My experience with bromoderma:
I had been taking Lugol’s iodine in a dose of about 6 mg a day [1 drop of Lugol’s 5%], for about a year and a half, before it triggered a serious episode of bromoderma.
In that 18 months I had definite, sometimes dramatic, detox reactions affecting my gastro-intestinal tract, lungs and sinuses. I speculate that these detox operations “soaked up” the iodine I had been taking; and only when those vital organs had been somewhat cleaned up was there enough iodine to address the bromine sequestered in my legs.
When the rash first appeared on my ankle, I did not know what it was, and tried various remedies: including hydrocortisone cream, but nothing seemed to help.
I should have started the Salt Loading Protocol right away, but I didn’t pay much attention to this little rash until it had encircled my ankle and caused ulceration.
If we are taking iodine, we should be vigilant, and not complacent!
It eventually spread to both legs, all over, and onto my knees.
During the period the rash was actively exuding toxins, I felt sluggish, achey, had some serious abdominal pain, and my feet and legs swelled up to an alarming degree. I could see that the capillaries surrounding the rash were inflamed; probably damaged and not functioning well [the medical term for this is “vasculitis”]; I speculate that in addition to the eruptions on my skin, the halogens triggered unseen damage throughout my body.
The pain and swelling was certainly related to the activation of the immune response, at least as much from the toxicity of the halides. So, what appears on the skin is just the tip of the iceberg. The skin is not the only thing that needs help and care, here.
Applying any bandage over the eruption is a MISTAKE, if the rash is halogenoderma. The liquid that weeps out from the rash seems to be what causes the itching and burning. Any bandage or dressing left on the skin will allow that liquid to build up next to the skin, which can lead to ulceration and spreading of the rash. Contact with clothing (stockings, trousers) can aggravate the condition for the same reason.
Avoid touching and scratching the rash. Leaving the skin bare in affected areas is best, if possible.
Frequent gentle washing helps, by removing the exudate, which causes the itching and burning. It seemed to me that soaking in the bathtub helped soothe the discomfort, but it also encouraged the spreading of the rash to other parts of the body. It seemed as if the hot water encouraged the skin to open up, to release toxin from more areas. If I had it the problem again, I would start when the rash was still very small, washing it often with warm water, and applying the mustard-clay remedy described below, rather than soaking in a bucket or bath tub. In order to halt the spread of the rash, one would need to support the liver, kidneys and lymph system, as recommended below, so as to relieve the skin.
To soothe the itching and burning when the rash is new and virulent,
mustard really helped.* (Mustard plasters are a traditional remedy for rashes and insect stings;
clay is also an extremely ancient remedy for skin problems.) Smearing the mixture over the rash, before and after washing or soaking, quieted the itching and burning for hours at a stretch.
I mixed mustard from the grocery store (the condiment that you put on your hot dogs-- ideally the plain yellow kind, fine-ground, without big granules) with some medicinal clay (bentonite or montmorillite), added water to get a pasty consistency. After washing, I did not towel off the area, but smeared a thin film of the mustard mud over the affected areas while the skin was still wet. Allow the mix to dry on the skin—it should look like a light haze over your skin. If the coating were too thick, it might cause undesirable side-effects. You should be able to see the rash through it when it dries. While it is drying it will tingle a lot, and then your skin will be “quiet” for a blessed few hours. When it starts to sting again, wash and repeat.
When the rash was at its nastiest, most uncomfortable stage, I emptied the contents of a
NAC capsule into the mustard-clay mix, to help control inflammation and swelling.
*
Mustard Plaster: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustard_plaster
a poultice of mustard seed powder spread inside a protective dressing and applied to the body to stimulate healing. It can be used to warm muscle tissues and for chronic aches and pains. It was once part of conventional medical treatment, and available in prepared versions in pharmacies. It fell from favor in the 20th century and is now only used as a home remedy.
How it works An enzymatic reaction in the wet mustard powder produces a chemical called
allyl isothiocyanate, which is absorbed through the skin as a transdermal drug. It provides warmth and
functions as a counterirritant, meaning that it stimulates nerve endings in the skin and thereby distracts the body from deeper-seated pain.
Uses Mustard plasters were used for aches and pains, including rheumatism, arthritis, and sore muscles. It was also used for chest congestion, and for insect bites.
Side effects If left in place for too long, it can produce significant first-degree burns to the skin.
The clay acts to draw toxins out of the skin, and the mustard neutralizes them. [See the thread AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES CAUSED BY AN INFECTION? Reply #1136 on: 1/10/2016 at 08:19:08 PM »] My guess is that the sulfur content of the mustard binds up and neutralizes the toxins that ooze from the rash, and other chemical properties of mustard serve as a “counter-irritant,” damping down itching. There are probably some helpful B vitamins in there, too, especially if your mustard has turmeric in it, as mine did.
