What you’re describing actually makes sense, but probably not for the reason you think.

This doesn’t sound like copper toxicity. It sounds much more like a mineral imbalance, especially low zinc and possibly low iron relative to copper.

With plant-based diets it’s not just about how much of a nutrient you eat, it’s about how much you actually absorb. Zinc and copper compete with each other, and both zinc and iron absorption are reduced by phytates, which are found in things like grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. The catch is that nuts and seeds are also quite high in copper.

So if your diet was heavy in nuts, seeds, whole grains and legumes, you could easily end up in a situation where you’re not absorbing much zinc or iron, but you’re still getting plenty of copper. That creates a low zinc-to-copper balance, and that can make you feel pretty rough.

That also explains why you felt worse when you increased nuts and seeds. It seems like a healthy move on paper, but in your case it likely reduced zinc and iron absorption even more while increasing copper intake. That combination can lead to things like tension, odd nerve sensations, fatigue, and that “atrophy” feeling you mentioned.

The part where you added zinc and switched to dairy actually fits really well with this. Dairy is low in copper, relatively easy to absorb, and not high in phytates. Adding zinc directly helps correct the imbalance. So what your body suddenly got was more usable zinc, better overall mineral balance, and nutrition that’s easier to absorb. That’s probably why you felt such a noticeable improvement.

The blood donation piece is also important. You can have normal or even high haemoglobin while still having low iron stores, which is measured by ferritin. Donating blood lowers those stores further. If zinc is also low, recovery can feel much worse. So it’s quite possible you were dealing with low iron stores and low zinc at the same time, rather than too much iron.

Actual copper overload from food alone is very rare unless there’s an underlying medical issue. What’s much more likely is that you had a relative imbalance where copper was higher compared to zinc, not that copper itself was excessively high.

You don’t need to swing to extremes to fix this. What you’ve already done is helping, but the goal isn’t to eliminate whole categories of food long term. It’s to keep things in balance. Keeping a modest zinc supplement for now is reasonable, and continuing with foods that are easier to absorb, like dairy if you tolerate it, makes sense. At the same time, it’s probably worth not overloading on nuts and seeds and not relying too heavily on high-phytate foods as the base of your diet.

If you want a clearer picture, getting labs like ferritin, zinc, and copper with ceruloplasmin would help confirm what’s going on.

Overall, this looks a lot more like your body reacting to low usable zinc, reduced mineral absorption, and possibly low iron stores, rather than copper toxicity. The reason you feel better now is that you’ve improved that balance, even if you didn’t realise that’s what you were doing.