This is a post on high dose iodine. I have this post on taking smaller doses iodine as well, Iodine for beginners. That is a post on low dose iodine, safe iodine supplementation for people with their thyroids intact. Or other thyroid patients feeling uncertain of taking large doses of iodine. Small doses are safer, and starting low and increasing over time is the safest way of supplementing iodine. It’s an easy read, and I actually believe, everybody wanting to supplement iodine should read that post.
If we have little thyroid tissue left, we don’t need to worry about increasing thyroid antibodies. As all thyroid antibodies are produced IN the thyroid. You can read more about that in the beginners post and in my Anti-TPO post . You find info on iodine and the various thyroid antibodies in my antibodies series. Antibodies, part 2, Anti-thyroglobulin
Antibodies, part 3, TSHR abs, TRAb
And I have a post with advanced info on iodine, Iodine for nerds Where I go into a lot of studies on iodine. Topics like, “is all iodine converted to iodide in the gut?”, “molecular iodine vs iodide in the body”, “iodine as antioxidant and anticancer”.
The Wolff/Chaikoff effect
Since I began reading about iodine, I have realized, so many are iodine deficient. Myself included. In 2007, I was a patient at a national center for thyroid disease in Oslo, Norway. Chief Physician Ingrid Norheim told me, avoid all kinds of iodine. Don’t take a multivitamin containing iodine. I listened and believed her. She suffered from the iodine fear or fobia that has plagued the world the past 70 years. Ever since Wolff and Chaikoff’s study from 1948, link to the Wolff / Chaikoff study. The study says that big doses of iodine that exceeds a certain level in the blood, 0,2 mg/L, will hinder inorganic iodine from organification inside the thyroid, that is, there will be less thyroid hormone produced. So one will become hypothyroid. G.E. Abraham, the doctor who started questioning the iodine fobia, says these rats that were given large doses of iodine, didn’t become hypothyroid. And their thyroid levels weren’t even measured, not before or after the iodine was injected, link to G.E. Abrahams article.
And yes, you read right, injected. The rats were injected with large doses of iodine. Nobody injects iodine. That must be a shock to the system.
And the doses were also very hefty. These rats thyroids normally contain 10 y (incredibly small weight unit). They were given up to 500 y Iodine intravenously. This would be the same as injecting humans with 500 mg Iodine as far as I have been able to calculate. An average thyroid contains app 10 mg iodine, but can hold more.
In addition, they were injected with radioactive iodine. They claim, the doses were too small to cause harm. I cannot evaluate that. Doctors treat hyperthyroidism with radioactive iodine all the time, claiming it causes no harm. Nevertheless, people become hypothyroid from the treatment. I don’t understand why they keep on treating with radioactivity when there are other options. The radioactive iodine can not only potentially harm the thyroid, but it can harm iodine receptors throughout the body.
But despite all these reservations, there is such a thing as the Wolff-Chaikoff effect. The thyroid does get flooded when there a sudden influx of iodine, and shuts down. But it lasts max 48 hours! After that the thyroid “learns” how to just absorb the amount of iodide it needs. Many later studies have shown this, and also studies where they feed the rats iodine the normal way, through the mouth. This does not mean, large doses of iodine can’t be harmful.
This is the big reason why the world, that is, the medical world, has developed an iodine phobia? Believing that getting anything over 150 mcg is really dangerous? And even more so for thyroid patients? OMG! It’s too stupid for words.
Of course, there is also the question of thyroid antibodies. But most doctors know shit about that . They just repeat some medical myths that are being passed down, without ever having read a study or anything else about it. The same with iodine.
The antibody most likely to increase with iodine supplementation after being iodine deficient, is anti-thyroglobulin. I write about iodine and every thyroid antibody in my antibodies series.
Dr. Brownstein and Dr. Flechas
Dr. Brownstein and dr. Flechas are the two main doctors when it comes to alerting the world to the fact that too many are iodine deficient. Both have many good and informative videos on You Tube. Dr. Brownstein has a book “Iodine, why we need it, why we can’t live without it”. It is good and informative. I find that the studies and books he refers to, are very old though. Most of the books are books we can’t assess.
These two doctors have done groundbreaking work, and are, besides Dr. Abraham of course, so important for the big changes in attitude we see now. Where more and more people realize, they are actually iodine deficient. And that this is the underlying cause for their thyroid issues, fibroids and cysts in breasts and uterus, even cancer in these areas, as well as the prostate. Among other things.
But I get the impression that they don’t believe in the Wolff-Chaikoff effect. I may be mistaken, maybe they just don’t believe that it is very detrimental. I can’t figure it out. Please leave a comment if you know more than me.
Today there are many scientists who are very interested in iodine and iodine deficiency. One is Michael B. Zimmermann. And there is a whole community of female scientists in Mexico who are doing very interesting work. Delgado, Aceves and more. They recommend, that the recommendation should be 3 mgs. And many others.
NB! That does not mean, that everybody should jump to 3 mg right away.
