards, but far too high in my opinion.
Despite the elevated copper, my first trimester went smoothly. I felt great—no morning sickness, no major fatigue, no issues at all.
But then came the second trimester.
I started losing my taste for beef, and my desire for tea or coffee with meals ramped up—something I later realized was my body’s way of trying to block iron absorption. Protein-heavy meals became unappetizing. I tried using collagen for protein, but my body clearly said no. A quick search led me to realize that collagen can raise iron. That, combined with persistent pelvic pain, pointed me toward iron overload—even though pelvic pain isn’t typically listed as a symptom. When I specifically searched pelvic pain during pregnancy and high iron, everything clicked. I also had a bout of gallbladder pain, or so I thought. It felt like gallbladder pain, but the doctor said my gallbladder was fine.
As I moved into the third trimester, the pelvic pain became debilitating. It hurt to walk, to sit, to stand—even short movements triggered pain. I could barely stay on my feet for more than a few minutes at a time. My protein intake dropped even more, and I began drinking coffee with every meal—another iron blocker my body craved. I was running on instinct.
In October or November, Garrett suggested I try flush niacin. I didn’t take it seriously at first—just a fingertip dose here and there. Eventually, I started taking 25mg, then 50mg. That’s when the detox cycles began—every few days I’d crash, then rebound. After talking with Kelsey Kenny, I jumped up to 250mg a day. It worked. The detox waves smoothed out.
Quickly, I increased to 1,200mg daily. To buffer it, I used potassium bicarbonate and magnesium carbonate. But the buffering needs kept fluctuating. I didn’t understand why I had to adjust the niacin dose so often—until I realized each drop in dose brought back the pelvic pain. So I kept adjusting, always chasing relief.
Around the same time, I started having severe indigestion. At first, it was minor—typical pregnancy stuff. But with higher doses of niacin, it worsened dramatically. I added activated charcoal, which helped a bit. Soon, even plain water—especially reverse osmosis water—burned my stomach. I switched buffering agents and ramped up charcoal, sometimes 10x more than the niacin dose just to cope.
I had another gallbladder attack but the doctor, once again, said it was fine. I later found out that it was caused by sulfur from the hydrogen sulfide from our water.
Eventually, with high-dose niacin, magnesium carbonate, and charcoal, I could tolerate beef again. But it was a delicate balance. Any drop in niacin and the pelvic pain returned. This yo-yo pattern continued through the end of my pregnancy.
Then, finally, labor came.
At my 38-week appointment, I asked them to check my cervix. I just felt like something had changed—and it had. I was almost 5 cm dilated, though the baby hadn’t dropped yet. That afternoon, I had the urge to walk. So we went to the park. As soon as contractions started, we headed home.
That night, I couldn’t sleep. I kept moving, stretching, adjusting pillows, trying to get him to settle. Finally, I fell asleep in the best position I’d found in months. A couple hours later, my water broke.
We headed to the hospital. I declined Pitocin, knowing my body just needed a little time. They gave me an IV “just in case,” but never ended up using it. I gave birth naturally a few hours later to a healthy baby boy—and recovered quickly.
But then came kidney pain. If you’ve ever had it, you know—it’s worse than labor. I rarely ask for pain meds, but this time I did. The first thing they offered was two Tylenol. That did nothing. Pain meds rarely work on me, so I took matters into my own hands.
I grabbed all my sulfur-mitigating supplements—B12, folinic acid, molybdenum, and magnesium—and took them in high doses. Within hours, I passed a huge amount of sulfur (as diarrhea), and the kidney pain vanished.
We were released the next day.
Before leaving the hospital, we had our son’s lip and tongue ties released so he could breastfeed without issue. That made a world of difference.
But the journey was far from over. Stay tuned—because the first year postpartum… got even harder.
Apparently most collagen has as much copper as chocolate does too.
Thank you. Well done.