News you won't see in controlled mainstream media.

I've been given lugol's iodine by my doctor for low thyroid function. Each time I have tried this (just 4 drops), I have coincidentally gotten a reaction. I feel hyped up, nervous, heart palpitations.

I stopped for about a week or more and then just tried it again yesterday and same thing happened. It carried on through to today and what I also noticed was metal taste, feelings of wanting to cry (similar when I used to get mercury detox). I can FEEL the metals. I had a recent exposure to mercury from being in a dental office (note, I do not have amalgams, was in for composite replacement with ceramic). I do not excrete toxins properly, I hold them in, which is why I STAY sick.

I am wondering whether either my iodine was in excess (as it was also in a supplement Im taking daily), OR it has somehow shifted metals around. This is not die off. I know what die off feels like and if anything my yeast is an ongoing battle. But I can literally feel metals trying to force their way out.

This has only been happening since these dental visits.....so I feel it is related to mercury. I've been ill anyway with infections, low immunity and have struggled yeast because of that, but the symptoms were nothing like this.

So I don't know what's up. But I'm guessing it's combination of iodine stirring metals, plus possibly being a wee bit in excess of what my body can handle right now...not sure which.

Here is a link you guys might find of interest.
http://www.alkalizeforhealth.net/Liodine2.htm

I’ve wanted to read about iodine and chelation….thanks for the link.

You may look into the thyroid/adrenal connection for this. When you improve your thyroid function, you affect your adrenal function as well. Mercury definitely affects the adrenals, so if you make them function better due to the increased thyroid hormone, you may notice a difference in how you feel. That's how I discovered amalgam illness was in looking up info on adrenal fatigue.

Interesting stuff……herewith a few highlights..


and

Hi Bex, thanks for the link. I have had the same probs with iodine in the past but now i can take 8 drops with no probs.
Maybe lower it to 2 drops for a few weeks because if you are getting that reaction your taking too much.
That site you mentioned is very informative, we all need iodine, plus as it says mercury and other heavy metals are always with us and always will be in our life time so really if everyone here has been affected by metals then chelation should never stop as we cant excrete mercury as well as others, otherwise the mercury may build up again. Im planning to keep taking ALA, even if i miraculously get better tommorow. Dawn

Hi Bex. I have researched a bit on iodine and I take iodoral 12.5mg per day. I feel good from it and have had no bad reactions from it. The link you posted is from a doctor who is I feel on the cutting edge of the NEW MEDICINE-Dr. Brownstein. I have many of his books and they are terrific and very informative (and low cost). He is not as well versed on chelation therapy overall I think, but He is very good at rebuilding health. I am a testament to that. Sandy Flood and I were making investigations into the uses of iodine and how to get around the fact that some people don't excrete toxins properly. If you search this forum for iodine, you will pick up some of our posts. Between all of us we are becoming a great group mind!!!!!!

Hi Dawn, thanks for your response. I'm taking a break from the stuff, I think it's too much for my system right now. I'm just not handling the expulsion of extra toxins that the iodine appears to have erupted or stimulated. My system is so fatigued, I can function. So this hasn't helped. In fact, I feel much worse now than I was. So I'm quite upset by it all.

Hi Gary, well all that is said about iodine appears to be wonderful, but for me, just a few drops and I'm in trouble. I know full well that it's underlying infection and toxicity and to be honest, I think most things are either going to overstimulate me, or be ineffective, as this is how it has been for years now.

Basically the real problem is simply left undiagnosed and left to continue to do it's thing, which is why I can barely function. I've got so much I'm suppose to take right now, I'm almost tearing my hair out. If anything, I'm becoming further stressed by it all.

I haven't even started the hormones that my doctor has given me because of getting other information from people to the contrary.....and i'm finding it overwhelming and confusing. I also cannot take in information properly, so I dont cope.

I really think that in my state, my going and having dental work recenty was a bad move. I've just totally and utterly crashed to the extreme. By dental work, I don't mean amalgam removal. I mean replacing composites with cerec. Dental work meant aneasthetic, plus inhalation of mercury vapor and I think this was just the last straw.

anyway sorry for the moan guys, I am really not good at all. I'm still on a good diet, but it's just not doing much to help me at the moment.

