When you were conceived, there was a spark of light!
Before we get deep into the benefits of zinc for migraine, we need to go back in time . . . . way back, to the origins of you. The spark of luminosity that propelled you into being was fueled by zinc. The strength of the fireworks that went off at your conception was a direct reflection of the amount of zinc storage sites in your Mother’s egg, which in turn influenced the robustness of your embryological development. With each zinc storage site containing around 1 million zinc atoms, the union of your parent’s genes sparked and fired for an additional two hours beyond first contact.
Researchers are using this information to try to improve the success of in-vitro fertilization. But this also speaks to the importance of all women having adequate zinc in order to maintain fertility, the most basic marker for vitality and health.
Zinc deficiency has profound effects not only on the strength of the fireworks when sperm and egg meet – but on many other aspects of health, including a woman’s tendency towards migraine headaches. When we consider zinc for migraine, deficiencies certainly pose problems – but too much does too.
I want to share with you in this blog post just why zinc is so important for your overall vital spark – and yet how the potency of this spark can also degrade your health when zinc is taken in excess.
The importance of zinc for migraine
Zinc, as a primarily intracellular mineral that is not easily stored in the liver as copper is, can easily get depleted. There are a lot of things that can compromise a woman’s zinc status – from normal stress, to dietary preferences (vegans and vegetarians tend to consume less zinc), to the type of birth control you use.
I’ve already gone over the concerns around how hormonal birth control lowers zinc in my blog post Hormones and Migraine Part 3: Hormonal Birth Control is a Women’s Social Justice Issue. Many medications also deplete zinc – including those that I see migraineur are frequently put on, like antidepressants and thyroid medications. So these are all considerations in how much zinc a person will benefit from.
Basic functions of zinc
Let’s review some of the basic functions of zinc, which I’ve already explore in my blog post Hormones and Migraine Part 2: Copper Zinc Balance.
Zinc plays a key role in:
- breaking down glutamate
- making progesterone and testosterone AND estrogen
- removing heavy metals from the body
- making serotonin
- thyroid function
- bone health
- tooth enamel strength
- gut flora diversity
- stomach acid production
- DNA transcription
- blood sugar regulation
- vision
- immune health (combats viral pathogens)
- oocyte maturation and reproduction
- regularity of menstrual cycle
- . . . to name just a few (zinc is involved in over 200 enzyme processes)!
It’s clear from looking at this list that your zinc levels will have a profound impact on whether or not you have migraine, since migraine has hormonal and digestive components, and glutamate buildup in the brain due to poor enzyme function leads to encephalopathy, or swelling and inflammation of the brain. Depression and low sex drive are also common comorbidities in those with migraine, and are greatly affected by zinc status.
No-one functions well without enough zinc. Especially migraineurs. As an essential nutritional element, zinc is fundamental. I adore zinc for migraine. It has improved my quality of life so much!
And yet, I tend to be very very cautious with zinc supplementation in my practice.
This is because zinc depletes copper more readily than copper depletes zinc – and copper is vitally needed for those with migraine to maintain connective tissue integrity, hormonal balance, and most importantly, the breakdown of histamine. I’ve gone into detail about some of the nuances of copper zinc balance in my blog post Hormones and Migraine Part 2: Copper Zinc Balance.
Understanding these nuances is key to understanding why we need to be cautious with zinc – and why so many health issues rest on the balance of these two minerals.
Take a look at the table of the elements. Notice that zinc and copper are right next to each other at positions 29 and 30 – and very similar in atomic weight. It is this similarity that causes them to so easily be displaced by one another.
But beyond competing with copper for absorption in the gut, zinc can have profound effects on copper metabolism:
High dietary zinc intakes increase the synthesis of an intestinal cell protein called metallothionein, which binds certain metals and prevents their absorption by trapping them in intestinal cells. Metallothionein has a stronger affinity for copper than zinc, so high levels of metallothionein induced by excess zinc cause a decrease in copper absorption. (Source)
Important observations on supplementing zinc for migraine
I want to add here what I’ve learned since writing my blog post on copper/zinc balance, based on my own personal experience with zinc and the insights I’ve had in my coaching practice.
Prior to finding out about copper and zinc for migraine, I had tried taking some zinc at the normal dosage available in most supplements: around 30mg. I felt sudden sharp pains in my head that would just as suddenly dissapear, so I stopped taking zinc. I believe this large dose of zinc was mobilizing metals around in my brain, shifting them to different places and essentially “stirring the pot.”
