Iodine and Potassium Iodide

[Cosmos]

I just started to get into knowing the Iodine protocol by starting to read Brownsteins book.
So far pretty interesting and I'm planning to start rather soon with the protocol. Since I've no serious condition, that I know of, I'll start of slowly.

I'm well over half way through the book now, and since he describes conditions that can be treated rather effectively with iodine/iodide solution (in combination with Vitamin B2, B3, C, salt, magnesium and selenium), from which I know my mother most likely suffers, I wonder if I could recommend a german book about iodine to her ("Die Jod Krise") and later give her a daily protocol derived from Brownsteins book? Unfortunately she can not read english.

But I'm not sure how to dose iodine and the rest in her case. I'm not even sure if and how it will effect her.
I say that, because she had her ovaries removed a couple of years ago, which I understand is the second biggest intaker, after the breasts, of iodine in the body...

And not long ago she was delivered into hospital because of serious amounts of gallstones in her bladder. Apparently it was at a very serious level, so the doctors decided to remove them surgically and also the gall bladder because it was so inflamed. They also said that pretty much all organs are in a serious condition, which is not far away from developing cancer.

So I've searched to find out if a person that has no ovaries and gall bladder anymore, can take iodine (and the additional supplements) the same way as a normal person can. So far I couldn't find anything about it.

Did somebody come across anything that can help me in this regard?

 

[Gaby]

So I've searched to find out if a person that has no ovaries and gall bladder anymore, can take iodine (and the additional supplements) the same way as a normal person can. So far I couldn't find anything about it.

Don't see why not. Iodine and the cofactors is something every single cell needs. Probably going with the lowest iodine dose and building up will be the safe way to go.

 

[Cosmos]

So I've searched to find out if a person that has no ovaries and gall bladder anymore, can take iodine (and the additional supplements) the same way as a normal person can. So far I couldn't find anything about it.

Don't see why not. Iodine and the cofactors is something every single cell needs. Probably going with the lowest iodine dose and building up will be the safe way to go.

Oki Doki, thank you!

 

[jen1221]

I forgot to add a couple more detox symptoms. Last week I had two taste buds that became very sore and red. Also my nose ran.. well poured rather, non stop for a few days.

My current symptoms are tiredness and phlem in my throat. I upped my dose yesterday. I'm working on killing off candida. I'm afraid If I back off, the candida will get worse.

I also had a cherry angioma on my breast. Today it fell off! I have several more that I will watch and see if they fall off as well.

 

[curious_richard]

The following paper is the best I've found so far, I'm not sure if I'm reading this right but if i am calling it extreme would be an understatement you would have to drink litres of lugols.

Potassium Iodide in the Treatment of Syphilis : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1053890/pdf/brjvendis00157-0048.pdf

tolerance for iodides is very good, and in-patients are given 90 gr. daily in three equally divided doses without any preliminary testing. Outpatients, however, are given 30 gr. daily for one week, and if tolerance is good, the dosage is rapidly stepped up so that at the beginning of the third week the patient is taking 90 gr. daily. No case of intolerance has been noted with 30 gr. daily. A few, usually women, show signs of intolerance with a daily dose of 90 gr., but most adult females can reach 135 gr. daily, and most adult males 180 gr. daily, without discomfort. The earlier toxic signs are increased salivation, metallic taste in the mouth, and coryza. The aim should be to reach the maximum dose in 3 weeks, and to maintain it for 3 weeks. Symptomatic relief occurs early and is often noted during the first week with a dosage of only 30 gr. daily.

Let's be careful here. I looked over the report twice, and never saw the word "gram" in there. Considering the date (1952) and country (South Africa), I think it is very likely that the authors used gr. to mean grains. So 30 gr. and 90 gr. would be 2 and 6 grams.

 

[Aliana]

One thing that I've experienced that no one else seems to have mentioned is aching teeth. I can't remember if this started with the KI or once I started the Lugol's, since I didn't make the connection to the iodine at first, but my teeth have had this somewhat intense painful aching feeling. I thought I was done with this symptom, as it didn't seem to be present over the last couple of days, but I woke up this morning with it present again, although much milder than before. I was speculating that maybe this is all those fluoride treatments I underwent at my dentist in my youth being detoxed by the iodine. At least I hope this is what it is, and not some actual dental issue that I'm making an excuse for :D

Glad you brought that up - I noticed this as well, but wasn't sure if it was an effect of iodine or related to something else. Also, I woke up one morning recently with my jaws aching as though I had been clenching my teeth in a death grip all night long. This was nothing like I used to do when I was forced to wear a bite guard (something I have not had a problem with in ages). The pain lasted for almost two days and extended up the sides of my face. Very strange.

