Copper, Hormones, and Midlife Mayhem: My Story of Anxiety, Insomnia, and Healing
I never thought much about copper.
In my twenties, I was on birth control for nearly a decade. Later, between my two babies, I had a copper IUD—then went right back on it after. At the time, it felt like the smart, responsible thing to do. I was working full-time, juggling motherhood, running on caffeine and drive, doing what women have always done—pushing through.
Fast forward to my fifties.
Menopause hit like a perfect storm. I was waking at 3 a.m. every night, heart racing. My anxiety—something I thought I’d outgrown—was suddenly back. I was tired, wired, and couldn’t seem to calm my nervous system.
When I ran my first HTMA (Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis), I expected to see what most midlife women do—some adrenal stress, low magnesium, maybe sluggish thyroid markers. What I didn’t expect was sky-high copper.
At first, I thought: Ah, so that’s the problem—I have too much copper.
But the truth, as I learned later, was more complicated—and far more interesting.
Copper: Friend, Foe, and the Great Regulator
Copper is an essential mineral. We need it to make energy, to regulate neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin, and to metabolize estrogen and iron. When copper is balanced, we feel grounded, creative, emotionally steady, and hormonally stable.
But here’s the paradox:
You can have too much copper in your tissues and still be functionally deficient in the kind your body can use.
This is where both Dr. Rick Malter and Morley Robbins have been such powerful teachers.
They each describe this “copper confusion” from slightly different angles—but they meet in the middle on one thing: copper only works when it’s bioavailable—when it’s bound to its protein carrier, ceruloplasmin, made in the liver with the help of magnesium, retinol (vitamin A), and adequate adrenal function.
When we’re stressed, depleted, or estrogen dominant (hello menopause hormone swings! 👋), that system breaks down.
The copper gets stored instead of circulated.
It builds up in the liver, brain, and tissues—and the very thing meant to energize us starts to agitate us.
The Hormone Connection: Why Midlife Women Feel It Most
Estrogen and copper rise and fall together.
Estrogen actually increases copper retention in the body, which is why many women on birth control or using copper IUDs accumulate more copper over time.
In perimenopause, as estrogen swings up and down wildly, those old copper stores can start to mobilize. The result?
Anxiety that seems to come out of nowhere
Sleep disturbances and racing thoughts
Hot flashes or feeling “tired but wired”
Hormonal headaches and skin changes
It’s not that copper is the enemy—it’s that your body’s ability to regulate it has been compromised by years of stress, synthetic hormones, nutrient depletion, and liver overload.
By the time we reach menopause, the liver and adrenals have been multitasking for decades. When they can’t keep up, stored copper re-enters circulation, often faster than the body can handle.
How Stress Alone Drives Copper Toxicity (and Thyroid Sluggishness)
Even without hormonal birth control or a copper IUD, a stress-filled life can slowly create copper toxicity.
The mechanism is deceptively simple—and it’s something we see over and over again on HTMA patterns.
When we live in a state of chronic stress, our adrenal glands are constantly pumping out cortisol and adrenaline. Over time, this drains key minerals like magnesium, zinc, and vitamin C—the very nutrients the body needs to regulate copper.
Here’s how that cascade unfolds:
Zinc drops, and without enough zinc, copper begins to rise unchecked.
Magnesium falls, and the liver can no longer make enough ceruloplasmin to bind copper.
Adrenal output weakens, lowering aldosterone and sodium—making it harder to move copper out through bile and sweat.
The result: copper builds up in tissues instead of being used for energy and detoxification.
As this pattern deepens, thyroid function also begins to slow.
Copper and thyroid hormones are intimately connected—thyroxine (T4) depends on copper for proper conversion to its active form (T3).
But when copper is unbound or stored, it blocks thyroid receptor sensitivity, leading to a functional hypothyroid state even when blood labs look “normal.”