Hypothyroid have lower iodine levels
It’s not like hypothyroid people have higher levels of iodine in their bodies or thyroids. They have less. In an old study by Okerlund that Dr. Brownstein refers to, they used a special scanning method to see how much iodine the thyroid held. As stated above, in healthy people they found a mean value of 10 mg. In a group of 56 people with an autoimmune thyroiditis, but who still have normal thyroid levels, they found a mean of 4,7 mg. And in those who had an auto immune thyroiditis WITH low thyroid levels, they found a mean of 2,3 mg. So the problem is obviously too little iodine, not too much. And these results have been replicated. As Dr. B writes, the iodine intake has gone way down in the last 50 years, but the prevalence of auto immune thyroiditis has gone way up.
I suspect that not too many have read the actual Wolff-Chaikoff study. I have. It’s not open access, but I have it. I don’t understand, that a 70 years old study is not open access. If they had read it, they wouldn’t have taken this “effect” at face value. This is a very informative article on the whole iodine debacle, https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/modern-diseases/the-great-iodine-debate/ Including the Wolff/Chaikoff effect. Lynne Farrow also gives a great overview over the history of treating with iodine in her book “The Iodine Crisis”.
Elevated TSH
If it is a elevated TSH that makes people believe, high dose iodine causes hypothyroidism, that is something one sometimes sees in the beginning of taking iodine. TSH can go all the way up to 30, with the free hormones not being affected. This is most likely because TSH has two functions. One is reporting back to the pituitary on the levels of the thyroid hormones. The other is in creating symporters. Symporters are the molecules that transport iodine into the cells. There are also other ways iodine enters cells.
The TSH will normalize within 3 to 6 months. It’s only if the free hormones are normal, like they were before iodine. If FT4 and or FT3 come down, it’s not this mechanism at play. Then you are going hypothyroid. I would reduce my iodine dose unti I got a grip on the situation.
Dr. B doesn’t mention this. But I see people report it in the iodine groups. I have seen many getting a thyroid disease after doing the Protocol. And I myself has gone down on FT3. But could be it affected my conversion. I wouldn’t think I convert that much though, as I get a lot of T3 in my NDT. I had to increase my NDT dose. Lots of things can affect thyroid levels, and I have always been up and down on my levels. But this decrease was much larger, I do believe was due to the iodine. It’s a mystery to me, quite frankly. UPDATE! 2 years later I could decrease my dose again, and I am now back to what I normally have taken in recent years, even a little less.
Some experience that their thyroid levels go up, which is what all us hypo people want. Dr. Brownstein says, 1/3 will stay on the same dose, 1/3 will be able to decrease dose and 1/3 can get off thyroid meds altogether. I guess he forgot those of us who must increase our dose, ha ha. I believe he takes thyroid meds himself. Or I know he does. His daughter as well. They both take NDT. I think there is a group that needs to be added here, those who aquire a thyroid disease, Hashimotos or Graves.
Remember, don’t stop meds unless your free hormones are too high. If you are sure you are going hyper, then Dr. B says, cut meds by half. I see too many just quitting meds with no testing or signs of hyper. And of course, they get sick.
After many years of thyroid disease, you will not be able to quit meds. Your thyroid is either infiltrated by T and B cells, or it is shriveled up like mine. I see a lot of people who don’t realize this, and have unrealistic expectations.
Caution!
It’s only when FT4 and FT3 stay normal, that one can assume, that new symporters are being created. Normal FT4 is a little under midrange, and normal FT3 is around midrange. I am talking about thyroid healthy people not on thyroid meds here. I have seen in iodine groups many times, that people who are really hypothyroid are being told, don’t worry, it’s normal. Here is an example I saw recently.
This person was told by an admin in the group, that she should read up on this with iodine and TSH. When everybody can see from her FT4, that she is VERY hypothyroid. Her FT4 is way under reference. She needs thyroid medicine asap. It’s very disturbing that an admin in an iodine group knows so little about thyroid issues. Sometimes I get the feeling, people want to “defend” high dose iodine and don’t want to hear anything about the risks. Not a wise attitude.
This is a person who most likely should never have started high dose iodine. She had been diagnosed with Hashimotos. She does not take thyroid meds, and has no trust in doctors. She knows nothing about high dose iodine. She might have damaged herself with iodine. She should have started on thyroid meds, dropped gluten, taken selenium and smaller doses iodine.
I often see this in US groups, people say, they don’t want to take thyroid meds. Please think again if this is you. It’s like saying, I don’t want to fill gas on my car. And except it to run. You damage yourself when you drag along with too low thyroid levels.
Halogens
Iodine is one of those chemical substances called halogens. Bromide and fluoride are also halogens. These other halogens occupy the iodine receptors, and hinders the iodine uptake. Iodine is important for all the cells in our bodies, so this is serious.