Have been limiting my iodine to 5 drops of 2% (~12.5 mg) for the past few days, and no side effects from this dosage.

Thanks for the information on chocolate - I do try to limit my indulgence, but giving it up would be so sad. :( Will make sure to only buy organic.

 

[Laura]

I literally cannot imagine how is it to be healthy :D I think i got used to this crappy daily life.
Anyways , reason I am writing is because I don't know how hard detox symptoms might be. I will start on monday , treatment protocol with Lugol that I did myself - yes i did have super pure KI and I in my garage and I actually forgot about that :/
I suspect that it might hit me veeeery hard.
I wonder what are your suggestions on topic "how to deal with bad heavy detox symptoms" - what do you usually do when it hits ??

Start slow and easy and build up gradually. Do one drop a day for three days, then increase to two drops for three days, then 3 and so on up to the point you start feeling detox symptoms and then back off one drop and hold it there for a few days before you add another. Just keep inching up trying to balance between feeling pretty good and getting some detox action too.

 

[Laura]

Yeah I had wondered about letting them wake up from the encysted phase but I get a little apprehensive about stopping meds as it usually means digestion shuts down and sleep goes from bad to worse, among other things. I might maintain what I'm doing for a fortnight or so and then give it a go, not eager to experience the poor mental function again. I'm also still unsure if I've hit the right dosage for me to stop feeding energy to the critters, I feel way too good at the moment.

If you feel good, keep on doing what you are doing.

 

[Laura]

I've just started taking it. Started quite low

- Selenium
- 3 drops of Lugol's 12%
- B Complex
- Celtic Salt
- Mag Citrate

I'll take Vit C in a couple of hours.

Immediately after taking the iodine, I felt pins & needles all over my head, only for a couple of seconds. Then uhmm, very slight and very mild headache.

I'm not really doing any calculations, just taking things on an approximate basis.

I'll up to 4 drops tomorrow, then see what happens, then go to 5 and stay there for awhile to see if anything comes up. I'll do it for a couple of weeks I guess then probably taper off. Fingers crossed to nothing coming up!

If you felt a detox reaction, maybe back off and start lower and build up slowly.

What do you mean "taper off". As Brownstein says, if you want to feel good and be healthy, you need to supplement with iodine your whole life.

Read the book.

 

[Laura]

I thought I'd share some of my experiences so far with the iodine protocol, as I've experienced some symptoms I haven't seen listed anywhere. I started off doing 12 -15mg of potassium iodide in a glycerine solution for about 2 weeks before my Lugol's solution arrived, just as a way to do a bit of a low front-loading dose before starting the protocol proper. What I noticed immediately was an increase in "phlegminess" in the throat and a constant and unsatisfyable need to clear the throat (similar to what Windmill Knight reported in his previous post). This has continued even after starting the Lugol's, although it's decreased in frequency and intensity. The first couple of days I also had a bit of a headache, but nothing major.

You can back down your dose since what you are describing are the detox symptoms of unloading the metals and stuff.

Once I started the Lugol's (5% J. Crow, 10 drops 1x/day), with the salt water and co-factors, I did notice the "giddy" energy increase on the first couple of days, but that seems to have ended. Minor transient issues also seemed to come up, like aches and pains, stiff neck, grumpy mood when tired, but these are minor and tend to come and go.

I also started getting little raised bumps on certain parts of my body that were EXTREMELY itchy, which weren't relieved by scratching. The itchiness seemed to be fine over the course of the day, but when sitting still at night, and particularly before falling asleep, they were intense. The bumps seemed to last a day or two in one location, and then they'd pop up somewhere else. They were always only a single bump in any one place and I'll have two or three of them at a time. This seems to have lessened a bit now.

One thing that I've experienced that no one else seems to have mentioned is aching teeth. I can't remember if this started with the KI or once I started the Lugol's, since I didn't make the connection to the iodine at first, but my teeth have had this somewhat intense painful aching feeling. I thought I was done with this symptom, as it didn't seem to be present over the last couple of days, but I woke up this morning with it present again, although much milder than before. I was speculating that maybe this is all those fluoride treatments I underwent at my dentist in my youth being detoxed by the iodine. At least I hope this is what it is, and not some actual dental issue that I'm making an excuse for :D

All you describe suggests to me that the commonsense thing to do is back off a little and build up slowly. Remember that the big doses are if you can definitely identify a virus or bacterial infection or something that needs a definite smacking. Otherwise, start slow and build up gradually!!!

