Dangers of the Copper IUD

Many women are misled to believe that the Copper IUD won't mess with their hormones because it doesn't contain synthetic estrogen or progestin. This is so far from the truth and here's why...

1. Minerals directly impact your hormones Copper and zinc are two of the most important minerals when it comes to hormone function. Copper relates to estrogen and zinc relates to testosterone and progesterone, in both men and women. Small amounts of copper is released from the Copper IUD into a woman's body which builds up over time. This essentially creates an estrogen dominance because of excess copper build up within the body. Copper always does better in motion rather than being stored. Once copper is stored, symptoms arise such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, painful periods, insomnia, and fatigue. 

2. Can't poop on birth control? Too much copper causes liver congestion, resulting in a sluggish liver. This is why many women on birth control or the Copper IUD suffer from constipation or irregular bowel movements. This also results in acne or skin issues because of toxins not being fully eliminated from the body aka through your poop.

3. Nervous system dysregulation Minerals run the show for our nervous system and brain function. Meaning that if we are metal toxic or mineral deficient, our bodies can be put in fight or flight resulting in panic attacks, anxiety, brain fog, and feeling overstimulated. Minerals such as magnesium, calcium, potassium, and zinc are calming to the nervous system while copper can be very stimulating to the nervous system. 10/10 times when I have a client presenting mental health symptoms, they're copper toxic. 

The truth that many women aren't ready to hear is the fact that a sick patient is a recurrent patient. You have painful and heavy periods? PCOS? Endometriosis? Acne? You don't want to get pregnant? You go to your doctor and are prescribed birth control. Since our bodies are not a one-size-fits-all, many women experience side effects of birth control such as GI issues like constipation, bloating, and abdominal pain, acne, hair loss, weight gain/loss, increase in mood changes such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.

Birth control is not the end all be all to fix whatever symptom you are struggling with. Birth control does not get to the root cause of your issue(s) and studies have shown that birth control directly impacts mental health. This study found that women who used the birth control pill, patch, IUD, and ring have 3x the risk of suicide compared to those who have never used any form of pharmaceutical birth control.

The point of the matter here is women deserve better. Women deserve to be listened to and not just told to take a pill or insert a foreign object into their bodies to "fix" their symptoms.

Every week I have a client that comes to me struggling with hormonal issues and cannot get pregnant. Each time I meet with these clients they all have something similar in common: their symptoms started as soon as they got on or off birth control.

The sad part about this is that their doctors don't believe them. They get referred to a psychologist because they're told it's "all in their head" when in reality, they're suffering from copper toxicity and other mineral imbalances.

Minerals are rarely ever thought of first when someone is struggling with symptoms because they're small, so how could they have that much of an impact on our bodies? When in reality, minerals are needed for every function within the body to run.

As Dr. Henry Schroeder said, "Minerals are the spark plugs of the body."

The number one functional test I run on all of my clients first is an HTMA (Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis). This allows a deep dive into the body to see the true mineral status and how that compares to specific systems of the body such as hormones, thyroid, metabolism, digestion, mental health, adrenals, blood sugar, stress response, and potential infections.

If this sounds like you, if you're struggling with symptoms but your blood tests come back normal and you feel far from it... it's time to get your minerals tested.

Click here to purchase your HTMA test.