There is a lot of bromide and fluoride in our world today. There is bromide in remedies for pools, in fungus killers, it has been used extensively in medicines, still in some asthma meds and medicine for incontinence. In The US they add it to bread, which is crazy. Fluoride is also everywhere. There is some fluoride naturally in water in many places, but fluoride is also added for caries protection. Dentists propagate strongly for fluoride, and we all brush our teeth with it. I do believe fluoride helps with tooth decay, but it makes us hypothyroid . Hypothyroidism is certainly NOT good for teeth, what with the dry mouth one often gets. Dentists say, it’s no problem as long as you don’t swallow. As if nothing gets absorbed in the mouth. Fluoride decreases the thyroid’s ability to concentrate iodine. And studies have shown, that this is exacerbated when one is low on iodine. Dr. B refers to a study on mice that shows this. I cannot link to the study, it’s from an old endocrinologists textbook from 1998. This is a criticism I have of Dr Brownstein, he refers to so many articles and texts that are either very old and or very difficult to access for other people.
But if you have ample iodine in the body, I don’t think using fluoride toothpaste is that harmful. Some people have poor teeth and need fluoride tooth paste. Others have strong teeth and don’t. I belong to the first group, unfortunately.
I have used a lot of fluoride. I have had bad teeth, I get cavities beneath the gums. Because I have a dry mouth, probably because of iodine deficiency. The saliva glands are some of the glands in the body that hold and use a lot of iodine.
So dentists have recommended, or more like told me to use strong fluoride products. And I have been accused by dentist’s assistants, of believing in conspiracy theories when I have said, fluoride is not good for the thyroid. One meets a lot of ignorant, arrogant people in this world.
I have tried using toothpaste without fluoride. But I get cavities. I use a toothpaste with calcium fluoride, not sodium fluoride. It is less toxic. Hard to find though. I use this one. You can find it in Europe as well as in the US. There is not that much fluoride in it, so I use a good dollop. https://himalayawellness.in/products/complete-care-toothpaste
Of course, if you have strong teeth, you might not need fluoride toothpaste at all. Most people taking high dose iodine would shun fluoride toothpaste probably.
One can get tested for halogens. I have done it. You find my test below. As you can see, I have some fluoride in me. I hope following The Protocol will detox these other halogens. That is one purpose of The Protocol, detoxing halogens.
I am not that stressed by having some toxins in me though. I am 64. Our world is full of toxins. What can you do?
The Protocol
- 50 mg Iodine minimum (Can start on 12.5 mg)
- Vit C, 3000 mg. Might neeed more to detox Bromide
- 300-600 mg Magnesium
- 200 mcg Selenium, evnt. Selenomethionine
- 500 mg Niacin (B3) x 2. Start on lower dose to avoid flush, buy “no flush”.
- 100 mg Riboflavine (B2) x 3. B2 and B3 are what is called ATP cofactors.
- 1/2 ts Celtic salt added to diet
- 1/4 ts Celtic salt in a cup of warm water, followed by a large glass of water, up to twice a day. As needed.
- In addition, adequate minerals and vitamins
- Very large doses of Calsium, 2 to 3000 mg a day hinders Iodine uptake.
- ATP cofactors increase Iodine uptae, and contributes to normalizing TSH. Which can become high in the first few months.
I hadn’t really intended to include the Protocol. But then I saw, it had not been translated into Norwegian. So included it in the Norwegian version. I have copied it from Lynne Farrow’s book. It’s the protocol that was decided on on The Iodine Conference in 2007.
It’s important to use Lugols Iodine. There are many brands. Lugols have both iodine and iodide. The different organs use different forms of iodine. Very many scientists write, that all forms of iodine are converted to iodide in the gut. I believed this as well. But I was mistaken. Not all iodine is converted to iodide before absorption.
lugol’s contain 2/3 iodide and 1/3 molecular iodine.
Lugols come in many strengths. Here is the content in mg pr drop:
- 2% = 2,5 mg
- 3% = 3.75 mg
- 5% = 6,25 mg
- 7% = 8,75 mg
- 10% = 12,50 mg
- 15% = 18,75 mg
On the Protocol it is important to use Lugol’s , but if you are not taking large doses, I think sea weed is also very good. It needs to be a product that list the iodine content. Sea weed contains several forms of iodine.
Some get nauseous from high dose iodine, or get upset stomach. One can get it in tablet form as well, Iodoral. It’s gentler on the stomach. In Europe it costs a lot and is hard to get.
Selenium
I cannot stress enough, how important it is to have good selenium levels when on the Protocol. If not, you can get an increase in antibodies. And it protects the thyroid. Many people are worried about having too high selenium levels. I see this a lot in the iodine groups. I did myself until I read this article by 3 Norwegian doctors, https://tidsskriftet.no/en/2020/11/fra-laboratoriet/selenium-trace-element-clinical-significance They say, the current recommendations are way too low. The good serum level is 3 µmol/L. Toxic level is over 3,5 µmol/L.
In the US groups, they recommend something called a RBC test, where they measure how much is actually in the cells. That is not something one can get where I live. They say a hair mineral analysis is the second best, better than a serum test.
Testing your thyroid levles
Testing your thyroid levels is a must when on the Protocol. Take a test before you begin, including Anti-Tpo and TRAb. And test often after that. You really want to make sure your thyroidlevels are ok.
