Iodine

Iodine a Supplement That Reveals Much About Our Minds & Bodies

First let me lay down a few disclaimers & warnings:

1.)    I am NOT a Dr., expert or scientist. All and any decisions you make with this information are strictly and completely your exclusive responsibility. With that aside, I do hope you find this information helpful and utilize it wisely.

2.)    I would really caution people reading this post to invest some time into researching iodine supplementation with your own googling and such along with all the resources I have listed on the subject. Adverse reactions can happen so please inform yourself and know your own health before starting any of this. While there is no doubt that many people see benefits from this, it is important to keep in mind that you are tampering with your thyroid and if you are not careful you may end up causing an issue.

3.)    This article is mostly referencing Lugol’s Iodine (no-affiliation) due to it being the superior choice as an iodine source for many reasons.

Simplest Iodine “Stack”

·         Lugol’s Iodine 150mcg+ to 10mg (find your optimal dose)

·         L-Selenium 200mg to 600mg MAX 200-400mg is advised

Optional but Strongly Suggested

·         Vitamin C

·         Mixed Vitamin E

·         Magnesium (Citrate is my choive also see MAGTECH)

·         Remove as much Bromine from diet as possible.

·         Pink SALT Loading; 1tsp+

·         Boron; Helps para thyroid, increased testosterone, increased alpha brainwaves & aids in removing fluoride.

Mileage May & Will Very

This blog post will not be overly detailed or drawn out. Reason being, it is a complex topic and divided into many groups of people supporting one regime over another. Below is a summery of what I find relevant and worth mentioning with my experience with Iodine supplementation to better understand the Element and to help show how this may greatly benefit others. And yes I am a bit biased towered doses of iodine in the 500mcg to 10mg. Though this is based off my experience and where I feel this supplement best suits what I need of it, as well as many others find suitable for most.

Iodine can be very individualistic. Some people can achieve the same benefits at lower doses that others require higher ones. Many argue on the safety of higher doses. However, I argue based on much of the compounding research, that shows this not to be the case. I will go ahead and let the rest of the article relay what need to be said. Just realize this is my analysis and mileage may and will very. Hopefully a few commons and starting points can be derived of this to help people approach this supplement with optimal chances for success.

A topic that has much controversy, Iodine supplementation. Why is this and how much iodine should you be taking?

Well that is a tricky question to answer. Dosing depends on whom you ask and what studies you are going off. It can be anywhere from 150mcg to, 1mg, 10mg, 30mg, 50mg and 100mg (not advised to go over 30mg less you know what you are doing; read further). Myself I tend to stick to 8-10mg and occasionally go higher if I am sick (rarely) or in the winter (cold intolerance). It took me a bit to find this optimal dose for myself and a lot of reading online. There are positives and negatives to this supplement with many of the negatives not being an issue between the body and iodine but the crap and toxins that are in the mix that create a bit of chaos.

Humans have in the past consumed what would be high amounts of iodine with no ill effects that today would lead effects that would make it appear to be a toxin or have a terrible u-dose curve. Why this is and what has changed that we can no longer stand this nutrient at its arguably best-benefited dosage range? The simple answer is diet. Our diet has changed drastically from that of just a few short decades ago. A large part of this change constitutes of regularly consuming, knowingly so, toxins, and chemicals that are known to wreak havoc on our bodies and life expectancies’. A few of these, in context with iodine supplementation, are fluoride, bromine and chloride. Notice that theses share the same periodic column as Iodine*. Over time as theses, toxins have been introduced as a staple of a diet the side effects with them have become the norm of how we should “feel”. It is normal to feel sluggish, lazy and lack motivation. Moreover, it is normal to seek medication to fix (even coffee) theses imbalances and symptoms instead of addressing diet and optimizing it best to suit our bodily needs as biological beings. Similar how we fight the symptoms of aging vs aging its self. We overcome one issue like heart disease just to face another, say Alzheimer’s. It is a rather silly way to approach issues but that is medicine. So this article is over how one can bypass or overcome these imposed limitations surrounding iodine supplementation. Now the relations are a little complex but the solutions are pretty straight forward.

[Iodine]*: How the law of displacement works: Fluorine always displaces chlorine, bromine, and iodine. Chlorine displaces bromine, and iodine. Bromine displaces iodine. A reverse order is not possible!

Now if were to say just to jump in and start ingesting doses of iodine in the 5-20mg range most are gonna notice a spectrum of things many positive and some negative.