Fast forward a few years later, and I’ve done many, many personal experiments with different copper and zinc ratios. Those experiments have definitively shown me a few things about how zinc interacts with my own metabolism in ways both profoundly beneficial – and also sometimes detrimental.
Based on these experiments as a fast oxidizer with tendency towards low copper and calcium, I’ve concluded that too much zinc leads to the following obvious problems in me: thinner teeth enamel, thyroid problems (enlarged and painful), and signs of copper deficiency like fatigue.
These experiments have shown me that I can never supplement zinc without copper and calcium (as zinc lowers both), and that anything above 10mg max of zinc is detrimental to my health. I personally take even less (though I may take more at times of high stress or if I have a viral infection).
I’m also especially concerned about higher levels of zinc supplementation given to women in the range of 20-30mg (with most zinc supplements starting at that level). I cut my 20mg zinc tablets down into quarters.
Presumably higher levels of zinc are routinely given because of concerns over reduced ability to absorb zinc, and this may be a consideration in women with low stomach acid.
But supplements should be used as supplements – not as a complete replacement for food. I believe in gentle nudges of this powerful mineral. And I believe that many of the benefits of zinc taken at higher quantities that show up in the literature may only be temporary benefits that do not reflect the health issues that may arise from longer-term zinc supplementation causing eventual copper deficiency.
There are exceptions to this. Some people have a condition called kryptopyrrole disorder which predisposes them to excessive zinc loss. Your doctor can order you a kryptopyrrole test to see if that’s playing a role in your zinc status.
I am especially wary of women who are post-menopausal taking larger doses of zinc, because their estrogen and copper levels are lower post-menopause, meaning that too much zinc can induce osteoperosis. While zinc is needed for bone health too, it is not so beneficial when it is at the expense of copper, which is also vitally needed by the body to make strong bones. Women with osteoperosis tend to have lower levels of both zinc and copper, but it’s important they get both – not just zinc. Zinc lowers calcium and copper so it’s important to be mindful of this when taking zinc above 10mg.
Bottom line: zinc is powerful, and should be supplemented with that in mind.
Zinc deficiency: 5 common patterns
In my coaching practice using Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis, I always consider zinc for migraine. I usually see one of the following patterns in migraineurs in their zinc status:
- Low copper and low zinc. This is my pattern, and common in fast oxidizers. It indicates a need for both minerals, but being very modest with zinc so as not to further deplete the low copper. Most people with this pattern will also have low calcium, another reason not to overdo it on the zinc. However over time, this pattern can change, as ongoing copper supplementation leads the liver to replenish its stores of copper.
- Low or normal copper and zinc loss represented as zinc spike. This pattern can look initially deceptive on an HTMA, because there are three intracellular minerals (namely magnesium, potassium, and zinc) which can show up as a spike on an HTMA when the mineral is rapidly lost from cells and is picked up in the hair showing up elevated. This actually signifies a deeper depletion of the mineral as compared to just a low absolute level. One probable cause of this extreme zinc loss can be very high calcium levels (since calcium lowers zinc) caused by vitamin D supplementation. Sudden copper increase could also exacerbate it. While I was not trained to look out for this particular pattern of a zinc spike, I have learned to look out for it.
- High copper and low zinc. This is not necessarily equivalent to copper toxicity. Some people’s metabolism naturally runs towards higher copper, at the expense of zinc. These people tend to be somewhat aggressive (perhaps because copper raises cortisol and adrenaline), moody, have a low sex drive, and a lot of heavy metal buildup including mercury. This indicates the need for more zinc, but never too much, since this could cause a copper dump. These people may be pushed into copper toxicity with use of a copper IUD or hormonal birth control.
- Low copper and normal zinc. This would seem to indicate only the need for copper. However if the person’s HTMA shows other heavy metal toxicities that can be removed by zinc, or they have a high calcium level, some zinc may still be beneficial. Just because a person’s zinc level is at optimal range doesn’t mean that it’s sufficient to address what they have going on (ie, high heavy metal burden).
- Copper “toxicity”. This can be latent oxidized biounavailable copper which is actually a copper deficiency on a cellular level. There are certain markers in an HTMA, such as elevated sodium, calcium, and zinc, that can be indicators for this. This can often be caused by low levels of ceruloplasmin, the enzyme that gets copper into the cells (which can be confirmed by a serum copper, zinc, and ceruloplasmin test). Copper toxicity leads to zinc deficiency. However, I’m not concerned that it is necessarily playing a big role in most migraineurs.