TSH can become elevated, up to 30, without the free hormones, FT4 and FT3 changing. This can last for 3 to 6 months according to DR. B. He says, it is most likely because more symporters, Iodine transporter molecules, are being made. As mentioned, TSH has two functions, one is to stimulate thyroid hormone production. The other is to stimulate the creating of symporters. As the body gets more iodine, it naturally needs more symporters.
So you don’t need to worry about this temporarily increased TSH as long as the free hormones are ok.
Iodine induced hypothyroidism
Dr.B says, that out of several thousands of patients, they have only seen this in 2 patients. But it can happen. My FT3 has decreased. I don’t know if iodine induced hypothyroidism only pertains to those who had normal thyroid levels before. Not to us hypo who are already on thyroid meds. I will have to see as time goes by. I only have 10% of my thyroid left, so cannot really hope for being able to decrease my dose.
I find Dr. B’s claim hard to believe. As I have seen several people in iodine groups becoming hypo thyroid. They may have had an underlying issue before starting iodine, I don’t know. They may have been on their way to hypothyroidism. So many start high dose iodine without having their thyroid levels and thyroid antibodies checked. Then it’s difficult to know what’s what. But the fact remains, high dose iodine does make some people hypo thyroid. Your anti-TG can increase, and this is a potential risk to the thyroid.
I see in the iodine groups, there are others who have gotten a lowered FT3 as well. So whether you take thyroid meds or not, please follow your levels. I don’t want to stop taking Iodine because of that. I feel very good on iodine at this time.
Iodine induced hyperthyroid
According Dr Brownstein, this happens very seldom also. But it does happen. I see that in the iodine groups. I do think, Dr. B has a tendency to downplay the dangers of high dose iodine.
And if you have a hot nodule, an autonomous thyroid nodule, then don’t take iodine. Very important. The iodine will feed the nodule, and you will become even more hyper than you already probably are. Dr. B says, a nodule like that must be taken out before starting on the Protocol.
Iodine is not dangerous as long as one takes thyroid tests and follows one’s symptoms. I see so many in the various iodine groups who throws themselves into high dose Iodine without reading, investigating or testing. That can go very wrong. But please don’t blame the iodine, it is you yourself who haven’t done your homework.
If I had Graves, I would try to be followed by an iodine literate doctor. Those are hard to find, I would think almost impossible in Europe. But I do believe some US doctors do online counseling. I have heard, that Dr B charges a lot. Maybe some of the others in his clinic are less expensive. I would test very often, at the very least. But iodine has been used to treat Graves for a very long time. And it works. But please be very careful. Article on iodide treatment for Graves
Antibodies
I have my Anti-Tpo tested more often now. My Anti-Tpo has gone way down after I started iodine. It was 389>100 last summer. After a few months on iodine, it is 38>35. I don’t have TRAb. Remember, one can have Anti-TPO and TRAb at the same time. So have both tested. plus most importantly, anti-thyroglobulin. If one’s antibodies increase, then take it seriously and do something about it. In particular TRAb, because those are Graves antibodies. I took a new test now, 15th of June. My Anti- tpo had increased to 50>34. It’s still lower than when I started iodine. I was concerned about antibodies when I started on the Protocol, because I didn’t know at that time, that thyroid antibodies are all produced inside the thyroid. And so not an issue when you have as little thyroid tissue as I have.
As I write over, you can read about iodine and thyroid antibodies in my antibody series. Antibodies, part 1, Anti-TPO, Antibodies, part 2, Anti-thyroglobulin,
Our iodine requirements
I trust both Dr. Brownstein and Dr. Flechas. But I believe they are wrong when it comes to how much iodine we need. They say, the Japanese get app. 12 mg a day. And that that is what we all should be getting. I don’t believe the Japanese get that much iodine in their food. This is a meta study, looking at several studies. They have assessed how much the Japanese get through their food, and also looked at urine excretion, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3204293/.
The result is between 1 and 3 mg a day. The official Japanese recommendation is max 3 mg a day. I think just common sense would tell us, 12 mg is way too high. Here is a table of the 3 most common seaweeds consumed in Japan:
As you can see, kombu contains a lot of iodine, the other two not so much. The average intake of kombu in Japan is 450 gr/ household/year. there are 2,5 members in a household. That would make for 0,5 gr of kombu a day. So 1,2 mg iodine from that. BUT more than 90% of the iodine can get lost in the cooking process. Other seafoods do not contribute very much Iodine. Cod e.g. contains app. 110 mcg iodine / 100 gr.
So I find it very unlikely that the Japanese get those doses. I think it is strange, that the Iodine doctors keep saying it.
I think I will be taking app. what the Japanese get long term. I see people in iodine groups taking large amounts, 50 to 100 mg a day for years. Some as much as 400 mg! I think that is a big experiment. It could prove very unhealthy. For one thing, it is a strain on the kidneys, filtering all that iodine out. Some people think, if a little is good, more must be even better. No, more is not always better. Be careful, use your head.