Yes, the teeth can start acting up because you have a load of metals and stuff in your jaw. What I've been doing is putting five drops of lugols in a tablespoon of distilled water and swishing it in my mouth for 3 or 4 minutes. Then I spit it out.

 

[Divide by Zero]

Today is my third day and my stool shows a pale yellowish floating aspect, although well-shaped and doesn´t show sign of undigested food at first sight.

It seems others have noticed it too:

_http://vitamintester.blogspot.com.es/2012/01/lugols-solution-iodine.html

During other bumps in my road to recovery I've noticed that a few drops of iodine on a empty stomach actually helped to keep my stools a browner color when they kept coming out yellow. I attribute this to excess iodine passing through the bile in the liver and bile ducts where it works to sterilize them. Since yellow stools are a sign that your liver isn't producing enough bile I believe the iodine was disinfecting the liver. I also think this is the main reason why iodine is so effective. Because it sterilizes the bile preventing reinfection or retoxification.

_https://foodstoavoidwithibs18.wordpress.com/2012/07/15/the-use-of-iodine-in-wound-care/

* Yellow Stool: This variety of stool can be discovered in men and women with GERD (gastroesophageal reflux illness). Normally bacterial infection in the intestines leads to yellow stool.

Perhaps part of the detox reaction? In any case, I would support the liver with milk thistle, NAC and ALA.

This is an older post I am replying to. In my last post I mentioned constipation and earlier today I had the same floaty yellow but well formed stool symptoms as hesperides. I feel much better now, lighter feeling! Hopefully the liver is being repaired which might be the cause of my on/off constipation with paleo in the first place!

I never really had the yellow stool happen before besides extreme cases of sickness.

I also noticed the phlegm too but automatically wrote it off due to the weird up/down weather changes in the NE USA which typically happens to me around this time. I do drops of peroxide in the ear too which were bubbling a lot 2 days ago, much less yesterday.

 

[whitecoast]

I do not...advise intaking both. Today I downed a lot of dark chocolate [to mellow out a bit] because we had a ton of work (warehouse sort center the day after Black Friday), and the day before probably overdosed on [the Lugol's 5% from Amazon] iodine—migraine, badly.

Other, prior effects have been the unanticipated and very unwelcome reawakening of an ancient left jaw hook injury or pain where the socket was seemingly misaligned decades ago, where it would feel popped out, badly hurt to move, let alone chew, etc. and the associated muscles like jello, strained or sore. Very weird.

A few inches down, a visible itchy rash on neck.

Lots and lots of urination.

Various feeling of ill popping up otherwise.

All I have to report so far... (I also take Vitamin C 1-3 grams per day, depending, and (not 1-3g) magnesium, and NAC.)

Do you take selenium as well? That's another important helper micronutrient for iodine. :)

 

[lainey]

Thanks for the information on chocolate - I do try to limit my indulgence, but giving it up would be so sad. :( Will make sure to only buy organic.

Ditto that, thanks for the research.

As for why chocolate can act as an "antidote" to too much iodine (not sure this is actually the case, or whether one would actually need an "antidote" since it seems unlikely one would be able to actually overdose on iodine as opposed to just stirring up too many toxins or killing too many critters), I imagine this has more to do with the chelating effect of cocoa. I know cocoa can bind to iron and isn't recommended for anemics, so I wonder if it would also bind iodine. Or it may possibly bind mobilized toxins given off by the killed critters or the metals displaced by the iodine itself, providing some relief. All just speculation, of course.

I would imagine it would be more like an antidote to the symptoms of the herx reaction from taking a lot of iodine than from overdose. So like you speculated, perhaps it binds to the iodine and stops it detoxing you too rapidly.
I could think of worse ways to counter the effects

 

[kujo]

I've begun to dig into Brownstein's book.

Whenever I consume literature on subjects of health, like this topic, I find sadness starts washing over me thinking of all the people I know who have had their thyroids removed, or killed with radioactive iodine. Nearly all of them are young women who went to the doctor not feeling well, and within weeks seem to be on the fast track for the quick killswitch, no nutrition consultation just aggressive "therapies."
Brownstein reports women taking thyroid hormone have a 50% increase in the likelihood of breast cancer over a 10 year span - a gal I know had her thyroid removed at 21! What kind of future does she hold?

Ugh.