Rethinking copper toxicity
Even though this blog post is about zinc, I want to mention copper toxicity here. Indeed, elevated copper leads to zinc deficiency, so it’s an important pattern to consider when evaluating zinc supplementation. I was super alert to possible copper toxicity early on because the reports of it online seemed so alarming – and include migraine as a symptom.
The problem is that hidden copper “toxicity” is not easily determined. As the story goes, when oxidized copper builds up in tissues like the liver, brain, and kidneys, they don’t always show up in the hair as a high reading because they have not been mobilized. That is why we look to other mineral markers as clues to copper toxicity. But this copper toxicity can only be confirmed by seeing a copper dump on an HTMA, and this can take years to happen.
Another problem is that there is a tendency in some health circles to demonize copper. I’ve noticed that many male practitioners of HTMA seem to suspect copper toxicity more readily than I do. Could this be because men physiologically need zinc more than women do? With copper being more of a feminine element needed for estrogens, and zinc more of a masculine element needed for testosterone, I think that some unconscious male biases could even be making their way into how we think about mineral dynamics and who benefits most from which minerals.
By saying this, I’m not saying that copper toxicity isn’t a real phenomenon. Clearly it is. I just don’t think it’s as prevalent in those with migraine as usually thought.
A key factor to consider is that because copper depletes zinc, many of the symptoms that we associate with copper “toxicity” are actually synonymous with zinc deficiency symptoms. Therefore it’s important to consider whether a person exhibiting these symptoms is suffering from actual copper toxicity, or just a zinc deficiency. Common zinc deficiency symptoms are loss of appetite, irritability, toenail fungus, slugishness, poor sense of smell, rashes and eczema, thinning hair, decreased immunity, and/or depression.
I’ve been in communication with Kirby Amour, who specializes in helping women with copper toxicity through HTMA. She herself had high copper passed down from her mother in utero which was then exacerbated and turned into copper toxicity when she got a copper IUD.
In my correspondence with her, she has told me that headaches are rarely a symptom she sees in copper toxic clients of hers – and that they will almost always get revved up when taking copper or eating copper-rich foods.
The sodium level on an HTMA is often a good indicator for hidden copper, since copper raises sodium. And yet I NEVER, literally never see people in my practice with elevated sodium. Some of my coaching clients have had normal sodium levels, but in general, migraineurs are (sometimes frightfully) low in sodium. When sodium levels get too low, it leads to edema in the brain. Also, the vast majority of my coaching clients feel better on a little bit of copper.
I’ve seen one exception to this rule – a woman who had no markers for copper toxicity but who was conceived in utero while her mother was on Diethylstilbestrol (DES), a synthetic estrogen which has a strong effect on the adrenal glands and stress response. While it is possible that this client does have copper toxicity and that’s why she doesn’t tolerate copper, I think that it’s more likely that the DES made an imprint on her system that has caused a hyper-alert stress response, making anything (like copper) that increases stress hormones incompatible with her system. The history of trauma in this woman’s life is also staggering. The fact that she has never had a copper dump in a year of working with other HTMA practitioners, and has good ceruloplasmin production and low sodium, leads me to think copper toxicity is not actually what’s going on with her.
If this all sounds very confusing, I’ve discovered relatively straightforward ways to work around these issues, including testing out copper and always working to optimize the bioavailability of copper.
Virtually everyone needs some zinc, though usually just a nudge of this explosive mineral will do. Not because the person might not need more, but because it’s more valuable to go slow at first and build up than it is to go overboard but risk not knowing which supplement is causing problems.
Minerals are so powerful, that we need to be modest with them – or risk throwing many other minerals out of whack.
Giving thanks to zinc for migraine – in moderation!
So I extend deep gratitude to zinc, one of my most beloved minerals. It’s very difficult to regain our health without it, but we must balance copper and zinc. And that’s why copper zinc balance is at the core of my coaching practice.
Zinc is fundamental to not only your health, but the original spark of conception from which you came – influencing the very strength of your fluorescence and how you shine in the world. Zinc for migraine is a powerful tool.
May you find the minerals you need to amplify your vitality and spark your transformation!