My experiences
It varies very much, on what doses people start. Many do like me, and start on 1 drop 2%, i.e. 2,5 mg. If one has Hashimotos or Graves, one is usually a little cautious. I did not throw myself into it, at least. But if you have a thyroid still, smaller doses are safer to start with. See my post Iodine for beginners
The first thing I did, besides reading and watching Dr. Brownstein and Dr. Flechas on You Tube, was to test my thyroid levels and take an iodine loading test. Before I took my first drop of iodine. This is my testresult:
The spot test is the morning urine. A sample of that goes into a separate vial. After that, one collects the urine from 24 hours, take a sample and ship it. I believe only Biochorence.eu do these tests in Europe, https://www.biocoherence.eu/en/ . They ship the tests to Hakala labs. so it takes a few weeks. If you live in the US, you have Hakala as well as some other labs doing this test.
One can do an ordinary 24 hours urine test as well. The Iodine loading test is costly, at least here in Europe. In Norway one can have 24 hours urine test for free in the public health care system. In Denmark we cannot have that done. An ordinary serum blood test for iodine is no good according to the iodine doctors. But for people in Denmark and Sweden and other countries in Europe, we can find iodine test online. One place is Medivere
I was quite surprised that I wasn’t more deficient. 81% is not bad. Many have 40 or 50. I haven’t taken any supplements containing iodine since 2006. But I do have lots of symptoms of iodine deficiency. My skin on my body is very dry, it was scaly even; before I started on the Protocol. I have very little eyebrows left, particularly on the outer edge. I don’t hardly sweat. And then there is my hypothyroidism.
Some claim, one cannot really be sure of that iodine percentage if there is bromide and fluoride in the body. I don’t know about that. I haven’t seen it mentioned in the iodine books.
But I have later realized, that this first test didn’t show my actual levels. See more below, under test 2.
I became very, very tired when I first started iodine. When I first took 25 mg, I became so tired, I just had to lie down. People in the iodine groups said it must be detox. But I felt it was something more than that. I have had plenty of detox tiredness in my life. Others said it is an adrenal issue. That could be it. I reduced my dose. I actually use a pendulum to determine my daily dose. I am not sure I always trust the pendulum. But it has been a great help with the Iodine.
Note! One can get a lot of sensations around the thyroid in the beginning. That is very normal. It is believed, the thyroid soaks up iodine now it is available. Some can even see and feel it swell up. I have, as mentioned, only 10 % of my thyroid left. Even so, I could feel it for the first few weeks. If you are not hyper or hypo, and feeling otherwise ok, I would not worry about it.
For a couple of months, the pendulum said to take 1 drop, 2 drops, up to 6 drops a day. Some days nothing. The tiredness went away. After 2 months of that, it suddenly said 20 drops, i.e. 50 mg. And now I have been on that dose for several weeks with no issues. I have more energy most days than I have had in years. It’s difficult to define. It’s like I have more strength in the spine. I really miss it if I forget to take my dose, and leave the house “Iodine free”. I just realized, I need to keep some Ioderals in the car, ha ha.
I don’t think I will go beyond 50 mg. But I will update as I go along. You will find updates at the bottom of this post. Now in late June 2020, I have decreased my dose to 25 mg. I felt it was a little hard on the kidneys. I have read in the thyroid groups, people can get kidney issues. I would be careful if I had weak kidneys. Not take very large doses.
But you will go through detox. In the US, they have a lot of bromide in the body. Dr. B describes patients with bromide of 20. It’s a lot of talk of bromide detox in the iodine groups. One becomes tired, gets headaches, can get a red rash called Cherry angioma. It’s apparently a little more difficult to detox fluoride. One can get headaches, get palpitations and get agitated. I have actually felt a bit like that lately, minus the headache.
I don’t follow the Protocol to the T. I don’t take as much as 1000 mg B3 and 300 mg B3. You need to start lower at least. I would take 250 mg Niacin the first evening. Taking at night is a good thing in case of a Niacin flush. I got one of those in the beginning. I didn’t know anything about that, and got quite worried by the sudden, red itchy rash. I called , not 911, but in our Public healthcare system, one can call Emergency Medical Help, and talk to doctors and nurses for free at all hours. But it is not dangerous, and it passes in 30 minutes time. But uncomfortable. That is why I take 500 mg, and not 1000. It’s individual how much one flushes, and besides, you need to buy the no-flush kind. You might still flush. Your urine goes very yellow from Niacin, so don’t worry about that.
What these ATP cofactors do, besides enhancing the iodine uptake, is give you energy. I take 500 mg Niacin at night and 100 mg B2 x 2 throughout the day.
I take about 3000 mg vit C. I do a powder, so don’t know exactly. I get a lot of acid from vit C. But this one is ok for me, link to Ester-C powder . Remember, I never make anything on products or services I recommend. It’s only in order to help.
NB! Ferritin can go down when you do high dose iodine. So keep an eye on that.