Many of the noted benefits are as fallows.

o   Increased Energy

o   Deeper Sounder Sleep

o   Dream Improvement/Vivid and Improved Recall

o   More motivation

o   Improved Hearing

o   Improved Tolerance to Cold (common with Hypothyroidism){I had this pretty bad myself}

o   Weight Loss; Boot in Metabolism

o   Improved Metabolism

o   Healthier & More radiant, Glowing Skin

o   Lowering or Vanishing of Hypothyroidism Symptoms

o   Lowered Anxiety

o   Aids Sessional Depression Greatly

o   Among others…

A Bit of What to Expect

·         Much of the effects both positive and negative have to deal with one’s current thyroid health plus average existing intake of iodine & nutrition. This will vary widely for individuals. Also regions and country’s seem to have trends to reactions due largely to existing diets/iodine present. This “common” experience is more of an example than anything.

·         Commonly one will take a dose of iodine higher than 500mcg-800mcg to boost the benefits of Iodine supplementation if already started at lower doses or even starting at 1mg+ doses off the bat. Around this point negative effects began to be seen in many individuals.

·         One of the big side effects and obviously visible to the persons is facial acne. Recall law of displacement above; bromine fights for absorption with iodine. With the changing balance, more bromine is left unabsorbed into cells and needs to be displeased from the body. Two popular places to get rid of bromine is the skin and urine.

·         Many people experience many of these positive effects above, with no ill effects, at doses ranging from 150mcg to 800mcg. Around this point bromine, detox starts to kick in… more on this.

o   Yes some acne can be related to bromine in one’s diet even without supplanting of iodine.

·         Tiredness, soreness along with others symptoms are commonly noted. Typically, symptoms of acute bromism and hypothyroidism are seen. These symptoms dissipate after a few days 2-3 commonly. Moreover, these are not just in response to bromine flushing out of the body but other chemicals and heavy metals (lead and mercury as well! See sources in the description below) that iodine kicks out of the body but first out of cells/tissue and into the blood stream.

·         Facial acne, usually stays a while longer with continued dosing of iodine. It could take up to a year for it to clear fully but there are solutions. To help solve this issue Salt Loading is recommend as well as elimination as much bromine as possible from your diet. If you know what to do you can avoid or negate nearly all the negative effects.

·          

Detox

A lot of people back up the dosing or discontinue with the acne symptoms usually seen at higher and benefit maximizing doses’. What is happening? Bromides are known to cause acne as mentioned above. Its everywhere in our diets and products now a days;  fire retardant, hair dye, disinfectant in pools, brominated vegetable oil, brominated bread, etc. In addition, fluorides; toothpaste, disinfectant in pools, fluoridated water, old tealeaves and these compete for absorption by the thyroid gland with iodide hence the detox symptoms when you dump all the bromide into the bloodstream. Plus the bromine your taking with your iodine from diet and environment is not absorbing as well and is staying in the bloodstream and taking up house where it can primarily the skin which holds a lot of iodine (mass of the organ).

A Suggestion from renfr over on LongeCity: “I suggest reading about medical iodophobia and The Wolff-Chaikoff Effect: The Crying Wolf, it is very interesting to see that what was considered as a miracle nutrient decades ago is now rejected massively by the medical community. Once upon a time we were used extremely high iodine doses with no adverse effects, of course today we have to be careful using high doses because most of our bodies are so intoxicated with halides that this would cause a deadly detox.” Link to Wikipedia

Salt Loading to the Rescue?

Salt loading is a practice that many turn to, to help negate/alleviate the negative symptoms of iodine supplementation; or what I should say is the detox brought on by the supplementation of iodine. Basically taking a teaspoon or more worth of salt and yes the type of salt does matter, with your dose of iodine. Moreover, it works wonders for what would appear to be nearly all who try it; correctly that is to say. And it is worth mentioning here that salt loading alone is known to have nootropic benefits. Often used for adrenal fatigue and I have for one used it to much success when I have had this issue. Back to topic…

To best explain why it works we look at the argument against it. The argument is this: Salt loading inhibits the absorption of iodine: FLUORIDE>CHLORIDE>BROMIDE>IODINE in terms of competition for absorption. This is why it salt/saline is used to push out the bromide in some cases because it is better in its absorption over bromide. Chloride will also flush out iodine and inhibit its absorption in turn. This is the principle that provides much of the reasoning to believe that salt loading blocks the absorption of iodine. Thus it should be counterproductive to take it along with iodine. “You’re taking more iodine to see an increased benefit to just have it blocked by salt do avoid bromine detox symptoms”. I have to disagree based on what we have seen experienced by people trying salt loading with high doses of iodine.