That’s why women under long-term stress often experience both copper toxicity and thyroid-like symptoms:
Fatigue and brain fog
Hair loss and feeling cold
Poor detoxification
Constipation and low motivation
From the outside, it looks like thyroid disease.
But at the mineral level, it’s really a stress-driven copper dysregulation pattern.
What HTMA Reveals About Copper
This is where Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis becomes such a powerful tool.
HTMA doesn’t just measure how much copper is present—it shows how your body is managing it.
On my own HTMA, the copper was high—but so was calcium (my “brake pedal” mineral), and sodium and potassium were low (showing adrenal exhaustion). That told me my body was holding onto copper, not using it efficiently.
In functional terms, it meant:
My adrenals weren’t producing enough aldosterone to regulate minerals.
My liver wasn’t able to properly load copper into ceruloplasmin—the protein that makes copper usable—so the copper I had was being stored instead of circulated.My thyroid was slowing down as a result, since copper and magnesium were out of sync.
My nervous system was trying to buffer that overload with calcium, creating fatigue and emotional flatness.
It was the classic slow oxidizer pattern Dr. Watts described decades ago—and it fit my story perfectly. And no bio-identical hormones was not going to fix this issue (contrary to popular podcasts that they fix everything menopause).
How I Began to Rebalance
Healing this kind of pattern isn’t about chelation or drastic detoxes.
It’s about restoring regulation—so the body can handle copper properly again.
Here’s what made the biggest difference for me and what I now use with my clients:
Support the liver: gentle bile flow, mineral drainage, castor oil packs, bitter foods.
Rebuild magnesium: through food and topical support—it’s the foundation for copper metabolism.
Nourish ceruloplasmin: with real-food vitamin A (cod liver oil, egg yolks, grass-fed butter).
Balance zinc carefully: only if HTMA shows it’s truly low—zinc helps regulate copper, but too much suppresses adrenal function.
Support thyroid and adrenals together: mineral-rich foods, adaptogens, hydration, and rest.
Regulate the nervous system: deep breathing, grounding, time in nature, gentle exercise, and unhurried evenings.
When copper starts to rebalance, sleep improves, mood stabilizes, and that “tired but wired” feeling finally begins to ease.
The Bigger Picture
Copper is a storyteller.
It reflects your history of stress, hormones, nutrition, and resilience.
It’s why two women can have the same lab result and completely different experiences.
For me, the lesson was humbling.
My high copper wasn’t just about my birth control years—it was about the decades I spent pushing, striving, and ignoring my body’s quiet signals.
Menopause didn’t cause my imbalance—it revealed it.
Now, when I see high copper on a client’s HTMA, I don’t rush to “fix” it.
I see it as an invitation: to rebuild trust between the body and the minerals that run it.
If you’ve been on birth control, had a copper IUD, or feel like your menopause symptoms are louder than they should be—know this:
You’re not broken.
Your body is communicating.
Copper is one of its messengers.
Curious what your own copper story might be?
The HTMA QuickStart session helps you see how your minerals—and your hormones—are really working together.
Learn what your body’s trying to tell you and take your first step toward balance.
🧩 Copper & Your Thyroid: The Missing Link
Most thyroid hormones start out in their inactive form (T4) and must be converted into active T3 for energy, metabolism, and mood balance.
That conversion depends on more than just iodine or selenium — it also needs bioavailable copper.
When copper is properly bound to its protein chaperone (ceruloplasmin), it:
Supports liver energy production, where much of T4 → T3 conversion happens
Protects the thyroid’s enzymes from oxidative stress
Helps other nutrients like selenium and magnesium do their jobs
But when copper is unbound or stored due to stress, adrenal fatigue, or nutrient depletion, it can have the opposite effect — slowing thyroid conversion, dulling metabolism, and leaving you feeling cold, tired, or foggy even with “normal” labs.
In short:
Balanced copper helps your thyroid speak clearly; unbalanced copper scrambles the message.
