Posted by Larry Hoover on December 4, 2005, at 19:49:58
In reply to Excess copper diagnostics?, posted by Hobbes on October 28, 2005, at 6:59:06
> Hi,
>
> I've been reading this discussion group with great interest and have learned a lot.. but I got a question related to copper and decided to register. Knowing there are many individuals here with extensive biochemistry and laboratory practises knowledge, I figured this would be a good forum to ask for advice. :-)Sorry your inquiry has gone unanswered so long.
> My hair mineral analysis shoved (among other things) highly elevated level of copper. I think this might indicate a real medical problem, but it might also be e.g. a contamination in he hair sample.
Hair is exposed to the environment. It is no longer representative of the tissues that generated it from the moment it emerges from the scalp. It may or may not retain useful information thereafter.
> To be sure, I would like to confirm this with further lab tests, but I'm unsure of which tests I should take. I know there are at least lab test for copper measured from blood, blood plasma, red cells and urine. Then there is also ceruloplasmin test, and maybe others I'm not aware of.
You want serum copper, ceruloplasmin concentration, and urine copper.
> I'm especially interested to find out if excess copper has been stored in the internal organs like liver and brain.
You'd likely be showing disturbances in liver enzymes already, if that was the case, but the gold standard here is liver biopsy. It is definitive.
I place no faith in hair analysis for minerals. If you have copper plumbing in your home, you have an obvious and direct source of copper contamination. Might as well argue this hair analysis is a test for copper plumbing.
Just my opinion.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:572636
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20051025/msgs/585485.html