The noted benefits of higher doses of iodine are still very much there with salt loading, there is not pull back of increased benefits as you would expect to see. The only difference is this, many of the negatives are negated or decreased significantly so, primarily the acne and detox symptoms. Obviously, something is happening that disrupts the argument against it use. It may block the absorption of iodine to degree but that more of bromine. Which would make you think yet more bromine would be pushed from the cells and into the blood stream thus worsening symptoms, not the case it would appear. These quotes should help make sense of what may be happening:

•    “…. skin rashes cleared up with salt loading which makes the kidney prioritize bromide for excretion. This is actually standard procedure by the US military in case of acute (meaning it is in the blood) bromide intoxication. The symptoms of iodine and bromide intoxication, at least when it comes to the skin, are identical.” BioFreak So more Bromine is expelled through urine versus the skin with slat loading.

·         "Additional treatment of bromide toxicity has traditionally involved saline loading (administration of large quantities of sodium chloride in water, typically by vein), which enhances kidney excretion of bromide. The chloride ion from sodium chloride competes with and replaces the bromide ion throughout the body. While the usual half-life of bromide (the time for half the body's complement of bromide to be eliminated) is 12 to 14 days (Horowitz, 1997), a half-life of 65 hours has been calculated with saline loading." BioFreak

A few articles on Iodine on the History for Skin Diseases etc.: A thanks to BioFreak for digging these up!

Use of potassium iodide in dermatology:updates on an old drug, 2013:
http://www.ncbi.nlm....les/PMC3754371/
Iodine history from 1811-1961 (This one is entertaining as well)
http://www.ncbi.nlm....les/PMC1869599/
A look at iodine-induced hyperthyroidism: Recognition.:
http://www.ncbi.nlm....les/PMC1749581/

Notes

·                                “One thing that must be avoided is ORGANIC IODINE (not organic as "natural" but organic in the scientific sense) such as amiodarone which is toxic to the thyroid. Only inorganic forms should be taken such as iodine, SSKi (potassium iodide) or kelp. Kelp is a bit controversial because it might be contaminated with bromide.” renfr

·                                 Potassium Iodine is preferred to elemental iodine. Reason being that elemental will rip off an ion of the first thing it meets. Which is why it is such a good germicide and used in the medical industry. Lugol’s iodine has a mixture of Potassium and elemental but this can be solved relatively easily. Adding a little bit of vitamin C powder to the mix or even a drink with Vitamin C such as orange juice will provide the elemental iodine the ion it needs. Plus Lugol’s is cheaper than products with strictly Potassium Iodine which are often in pill form whereas iodine is a liquid form and requires only drop(s) of the solution.

L-Selenium a MUST Co-Nutrient!!!!

Simply put one “MUST” take Selenium with Iodine supplementation. You really do not “have to” and many do not, but it is strongly advised. L-Selenium is needed chemically to support and potently stop iodine from causing AUTOTHYROID DISEASE! They are like co-nutrients they should be taken together. Check out the links below to learn more on this matter. I cannot push this heavily enough. Yeah if say every now and then you failed to take them together you probably won’t have any issues but if you constantly fail or never to from the get-go then there is a chance for trouble down the road. Not to mention reversing things is a lot harder than just getting it right the first time and there is no reasons you shouldn’t. It is a supper cheap supplement and readily available. You can also get it from food sources of course but make sure they are clean sources and you’re not putting crap back in that your trying to remove. Also max dose should not exceed 600mg.

Dangers

There are possible dangers to everything and this includes iodine supplementation. Most of these concerns are aimed towards persons with preexisting conditions usually concerning the thyroid gland.

Just a note: one should always consult with a Physician when supplementation is concerned. Preferably, a Nutritionals/someone with a PHD who knows more than someone who hands out permissions slips for meds. I only say this because most of your clinic doctors are not going to be well versed concerning the Thyroid gland. Who knows you may go in to talk about iodine and walk out with a script for a med to treat anxiety. In the description there is a link to Thyroid Heath with Dave Asprey & Dr. Alan Christianson. Someone well versed and specializing in thyroid health aka someone who knows what they are talking about. Not trying to over promote this podcast but it is just strictly awesome XD. Its what got me thinking of my thyroid and how it impacts my day to day life.

A quote worth mentioning

renfr  “The reason why iodine increases TSH is because TSH isn't necessarily a factor of thyroid hormone deficiency, TSH can also be stimulated for the sole reason of stimulating NIS receptors (Sodium iodide symporters) which helps transport more iodine. Usually this will last for several months and then the TSH will go down. This is exactly what happened with me, my TSH shoot up but my T4 are on the high side and I feel great. "Modern" medicine has an irrational fear of iodine and they diagnose your thyroid function just based upon your TSH levels which is ridiculous and if you don't have the proper levels then you get prescribed thyroid hormones which do more harm than good.”

