Iodine, the drawbacks

We may worry that iodine supplementation, especially around the level of 50mg/day, is excessive and damaging. Is it? The major iodine-purporter docs don't address that concern other than to argue against the Weikoff effect, to say that 100mg has been used theraputically extensively, and to say that iodine has always been used as antiseptic (for which it is the bomb!). There IS more research than that suggesting negative, iodine-induced problems, such as iodine-induced goiter and hypothyroidism in infants. This post will attempt to gather that information over time (all info is a work in progress as to correctness). I will NOT discuss the ILD time-worn treatment of bromide cleansing or similar.

Iodine-induced goiter and hypothyroidism reference #1:

Synopsis. Mothers taking iodine at the 600mg to 1g levels for bronchial asthma gave birth to babies with serious goiter and hypothyroidism. Other children birthed by these same mothers under the same KI ingestion, did not have goiter or hypothyroidism. Development and symptoms in the affected babies improved or resolved by giving dessicated thyroid at the level of 30mg.

Congenital iodide-induced goitre with hypothyroidism.

A. I. Hassan, G. H. Aref, and A. S. Kassem --

Arch Dis Child. 1968 December; 43(232): 702–704.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/pagerender.fcgi?artid=2020155&pageindex=1
[This case study includes 25 references, some with iodine-induced problems.]

Am J Dis Child. 1960 Apr ;99 :428-36 13821444

Goiter and thyroid dysfunction following the use of iodides in asthmatic children.
Falliers et al., 1966

[My paper]

Synopsis. No information found yet.

More Iodine

Increasingly the amount of iodine I take isn't enough. I crave more all the time. Cooking beans with seaweed-- supposed to help reduce gas -- sounds really good to me. I keep craving Japanese too. So, I was surfing around when the idea hit me-- take more iodine in the form
of seaweed. Adding seaweed gives all the nutrients too that should help increase iodine uptake. Adding to cooking beans, then, is a win - win situation. Unfortunately, I don't have a life now and no beans. But when I do... But I've started taking kelp pills, homemade of straight kelp, with each meal.

I love the way it makes my stomach warm. I took two kelp pills last night and woke up with the warm feeling still there. Had one pill this morning accompanied by the same warm feeling. Very nice!

I didn't expect to need to add more iodine! And I wonder now, how much it's going to take. Adding more Lugol's makes me sick, despite iodine cravings, and also doesn't sound right. But taking seaweed, not only makes sense, but feels great. And my cravings are about to get requited with dulse flakes on salads, kelp pills with meals, and somehow nori. When is lunch already?

One thing I'm doing also is taking the stress formula every two hours. Nothing to do with the above, but I hope it brings my adrenal glands back to functioning. I suffer terribly from adrenal exhaustion and expect help from this new protocol. --And as I write this I feel help, likely in a stress formula + kelp combination that is currently winning somewhat over my candida overgrowth. I'll take it!

Candida is back

They say that having candida in your intestinal tract is normal. It's the percentage of candida to other bacteria that you want to control. I've had a running battle with candida for forever. And what's causing it? Anti-candida diets go on and on with rules, non of which are followed by people that have never had candida overrun. Following the rules may help, but that doesn't cure the problem. Is the problem metals toxicity? Diverticulitis? Trapped undigested food? If it were any of those, would eating by the rules help? Candida definitely likes sugar. Do those existing conditions provide hiding places for the candida until sugar comes? But, they aren't even necessary. So, do they even matter? Probably not.

So, what does matter? What keeps candida from invading a person's entire system? A strong immune system? Because the rules, tho they say otherwise, aren't going to help with that. They are a panacea. Metals toxicity may cause immune breakdown allowing candida overthrow. My candida feeds off of progesterone. That's it's favorite eticket to the entire body. How is this connected to iodine receptor sites?

From my current Google search:
"We are suggesting that candida is a side-effect of an endocrine disorder (hormonal imbalance). It is a continuum with thrush at one end and the APICH syndrome at the other - most severe - end. The primary mechanism may be the blocking of oestrogen receptors, although there will be others too. This hypothesis provides an explanation for the male-female imbalance. Blocked oestrogen receptors can lead to a relative dominance of progesterone, a hormone candida loves. Once candida has taken hold, it can further disrupt the endocrine system by inactivating circulating hormones. The immune system attacks the candida and the candida retaliates weakening it, but the disruption is primarily in the endocrine system."
http://www.candida-society.org/ncs/digestv1i3.htm

The above says some intregueing? things, by doesn't fit me where progesterone is NEVER dominant.

PCOS resolution - absolutely obsessed

Not sure what to do with this quote, so I'll post it here. I don't have PCOS, not that I know of! But here is a Russian study showing simply iodide resolved PCOS in 3 months at the low dose of 12.5mg / day. Pretty astounding!!