I already use a lot of celtic salt in my diet. So I haven’t added anything more. I have done the salt loading procedure several times. I have never had the copious urination they talk about. The salt loading is supposed to push bromide out of the body. You do it when you feel tired and headachy, detoxing. I have felt it helps even without the urinating. But could be I don’t do it the right way.
Conclusion
I think high dose iodine is something you intuitively feel whether you should do or not. I saw people write about it in some US groups, and I felt interested immediately. I felt the same with the LDN. When I get that feeling, I go for it. I feel. iodine is good for me. I feel stronger, most of all. My dry skin is much better. I am sweating a little again.
If you feel the same way, I think you should try it. But do your homework. Don’t start until you feel ready. Good luck!
As you can see, I am not happy about my 1 year test result. Very disappointed. My iodine saturation had gone down to 65% from 81%, and my bromide had increased! OMG!
Turns out my first test was what they call a false positive. That my body could not absorb iodine properly, and it just went right through. That’s why many don’t test until they have been on the Protocol for a while. I am still glad I took the test before starting though. I needed to know my fluoride level. And that is the only upside, that at least has gone down somewhat. And fluoride is apparently the hardest to get rid of.
I think maybe the increase in bromide is due to a new sofa and curtains.
It’s quite depressing. And it says my NIS system is faulty. That would have been no surprise on the first test, but why is it poorer now than before I started? It also says further down, that my fluoride intake is too great. But I didn’t use fluoride toothpaste in that year between the two tests. I don’t know where I would have gotten it from.
My creatinine level has also increased, indicating that my kidneys are overworked. I have gone down on my iodine dose. I can feel my kidney, the right one. I had started taking only 500 to 1000 mcg Nascent Iodine.
But revising this post now in December 21, I am going to increase till 3 to 4 mg. As I now have read studies indicating, that it is first at 1 mg of molecular iodine that it has a real anti oxidant function. And 3 mg of molecular iodine that you see the anti cancer effects. I have more on this in my nerds post.
Lugol’s contains 2/3 iodide and 1/3 molecular iodine.
How do I feel?
This may sound pretty grim. But when all is said and done, I am feeling much better for taking iodine. I feel stronger, stronger in my spine. I was puzzled by this feeling in my upper back when I started out. Until I read, we have NIS, symporters in the upper part of the spine. Iodine is important for the spinal fluid. My skin is MUCH better. It was scaly before. My nails are better. My eyes are less dry. I don’t know if you know, but the tiny glands in the eyes secreting the tear film need iodine. So do the glands in the stomach secreting stomach acid.
I will take a Hakala test again probably. It’s very expensive here in Europe. I will update as I go along.
Update 13 october 2021
I am no longer on high dose iodine, I take between 3 and 5 mg now. I felt the large doses weren’t good for my kidneys. I am 64, my kidneys are 64. It doesn’t feel natural for me to take these supranatural doses for years and years. I love iodine, don’t get me wrong. I feel so much better for taking it. So much better.
I am more cautious with high doses for those of you who have a thyroid still. All thyroid antibodies are produced inside the gland itself. So it you don’t have much thyroid tissue left, you don’t need to worry about THAT at least. But if you have thyroid tissue, your antibodies might increase and iodine might also reduce your thyroid levels. I have seen people in the iodine groups damaging themselves with high doses. And I have seen many healing themselves with it.
I didn’t take the large doses of niacin either. I could take another flush. I flush at 100 mg, I cannot tolerate more than 50 mg. But I can take nicotinamide, and I take 1500 mg of/day. I don’t know if it works as well as niacin, but it’s the best I can do. Plus 1500 mg of nicotinamide has been shown in studies to alleviate fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
I will always just relate what I do myself, and studies that I read and knowledge that I gain. I only want to help others make more informed decisions for themselves. We are all different.
Warning:
I want to warn against this site. I bought from them, but nothing was shipped. They did not reply to emails or chat. It was first when I had reported it to my bank as fraud, that I got a shipping notice. That was many weeks after ordering. I did get my products, but don’t think I would have if it wasn’t for the fact that I reported it.
Iodine resources
Dr. Brownstein’s site, https://www.drbrownstein.com/
Lots of studies by G.E. Abraham, https://www.optimox.com/iodine-research
Great info on iodine and related topics on Hakala labs, plus the Iodine loading test, https://www.hakalalabs.com/
The iodine loading test here in Europe, https://www.biocoherence.eu/en/shop/
My own post with a lot of studies on iodine Iodine for nerds
Hi Why did you change from Lugol’s to Nascent iodine?
Hi!
I had some Nanscent iodine from before. I started taking it, and my fingernails grew much stronger. Iodine hadn’t helped so far, even though my dry skin was greatly improved. I believed it to be the Nanscent, so I bought 2 bottles of one that was much stronger. I have later realized, it was a new nail oil from Herome that had done the trick. I understood this when I ran dry , and the brittle nails returned.