The mustard mud stopped the burning and itching for 4-6 hours at a stretch, in the early stages of the rash when nothing else worked. The clay also helps to bind the mustard to the skin, so that the film is not easily rubbed off by contact with clothing or bed sheets. (I had expected to have a lot of clay dust in my bedsheets, but it has not been a problem.)
Detox operations are when the cofactors to iodine therapy are needed the most. During the bromoderma trauma I felt I had to increase my dosage
B and C vitamins, sublingual B12, magnesium, NAC and some other items described below.
After I had the rash for a couple of weeks, I found that the mustard mud lost effectiveness, but at that point the
hydrocortisone cream became effective in soothing the discomfort, reducing swelling, and stopping the weeping of the rash. This suggests to me that, at that stage, the inflammation and discomfort was not caused by the bromine, but by an immune reaction stuck in overdrive, perpetuating the inflammation, swelling, weeping of the pores, and the insane itching and burning. [The medical literature on bromoderma backs up this guess:
“Inflammatory mediators released from neutrophils might be responsible for the hyperproliferative and vegetative aspects of the skin lesions. Perhaps, in some cases, these mediators may account for the histopathologic changes of leukocytoclastic vasculitis”.] The mainstream medical treatment of bromoderma involves hydrocortisone cream, and it gave welcome relief in this later stage of the problem.
Apparently, bromoderma is not just a detox issue, but an auto-immune issue:
Inflammasomes: Intracellular Regulators of Pathogen
https://www.rndsystems.com/resources/posters/inflammasomes-intracellular-regulators-pathogen?utm_source=ntent&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=inflammasomes%20intracellular%20regulators%20of%20pathogen
[Immune reactions] “are activated either by bacterial, fungal, or viral molecules that contain pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), or by nonmicrobial danger signals (DAMPs) released from damaged cells.”
So, the inflammation may not be a direct reaction to a pathogen or a toxin, but to the tissue damage it causes.
While treating the rash, take measures to support your lymphatic system, your kidneys and your liver; ideally, they should do the work of eliminating the halogen toxins, without your skin having to be bothered with it in the future!
Supporting the Liver
Stop taking iodine, until your body has healed. Resume only when it does not reactivate the problem.
Do without caffeine and alcohol for the duration of the problem.
A good stout brew of ginger-mint-licorice tea is a liver-friendly consolation for coffee deprivation.
Get as much sleep as possible; sleep time is when your body naturally de-toxes and fights pathogens.
Supplement with
Milk Thistle, a capsule with each meal, maybe more.
Eat lots of pickled
beets.
Take
chlorella tablets a half hour before each meal, to neutralize toxins that have been shunted to the bile.
Supporting the Kidneys
Do without caffeine and alcohol for the duration of the problem.
Encourage a high rate of urination by taking in
extra salt and water: Put a half teaspoon of salt in a cup of water and drink it several times a day. Follow each cup of salt water with extra amounts of clear water. Some
baking soda in the water along with that salt will also help clean out your kidneys and protect them, so that they filter your blood more efficiently.
Supporting the Lymphatic system
Keep moving. Moving about, such as walking, is what circulates the lymph in your body, and helps it filter the toxins out of your tissues. You need not do any heavy work-out, but you should avoid being a couch-potato.
Elevate the parts of the body affected, as in sleeping with your legs propped up above the level of your heart, if the legs are swollen.
Gently massage the swollen areas, stroking toward the heart.
If you take a hot bath or shower, follow it with a cold rinse.
When the rash quieted down a bit,
Vitamin E, (the contents of a vitamin E gel tab, and/or coconut oil) applied to the affected area at this stage helped to soothe damaged tissues and promote healing.
My rash first appeared in late February, 2017. I began effective treatment in mid-March, and stopped taking iodine around that time. The rash was still raging in mid-April. By early May it had quieted down, and I tried a resumption of iodine, 1 drop of 5% Lugol’s per day. But that seemed to fire up the rash again. Salt-loading has not prevented this; perhaps because at this point the rash may be more an immune problem than a toxicity problem.
During the struggle with the bromoderma, I noticed that a number of lumps and bumps that have been on my body, some of them for as long as 30 years, had totally vanished. That helped me to keep faith that something good was coming out of all the discomfort.
Now my question is, how to continue the iodine therapy without being stopped in my tracks by the detox symptoms? I have a lot of body fat, which functions as the “junk storage room” for many years’ accumulation of halogens and other toxins. I suspect I also harbor a systemic infestation of candida that has been in a dormant condition for a long time, but will be releasing heavy metals and other toxins into my system as the iodine gets to it. There might be enough toxin in me to require decades of detox, at the pitifully small doses of iodine that I can tolerate!