Currently, I'm taking 1 drop of lugol's solution in the morning after having salted water and a bite to eat. I've done this for 9 days now. Occasionally, I've had a second dose of the 1 drop lugols mid day. Not planning to increase this until reading a bit more.

Occasionally I have cysts pop up in lymph node areas. Right now I have one behind my right ear. At the beginning of it's appearance it was very sac like and fluidy, swollen, painful and the skin felt thin. Since taking the 1 drop of lugol's every day over the last week it has shrunken to approx 50% in size, painless, and the skin feels of a normal texture again.

 

[Galaxia2002]

It seems that there are some confusions about how to prepare a Lugols solution and how to calculate the percentages of iodine. For example here:

_http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Make-Lugols-Iodine-10/

To prepare a 10%
LUGOL'S SOLUTION, the ratios of the elements change, since elemental iodine is not very soluble in water, thus, a slightly higher percentage of KI is needed.

1. Put 118 ml (4 fl. oz.) of distilled water in a dark glass container. 2. Mix 33.7 grams (1.18 oz.) of potassium iodide into the solution prepared in step one. Use a wooden or plastic spoon / spatula to stir until completely dissolved --do not use metal! Stir

Add 16.9 grams of iodine crystals to the mix, being very careful not to touch the iodine crystals--they can burn the skin. If you come into contact with the iodine crystals, wash your hands immediately with plenty of water. Stir with the wooden or plastic spoon, and cover with a non-metal cover. Let it sit for 10 hours

In the morning, stir once more or shake the solution. You now have a 10% Lugol's solution, which can be taken internally or externally. If you choose to take the solution internally, note that the concentration is approximately 25.5 mg/drop! (Assuming the drop size is such that 70 drops make up 1 teaspoon).

Note: The standard Lugols iodine concentrations don't include the potassium iodide in the percent calculation. The standard Lugol's solution of 5% means that there is 5% elemental iodine in the solution and the potassium iodide KI is not considered.

However, when you calculate the mg/drop of iodine, the iodide is taken into account. To do this, note that iodide is 0.769 times the total KI present, the ratio of atomic weights of iodine to potassium. Then, [I + KI(0.769)]/ml = the concentration of iodine.

Proof that the 10% Lugols solution described above is truly 10%:

16.9 gr/(16.9 gr + 33.7 gr + 118 ml) = 0.10 or (10 %) A similar calculation can be performed for the strong iodine tincture.

Potassium iodide renders the elementary iodine soluble in water through the formation of the triiodide (I3−) ion.

There it's stated that one drop is about 25,5 mg iodine. One drop is round about 0,1 gr of liquid (0,07 to 0,1). So, the overall weight of the solution is 168,6 gr. Obviously, that does NOT mean that there is also 168,6 ml of liquid. If so, the iodine concentration would be 16,8 mg or less per drop. mg doesn't equal ml if it comes to solutions and the stuff that should be added.

I saw that Galaxia2002 posted a spreadsheet here:
http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,13371.msg617022.html#msg617022

In the spreadsheet, you can choose the desired % and the volume you want to prepare. If I choose 10% and 118 ml, the calculation gives 23,6 gr of iodide and 11,8 gr of iodine and a concentration of 12,6 mg iodine per drop.

So, obviously, something here doesn't add up.

Another thing is, we have a 12% lugols solution here which states that the total amount of iodine per drop is 2,7 mg and iodide 5,3 mg. Calculating that with the dropsize of 0,1 gr, it also doesn't fit, since it would mean, this it is just a 7,5% solution overall and just a 2,5% solution of elemental iodine.

So, to make it easy, lets say I have 10 gr of iodine and 20 gr of iodide. I want to have a 10% solution measured only with iodine. What's the right formula? Given that the numbers here and on our bottle differ almost in a factor of 10, different methods must be in use.

I tried to figure out how to calculate a solution % with atomic weight, but this kind of math is nothing I can wrap my head around.

Hi! Just happens that there are some different ways to measure the iodine content in lugol's solution. The example you write is g/g concentration while what I put was g/ml type concentration. There is also ambiguity if the % corresponds to the total iodine or only molecular iodine (I2). What I have seen is that the % in the bottle labels corresponds to iodine (I2) content not KI. For example a label of 5 % g/ml solution of lugol's have 5 grams of iodine (I2) and double amount of KI (10 g).
What is important is that whatever formula you choose to prepare the solution, (be g/g or g/v) you have a real measure of the mg of total iodine. As Laura said the % in not important but it is important that you use always the same solution prepared in the same way. If not then you can't have control of it.