I guess what you are asking, is Nanscent better than Lugol’s? I don’t think so. I have searched high and low for any science on it. And I have found a couple of studies, with good results for Nanscent. But I find the results kind of weak, and I will definitely not say, Nanscent is better. What I do think is important, is to get enough molecular iodine. Lugol’s contains 40% molecular; I2. Nanscent will also partly turn into molecular in the body. Molecular iodine is two iodine atoms combining together. The free floating iodine atoms in Nanscent will at some point bind to each other.
There are a lot of studies on how molecular iodine has much greater antioxidant properties than iodide. You can read about that here, Iodine for nerds
All the best, Liv
Hej Liv
Vil du mon anbefale mig at tage jod, når jeg har lavt stofskifte men ingen antistoffer for Hashimotos?
Jeg har 2 gange fået lavet en enkelte urintest for jod. Resultatet for 1. måling var højt og næste måling lavt. Min stofskiftelæge mener ikke, jeg behøver tage jod. Han er ellers en af de gode stofskiftelæger, der ved hvordan man behandler lavt stofskifte, så stoler normalt på ham, men han har da taget fejl med andre ting, – så jeg er lidt i tvivl her.
Jeg får Thyroid – kan ikke konvertere Levothyroxin medicin.
Min TSH er supprimeret som følge af Thyroid, – min frit t3 og frit t4 ligger højt i referenceområdet, – frit t3 nogle gange lidt over.
Jeg har en bekendt, der har haft glæde af at tage jod og selen og spise kost efter AIP.
Hun har næsten sluppet sin thyroid medicin efter 2 år.
Det er jeg interesseret i at prøve, men jeg er lidt usikker på det med at indtage jod.
Hvad vil du evt. anbefale mig at overveje?
Tag fordi du deler din erfaring og viden her på din fantastiske blog
De bedste hilsner
Hej Vinni!
Jeg kan ikke direkte anbefale andre hvad de skal tage. Men veldigt mange i DK lider af jodmangel, og da i sær os med lavt stofskifte. Læger ved meget lidt om jod, selv de gode. De eneste læger jeg kender til der behandler med jod her i Skandinavien, er Greendoctors i Oslo. Der er også andre i Norge, norske stofskiftepatienter tager mer og mer jod. Du bør lese Jod for begynnere. Der finder du mange konkrete tips, og hvad du skal være forsigtig med når du fremdeles har en kirtel. Du kan trygt tage jod, men følg det jeg skriver der. Over tid må du gerne øge til mindst 1 mg jod. Man skal op i lidt højere doser for at få den fulde antioksidante nytte af jod. Men det kan være øgning over lang tid.
Jeg kan ikke sige så meget om dit stofskifte, siden du ikke oppgiver referencene. Nogle labs her i DK har jo latterligt lave referencer. Det bekymrer meg lidt, at din FT4 er så høj. Den bør ikke ligge over midt i reference når man tager T4/T3. Det betyder nok, at du omdanner meget lidt. Det vil nok ikke jod endre på. Jod kan få en kirtel til at producere hormon igen. Den producerer både T4 og T3, men mest T4. Så det er ikke sikkert, at du kan stoppe med medicin selv om din kirtel skulde begynde at producere igen. Din FT3 vil måske være for lav. Men du trenger uanset jod. Jeg har knapt kirtel, men tager jod hver dag. Og har det meget bedre. Men det vil du finde ud af.
Jeg synes du skulde tale med lægen om du måske skulde gå lidt ned på thyroid, og tage lidt Lio ved siden af. Glostrup er også en mulighed, da den indeholder meget mindre T4 end de andre thyroid. Mange i USA tager thyroid med lidt syntetisk T3 nu.
Jeg håber dette var til hjælp.
Blessings, Liv
What is the pendulum? Awesome blog post! Curious to hear how you’re doing!
Hi AJ!
Thank you for your comment. A pendulum is any kind of heavy object on a string, that one uses to get a no or yes as to what the body needs. A kind of kinesiology. I feel it has worked for me regarding dosing.
I will make an update on how I am doing in 4 weeks time. I just took another urine test this week. I sent it to Holland, and they will send it to Hakala in the US. So it takes time. I have recently come down from 25 mg to a small dose, 500 mcg. I felt my kidneys were getting tired, and my creatinine had gone up. I am very interested to see my new test results, and will post them on the post as an update.
It was a good thing you commented, because it reminded me to add this new piece of vital information to the post: all thyroid antibodies are produced by B lymphocytes INSIDE the thyroid. so if you have little or no thyroid, there is no need to worry about antibodies on Iodine. I will come with an in-depth post on antibodies soon. So stay tuned I will send it out in my newsletter. At same later date, I will also add a post on smaller doses of Iodine, 300 to 800 mcg. With lots of science. Large dose iodine is not for everybody, and smaller doses can also be helpful.
Blessings, Liv
Hi Liv,
Do you have an update on how you are doing? Are you still doing the 500 mcg doses or are you back again on higher doses?
Many thanks, and this was a very interesting read!
Hi J!