Just a small note: iodine (also Lugol's iodine) is anti-bacterial and is used also as an antiseptic and disinfectant.

Hi Bex,
I don't really know much about Iodine but this could be adrenal related?

From http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/adrenal-info/symptoms-low-cortisol/

The symptoms of low cortisol are:

*shaky hands; shakiness
*diarrhea
*bad palps
*feeling of panic
*weakness
*inability to handle stress
*inability to handle interactions with others
*inability to focus
*rage or sudden angry outbursts
*emotionally hyper sensitive
*overreacting
*highly defensive
*feeling paranoid
*exacerbated reactions to daily stress
*no patience
*easily irritated
*mild to severe hypoglycemic episodes
*taking days to recover from even minor stress
*taking days to recover from a dental visit
*flu-like symptoms
*headache
*all over body ache
*super-sensitive skin
*extreme fatigue
*scalp ache
*hyper feeling
*jittery
*clumsy (drop things, bump into things)
*confusion
*suddenly feel extremely hungry
*low back pain
*dull
*cloud-filled head (happens when this patient is due for a next cortisol dose)
*jumpiness
*muscle weakness
*”air hunger”
*dizziness
*light headedness
*motion sickness
*coffee putting patient to sleep
*vomiting even running up the slightest incline
*almost passing out every time patient gets up
*dark circles under my eyes
*waking up in the middle of the night for several hours
*difficulty falling asleep
*frequent urination
*IBS symptoms
*worsening allergies

Have you been taking your temps?

This is good site for iodine: http://www.iodine4health.com

From that site, this is what Andy has to say about Iodine and Mercury, they have taken quotes from the FDC mailing list and also his book:

http://www.iodine4health.com/special/metals/cutler_metals.htm

Cutler says that "Iodide does not help you detoxify any heavy metals." I'm not sure if this would also mean that it wouldn't move the mercury around as well? In other words your reaction to the iodine may not be metal related so it may be adrenal?

Cara

Hi cmlyon, thanks for your post. I think I definitely have adrenal problems, because my immune system is under constant strain from infections. The book I have on adrenals, also states that often there can be underlying dental problems (toxicity, infections) that can actually be the cause of adrenal/thyroid problems. Interesting that!

My doctor of course is in doubts I have adrenal insufficiency because my cortisol levels were in her eyes "fine". On one test they were apparently rather high if anything....but we know that this fluctuates and she didn't seem interested in the saliva test.

So I'm kind of stuck figuring this out for myself. I have tried the iodine and that alone tends to cause palpitations and feeling hyped up (which is indicative of adrenal stress, unable to handle too much thyroid stimulation?). I also found that I did indeed get an increase in detox.

I agree with Andy in that iodine is definitely NOT a chelating agent, nor is selenium, or any of these other elements we all need (in the right amounts of course). BUT! They can and I know they definitely DO, displace toxins and metals (the accessible ones) because they compete for binding sites. mercury has a way of blocking, interferring and getting in where these other things should be and when you replace them, they can displace some mercury in the process, (again by competing). It's a bit like probiotics displacing yeast and causing some die off. They compete with yeast.

As do these essential elements. Because mercury blocks their function and often we require more to cope. So I do believe there is a certain amount of detox involved. No I don't believe they go after mercury directly, or grab onto it, but if you displace mercury by competing with it, it's bound to move around and create symptoms. Perhaps a certain amount of redistribution you could say. Perhaps it moves around and goes elsewhere instead, not always OUT. Unless a person excretes it well.

So in that area, I do believe iodine can precipitate a certain amount of detox symptoms from that alone. I've felt it, I know it definitely did this. Selenium can do similar as can zinc I think too...but they are necessary to replace with mercury most of the time.

My temps I am taking everyday. It does indeed show that my temps are a bit "lowish", so I think I do need iodine. Also my iodine urine test showed my body was not excreting most of it, but rather desperately hanging onto it, which means I need it. I believe that, but I also believe I should have been started off SLOWLY with only one drop of lugol's iodine, instead of flung into it in one go with 4 drops of iodine and thyroid pig hormone on top of it. To me this is going overboard. I think that can wind up having the opposite effect and causing more problems due to straining adrenals and then the temps wind up rising up and seemingly getting better and then because of overstimulation, they start to go down again from what I read. And this seems to be exactly what is happening.