My Experience with Iodine

Myself I started taking iodine due to others reports of its benefits. It is not some magical miracle, no pun intend Siro, but it has defiantly changed my life for the better and has done so for many others. I feel, look and think better with no ill effects, minus the bromine detox at the beginning of course until I sought out the remedies. If you want to do more living in life I strongly suggest you go ahead and give iodine a try. Nevertheless, do please educate yourself on the matter and be safe. Do not just rely on my words. Anything can be dangerous when not wielded in the correct manor. My advice start with 500-800mcg and move on from there. Also removing bromine and fluoride from your diet as much as possible. Most should not have to go above 10mg a day to feel the greatest benefits. One should never go over 30mg as a daily dose unless you KNOW what you are doing, like when your sick (more on that below; Very high doses could lead to irreversible blindness ((look at “fact” #12) And ALWAYS Supplement alongside SELENIUM!!!

A protocol might look like this:

          8mg of Iodine (treated with vitamin C)

          200mg of Selenium

          2tps of  High Quaintly Himalayan Pink Salt (Which is the type I suggest)

          Boron, Zink & Magnesium can also be great additions to this “stack of sorts”

Here is a quote from BioFreak that sums up a lot of this article and I could not have said it better. forum topic

“It is not surprising that science may have gone the wrong way with iodine. Think about it: iodine without selenium may induce autothyroid diseases in some (So by lack of understanding, iodine made people sick). Iodine removes halides and heavy metals from the cells into the blood stream. Again, this looks like iodine makes people sick. While it is in fact the first step to detoxing toxic stuff from the body): The standard TSH test does not reliably say what the thyroid is doing, but it is used all over the literature, and iodine elevates TSH, indicating hypothyroid. The downfall of iodine as a medicine came from biased people who synthesized t3 or t4 and wanted to promote their way. And iodine was more or less the last medicine that was based on an element. People at that time had a bad feeling about a type of stuff, because at one time, bromide, and other toxic elements were actually used as medicine (You could talk about a elementophobia... another example? sodium. Evidence for high dose sodium increasing disease is far from conclusive, while there is now evidence that the opposite is true, within limits of course). So all of that caused a lot of confusion with iodine. Are you surprised? I am not. I am not saying that one side is entirely right or wrong. What I am saying is that this is a case of complicated relationships that led to the wrong conclusions in the 60ties.”

Sources & More Information

This forum Topic, below, on LongeCity has a lot of Information gathered on it from around the web on Iodine supplementation and is referenced a lot in this article. http://www.longecity.org/forum/topic/67063-iodine-is-magical-miracle-most-underrated-supplement/

There are many other recourses and Discussions around the web such as the Yahoo group for Iodine and I do suggest that you check them out. For me I Love how the discussion with this forum topic develops and how much is hashed out and both sides of the issue, well many of the sides anyway, leaving you to decide what risks are best to be taken for you. Myself I found the risk of iodine worth it and it has paid off handsomely.

A Few Studies – 

·         They show for example that subjects with high iodine intake had increased urinary excretion of bromine, fluoride etc. (http://www.optimox.c...esearch_I.shtml).

·         (potassium) Iodide was known to "redissolving and eliminating lead from the system":
http://www.ncbi.nlm....les/PMC2260583/

·         "In the adult, 1,500 mg of iodine was retained at sufficiency, 41 an amount 50 times higher than the amount of total body iodine reported in medical textbooks. We have confirmed38 the observation of our medical predecessors46 that iodine detoxifies the body from the heavy metals lead and mercury."
http://www.optimox.c...D-16/PUB_16.htm

·         Describes low clearance rate of bromide, salt loading and other strategies to reduce bromide levels in the blood, symptoms, causes, low level bromism, etc...
http://www.gulflink....8.2.chap10.html

·         A few articles dug up by BioFreak (click name for the source) concerning evidence from Bromism still being possible.

·         Brazil nuts contain 87 mg/kg dry weight.

·         Part One: Very good article about Hashimoto and high dose iodine:
http://perfecthealth...oiditis-part-i/

·         Part One: Can selenium prevent autoimmune disorders of the thyroid?
http://perfecthealth...oiditis-part-2/

·         HERE is one of the best books on Iodine and the post HERE by BioFreak who dug it up with other informative info on the post check it out. (may want to use google Chrome so the text can be converted to English)

·         An article that helps us understand why some persons have almost psychedelic experiences like, whole body tingling/warmth sensation, shivers, VERY high energy, rushes of memories and just a general feeling of being awakened, when starting iodine. Many of the symptoms are characteristic of hypomania. “Hypothyroidism leads to increased dopamine receptor sensitivity and concentration"
http://www.ncbi.nlm..../pubmed/3090565