"Our preliminary experience with I supplementation at 12.5 mg/day, confirmed the findings of Ghent et al (19), regarding subjective and objective improvements of FDB, following I supplementation. Our findings in 3 patients with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) confirmed the positive response observed following supplementation with 10 to 20 mg of potassium iodide by Russian investigators 40 years ago (62). Prior to I supplementation, those PCOS patients were olygomenorrheic, menstruating one or twice a year. Following I supplementation for 3 months, they resumed normal monthly cycles. In 2 patients with subclinical hypothyroidism and elevated TSH levels, I supplementation suppressed TSH levels markedly in both cases. In one patient, serum TSH level was 7.8 mIU/L pre-supplementation and 1.7 mIU/L 3 months post I supplementation. In the other patient, TSH level was 21.5 mIU/L before and 11.9 mIU/L after 3 months of I supplementation."

http://cypress.he.net/~bigmacnc/drflechas/IOD-02.html


Feeling better now that I've traded my carb cravings for protein and fat. Blood glucose is evening out and I'm feeling warmer. Carbs only make you feel cold, goitrogenic, when high load and / or glycemic index.

Sources of Iodine Info

There is a lot to learn about iodine and the body's requirements. this site is where I got my very good introduction and saved my life! It's difficult going, but worth it.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller20.html

I wrote to Dr. Miller the author of the article above and didn't get a response. Even tho the page gives his email and offers that you email him. I guess he isn't interested in having helped someone learn why they were dying and fix it! What are you going to do? There are a lot of people out there that have very narrow views of the world. A lot of them are authors.

Lots of info on this next site and there's good reason. The following site is owned and run by Dr. Abraham. As you learn more, you'll realize that Iodoral, what most doctors recommend as a source of iodine, is made my Dr. Abraham's company- Optimox. And the company also produces vitamins necessary as nutritional supplementation with iodine. Dr. Abraham was a ob/gyn teacher that enlisted two physicians: Dr. Brownstein and Dr. Flechas to do iodine studies in their practises. The findings were that most people are iodine deficient and many diseases are caused by this deficiency.

http://optimox.com/pics/Iodine/opt_Research_I.shtml

I wrote to Dr. Brownstein on his website, below, asking for treatment and haven't gotten a response. I guess being an avid writer and lecturer, he doesn't have time, nor do his staff, to respond in any manner. Not even a "we got your message!" I'm thinking of seeking Dr. Flechas' treatment, or another ILD (Iodine Literate Doctor) instead, if I get no response soon.

http://www.drbrownstein.com/

Be careful when ordering the many good books, etc on Dr. Brownstein's site as there is no security at present. Your information will likely be captured without this security, but you could call using a land line too.

More to be added here later.

What Iodine has done for me

I'm in the second month of taking 50mg iodine a day. Most normal, healthy people will reach iodine sufficiency in three months; taking in 1500mg total. At that point, they will lose 90% of daily ingested iodine within 24hrs. That's the definition of iodine sufficiency. While I'm not most normal people, I do tend to have some pretty normal physiological behaviours, medically speaking. I was having a difficult time getting iodine just a few days ago. But I found out that most food combines with iodine and takes it out of your body w/o the taker getting any! So I started taking iodine 20min - 1hr+ before food, twice daily with lemon juice. Tasted much better than iodine straight [which I don't mind much], but I remembered one of the foods that combines with iodine is citric acid! Doh! So, I switched that to what it should have been in the beginning. Which is raw apple cider vinegar. I'm guessing the vinegar creates an alkaline setting, that helps the iodine absorb properly. It worked. My skin started getting moist again.

How I've benefitted from iodine is multiply. My skin has moisture for the first time in my life. At times my over-dry heels are completely moist and soft. My hair is growing in much thicker. My constant leg cramps are almost non-existent. My previously life-altering menstrual cramps are near gone. I'm still almost bleeding to death with each one, but that's due to auto-immune attacks against my thyroid and not from iodine. In fact, I saw a slowing of flow for the first time ever after about a month taking iodine. I'm still having trouble sweating, but my sensitivity to cold has gone way down. Only the cold of winter will tell how well. I no longer have iodine-deficient constipation. And my energy is up, not way up, but comparatively, yes.

I have hypothyroidism and part of the cause is iodine deficiency. But I've learned that near everyone has iodine deficiency. We aren't getting enough in our salt, not eating seafood in huge quantities and our food no longer has any. The RDA (DRI) of .15mg a day may be enough for some to avoid goiter, but it isn't enough to prevent fibrocystic breast disease or PCOS or thyroid cancer. That's likely to require 6.25mg - 50mg a day. It's not enough extra to remove the toxic metals and halogens that are part of our daily lives.

But my hypothyroisdism is also due to Hashimoto's disease. That is my immune system attacks the thyroid when an immune system response is enacted. And an immune system response is enacted to anything that I'm allergic to, which is most everything food and airborne!

Iron and Iodine - Get enough or die!

Might as well get right to the point. I applaud all you health seekers out there and all your efforts. I think the hardest thing about improving health is to recognize what's important as you pass from one bit of information to the next. So easily you can go off trying this or learning that and lose basic principles and all proportion. There's lots of basics and I don't have them all categorized yet, but let's touch on the basic of the basic.

Sufficient Iron and Iodine are VITAL to your health. Having a hard time figuring out the best way to get these? Having trouble taking them? Too bad! Figure it out! Figure it out right now!!! Iron and iodine are at the basis for every health decision you make. Get help. Do what ever it takes to be sufficient in these minerals. Every process of the body requires them. Learn what you require and get it.

If you have cancer, but not enough iodine, your cancer treatments may not work at all. If you have sufficient iodine, you might not have gotten cancer in the first place!!! And iron? It's only used in every red blood cell. You know, the guys that transport your nutrients and oxygen- IOW your health.