Firstly I started off on just the supplements and things actually seemed to improve subtley from that alone. I must have given the right minerals that my body improved on and there was more iodine because one vitamin/mineral supplement had 100mcg of it already in there. That's not a major amount, but it's significant enough for someone who is very low in iodine and may have been depleted for sometime. So i noticed very faint improvement.

THen I went and put 4 drops of lugol's iodine to add to this regime and wham, I was stimulated and nervous all day long. Heart sped up, fearful, flushing, over talkative etc etc. I stopped it again and "think" there was a faint calming down but it's hard to say what is causing what because my symptoms are erratic anyway.

HOwever, it seems everytime I've tried the stuff, even at only 2 drops, a similar thing tends to occur.....so it seems that I should really have started with just a bit and increased perhaps a bit later if tolerated. I don't believe overdoing iodine is a good thing anyway. I think the body will do the right thing if given just enough.

As for adrenals? Well my supplements would help some of that, because my nutrient intake has improved from that, as well as my ongoing good diet. I have adrenal hormone tablets here my doc gave me "just in case", but unsure about them. They are synthetic too, so I'm somewhat nervous about taking those.... For now, I am just going to stop the lugol's and keep on with the supplements and take it easy and go from there. For me this is ongoing and trying to find a balance my body can deal with. I also have to remember I am unwell, I have an ongoing virus to deal with and this is probably the problem, rather than just trying to treat symptoms all the time.

So yeah Cara, I'm sure my reaction to iodine was probably due to it being too much, too soon and having strained adrenals as well. PLUS, displacing some toxins/metals in the process I'm sure. I've heard that someone who has had low thyroid for quite sometime, they can temporarily go into hyperthyroid mode and then apparently that settles down (e.g. palpitations etc). So it can be temporary and people should apparently adjust their dose to cope with that. I think the thyroid probably goes into overdrive trying to adjust itself to the extra iodine it's been without for so long and grabs as much as it can maybe in the process (loading), and then produces symptoms of overstimlulation....? I'm just taking guesses here.

Thanks again for your help.

Hi Bex,
You are probably right about the detox and that is probably a good reason to take it slow.

You said your temperatures are low, do they also vary quite a bit from day to day?

Interesting that you say that about hyperthyroid. The odd thing is that I charted my temps for a couple of months, they were low and up and down that whole time. Then all of a sudden they went above the normal temperature but were not fluctuating much at all. That would seem like hyperthyroid but yet I have nodules and labs indicate hypo? When the temps went high i started to lose my cool and become really irritable, angry, depressed and withdrawn. Before that my mood pretty much correlated to my temp - if it were low I'd be in a bad mood, and if it were close to normal I would feel happy all that day. It got so that I could almost predict what my temp would be like just from the mood I was feeling that morning and visa versa. Amazing stuff.

I have not taken anything for my thyroid or adrenals so the sudden change is strange and is another reason I have not taken anything for thyroid or adrenals, my labs and symptoms just don't make sense and It's hard to diagnose what the hell is actually going on lol. My hormones are all over the place at the moment too. Apparently I have the estrogen levels of a menopausal woman and yet I'm only 30!!! But then high estrogen is usually associated with hypothyroid not low. I'm also a little underweight, again this is not usually associated with hypo. So it's all puzzling. But I think I'm lucky in that my adrenal problems don't seem to be that bad. For that reason I've just been following Bees diet and want to see if that improves things at all. I'm impatient to get my fillings removed otherwise I would just be content following Bees diet without knowing the status of thyroid at all. However I'm trying to address thyroid and adrenals before starting any amalgam removal.

The good news is that according to a hair test I took after being on the diet for 6 months ( i also took one before starting the diet) shows that both adrenal and thyroid function have improved!

Anyways I've completely gone off on a tangent here sorry about that!

Cara, did you get a period a couple of weeks after the increase in temp? You will get an increase in temp when you ovulate. I used that system to chart my menstrual cycle for 4yrs -- very accurate. It can take you long periods to ovulate sometimes if your hormones are whacked out, but once you do, you're period will come within about 2 wks (sometimes much shorter though). You can also get shifts in temp like that if you are trying to ovulate but having difficulty doing so -- temp will go up and down. You can look at charts for all sorts of cycles at www.ovusoft.com.