The update on the post is fairly recent. I have been taking 1 mg nancent iodine for a while, and have now bought one that contains app 2 mg/drop. I will be taking one or two drops of that. I am just now working on a new iodine post, one for nerds. There is a lot of science going on on iodine, and I will refer to a lot of studies on this post. There will be info on how iodine(I2) is a much stronger antioxidant than iodide. On whether iodine is converted to iodide in the gut, and much more. I will also refer to scientists saying, that we need at least 1 mg molecular iodine(I2) to reap the antioxidant benefits. For anticancer effects, they say, minimum 3 mg.
I find it quite complicated, honestly. So it takes time. If you want to be notified when it is published, please sign up for my newsletter. Or check back in in a few weeks.
Blessings, Liv
Hi Liv,
Can you please explain the pendulum a bit more for your dosage? I did not understand.
Hi James!
Maybe I should delete that info, it’s probably a foreign concept for many people. It’s kineosiology, if you have heard about that. It’s kind of asking the body what it needs. Many place great confidence in it, which I don’t. But I use it from time to time, and it did help me with iodine supplementing.
One asks the pendelum if one needs something, and how much. I am sure you can find directions online. I was becoming sooo tired with the large doses of iodine, but after I started using the pendulum every day for my dosage. I didn’t get tired anymore. And was able to work my way slowly up to 25 mg. Today I take 5 mg and have done for months.
I don’t know if this clarified.
All the best, Liv
Hei
Jeg har Struma og Hashimoto og ble nettopp fortalt av en lege på sykehuset, at jod ville gjøre min Hashimoto verre og anbefalte meg å ikke ta det. Men når jeg leser her om hva du skriver, så har jeg og det akkurat som du beskriver. Veldig trøtt på dagtid, mistet begge øyebryn, veldig tørr hud på kroppen m.m. Jeg føler at dette kunne absolutt være noe for meg å prøve, men hvordan går jeg frem ? Jeg får mye bivirkninger på Levaxin, så jeg har byttet til Euthyrox og det går bedre.
Hei Britt!
Min blogg er på to språk, norsk og engelsk. Du må være kommet over på den engelske. Jeg kan ikke få gitt deg et ordentlig svar uten å se noen blodprøvesvar. for du kan jo også være underdosert, eller ha for lavt FT3. Hvis du går inn under “Kontakt” og ser hva jeg trenger, og så sender en mail til den mailadressen som står der. Så vil jeg gjerne få lov til å poste ditt spm med mitt svar under “Spørsmål og svar” i anonymisert form. Dekk over personlige opplysninger på prøvesvar. Du får kopi av prøvesvar hos legen. Jeg kommer så til å slette denne kommentaren. Dette er et spm som mange kan ha interesse av. Du vil få mye bedre hjelp på denne måten.
Kjærlig hilsen Liv
P.S. I missed the part where you mentioned you’re taking iodine yourself. How & why did you start, what protocol did you follow? What have you observed in your condition?
Hi CI Hinke
Did you read the whole post? I believe I have included this info under “My experiences”. I have come to love Iodine. I feel stronger, a sense of something upright in the spine. At the moment I take 50 mg and don’t think I will increase. My Anti tpo had gone down 38>35, as compared to 389>100 before upstart. Now they have come up to 50. I will keep an eye on them. I hope this answers your question. Blessings Liv
Dear Liv, Great new blog & interesting to see you lead off with iodine.
I myself went from Graves’ treated with titrated RAI (therefore, the gland only partially oblated). After 12 years I was treated for Hashimoto’s by a thyroid legend, Dr. David Derry in Victoria BC Canada. He was a big proponent of iodine but a drop of Lugol’s each day made me feel much worse.
I think that may be true for others. Iodine mat make you feel worse–maybe much worse–before you feel better.
I’ve been scraping bottom for most than two years, trying to adjust T3-only and CT3M. Iodine was one consideration. But I didn’t, as I recalled my past bad experience.
I’d be very interested in knowing about thyroid sufferers who are using big doses of iodine rather than the experiences of those with so many other maladies in the iodine group. Their protocols and timelines would be most helpful to the rest of us.
Thank you for the great info, Liv!
Hi again
Thank you for your kind words. If I had TRAb and or Anti tpo antibodies, I would test them often when starting Iodine. If you test often, nothing bad can really happen. As you will nip it in the bud. Many don’t do that. My antibidies have come down. But so has my Ft3, and I have increased my NDT dose. But I have only app 10% left of my thyroid. You might start producing a little, or much, yourself. I like the Iodine group I recommend under. But Brian always recommends the STTM loyal Facebook group. Which I don’t like that much. I would advice you to start by watching Dr Brownstein and Dr Flechas on YouTube. And not start until you feel comfortable, or almost comfortable. And if you can afford it, do the Iodine loading test. Selenium MUST be tested. You might be able to get the RBC test over there, red blood cell test. If you can afford it, I believe Dr Brownstein’s clinic do online counseling. But expensive. And please make sure you are optimal on your thyroid levels. Read my post on it. You are welcome to ask me about them. Read under “Contact”. All the best, Liv