Re: Copper, cortisol, bile etc.
This might be helpful in explanation but you may have already read this.
Copper Toxicity is a condition that is increasingly common in this day and age, due to the widespread occurrence of copper in our food, our hot water pipes, along with the common nutritional deficiencies in Zinc, Manganese and other trace minerals that keep levels of Copper from getting too high.
The use of birth control pills increases a woman's risk of having a Copper toxicity condition due to estrogen's effect of increasing copper retention in the kidneys. Estrogen overstimulates Aldosterone receptors in the kidneys, increasing Sodium, Copper and water retention. Both estrogen and Copper tend to raise the blood pressure by increasing water retention, raising the blood volume.
Copper builds up first in the liver and disrupts the liver's ability to detoxify the blood in general. This Copper toxicity in the liver therefore disrupts the Liver's ability to detoxify excess estrogen and other toxic heavy metals from the body by blocking Zinc in the binding sites of metallothionein and other Zinc dependent Liver enzymes needed to make Glutathione .
Other sources of chemicals which mimic estrogen, known as xeno-estrogens, may also increase the retention of copper. These include pesticides, plastic bags, Volatile organic compounds (VOC's), growth hormones used on animals, and all petrochemical waste products used in the manufacturing of plastic, gasoline and other petrochemical derivatives. These are all referred to as Xeno-estrogens.
Copper is a very stimulating mineral to the nerves and nervous system. Copper increases the production of epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine while also implicated in a decrease of histamine. These effects on neurotransmitter levels can give rise to many psychological imbalances such as mood swings, depression, mental agitation, feeling over-stimulated, restlessness, anxiety, insomnia and a racing mind with too many thoughts are all hallmarks of elevated Copper toxicity.
Elevated Copper in the body acts like caffeine or even amphetamines. It constantly keeps the conversion of dopamine into norepinephrine going so that you have a constant adrenaline rush to help you be on the go, but you also are unable to settle down or turn off your mind.