Shonda

Bex here's a chart to help you determine your own adrenal fatigue stage from your saliva tests:
http://www.chronicfatigue.org/ASI%207.html

It's the very bottom chart (and, it's DHEA instead of DEHA like they wrote). Stages one through seven, you just take your results from your saliva test and correlate them.

Interesting about the iodine. I've just been reading about this. Apparently, if I'm Hg toxic, there is not much I can do supplementwise to help my situation until I get the Hg outta there. Have to be cautious with NAC, iodine, and probably many more. Vit C's ok I guess?

Hi Shonda,
Thanks for that. I'm not sure whether I got my period a couple of weeks after that. The odd thing is thought that my temperatures went high and stayed high for months they did not go back down again or fluctuate as much within my cycle. I'm not sure where they are now I've been slack for the last few months. My hormones are totally out of whack and my period was 2 weeks late around the time my temp went up so maybe you are on to something! I will definitely have a look at that link, I definitely want to learn more about my cycles and that sort of thing, not sure whether it would be accurate at the moment due to thyroid/ adrenal influences on temperature?

Thanks again,
Cara

Hi Cmylon, like yourself I am wary to take any hormones because frankly my body and symptoms are so unstable anyway and I believe the issues are caused from what I mentioned (infections etc).

My temps are not all that stable no, so I gather there is adrenal problems going on (no surprise there). I just don't feel ok with taking thyroid hormone and 4 drops of lugol's considering the drops themselves seem to hype me up more than usual. So if I try the lugol's again, it'll be ONE drop (as indicated by the lab who makes it). I think my doctor, as well meaning as she is, possibly is trying to treat the thyroid without considering adrenals because my cortisol showed to be at good high levels....However, in doing this, it can put more strain on adrenals if the thyroid is being treated (perhaps over-treated?). I would say the adrenals would be helped if there is low thyroid and the person perhaps ups their iodine more (not too much) and takes proper support supplements. I know the adrenals would benefit from vitamins and minerals also.

My temp is usually very low when I wake up, like around 36.2 (97.1). But goes up during the day a bit more, sometimes much more 36.8, and has even reached 37.1 on occassion, but mostly it's at around 36.6 C (97.8)... There are fluctuations on my chart, up and down, but I would not call it absolutely extreme compared to some I've seen.

You might be wise just to take supplements (vitamins/minerals) to support those things, without actually overstimulating anything. Rather give them what they need and if they are in need, they'll be able to use it. I also think with myself that given my recent dental visits and re-exposures to mercury vapor, this probably also affected my test results. Because it's like being drugged at times with mercury and/or anaesthetic for a long time afterwards. Months of it for some people.

I think the problem is the toxins like mercury get into the brain/control centre and start mucking up hormones and blocking many of these functions, so we wind up with how someone might feel who is a lot older than we are. I know people who are in their 70s who have much more vim and vigor than I do! I ACT old because I FEEL old. It's sad.

I'm very glad to hear that the hair test showed these functions in you have improved (adrenals/thyroid) and no doubt Bee's diet has helped that! That is fantastic.

Hi Manonash, I haven't had a saliva test.... My doctor is also not overly interested in it, she told me she knows about it and she prefers the way she does things I guess. She's not just a general doctor,she's specialised in alternative medicine.

So I really don't know what to do. All I know is, the thyroid stuff tends to hype me up too much when I do it according to what she prescribed. Which tells me my adrenals may not be able to handle the stimulation....either that or my thyroid is not used to it and gets over-stimulated. Perhaps that is temporary, I don't know.

All I can do right now is take it step by step. I feel horrible to be honest, I feel like NOTHING is functioning. I have moments of thinking I feel a bit better, but it's few and far between. I really do not understand whats going on. I think too much is happening at once and my body is just stressed continually.

HI Bex,
I know what you mean about feeling old. I feel like I went through old age in my late teens/ early twenties!

If you can't convince your doctor to do the saliva test you could call one of the labs and ask them which doctors close to you use their service. One of the labs in NZ that does the test is:
http://www.pharmaceutical.co.nz/

The test is a little expensive but could be worth it if it gives you somewhere to start.

All the best!
Cara