Iodine and Potassium Iodide

[Yas]

The question I have is can we put anything else in the salted water? Because the taste is really bad. :/

Hi Persej, I really enjoy drinking salted water some with tea and lemon, it tastes like a "tonic water", it could be even better if you put some xylitol or other good (and healthy) sweetener in it.

I wanted to add another piece of data. I've been struggling with symptoms of pain, lethargy, muscle pain/weakness, unable to get out of bed without a struggle, low moods and sensitivity to sound.
I'm only taking 6mg of lugols daily, and the symptoms where getting progressively worse, especially on days off from taking lugols.

I've been feeling pretty much the same, and I'm only taking ONE drop of 5% Lugol's a day now, which amounts to 6.25 grams.

As I said before, I started pretty high with 8 drops, and it was generally good for the first two days, but I lowered the dose to 4 drops. I had a LOT of energy and felt that my concentration had improved. But then I had some other detox symptoms including a cherry angioma, very small. So I stopped the Lugol's for 3 days. I felt extremely tired those days, but the other symptoms disappeared.

ATM, I've been taking one drop for 4 days and I have shoulder pain and fatigue, and the brain fog makes it really hard to read anything. Also, low mood, vivid dreams (which wake me up and I never had sleeping problems) I still haven't got the Selenium and B2 / B3, I just wanted to try with one drop for a few days. Again, I guess I'll pause it until I get the co-factors. I also ordered glycine and MCT oil, so I guess that will help too.

Now, I've just had an idea about why we are getting these symptoms at such a low dose, but maybe I'm totally off track (forgive my brain fog )... Could it be that some critters are being activated by the iodine (as the Cs said) and, besides the detox symptoms, this could be due to a mycoplasma infection that "wakes up" with the lower doses? In that case, what would be the best approach to not wake the infection and, at the same time, not overwhelm the body with a "nuke" dose?

I'm sorry if I'm totally off here, I just wanted to share what I thought. I still have plenty to read since I'm VERY slow at it right now.

Thank you all for the updates, it is very interesting to read your experiences. Hopefully, many will get so much better with this new protocol.

 

[Laura]

Now, I've just had an idea about why we are getting these symptoms at such a low dose, but maybe I'm totally off track (forgive my brain fog )... Could it be that some critters are being activated by the iodine (as the Cs said) and, besides the detox symptoms, this could be due to a mycoplasma infection that "wakes up" with the lower doses? In that case, what would be the best approach to not wake the infection and, at the same time, not overwhelm the body with a "nuke" dose?

Could very well be. In that case, you might want to do the 6 to 8 drops twice a day for 3 or 4 days to knock it out and then stop for a day or two and do another pulse if needed. Folks here zapped their virus activations in 3 days.

 

[jen1221]

The question I have is can we put anything else in the salted water? Because the taste is really bad. :/

Hi Persej, I really enjoy drinking salted water some with tea and lemon, it tastes like a "tonic water", it could be even better if you put some xylitol or other good (and healthy) sweetener in it.

I wanted to add another piece of data. I've been struggling with symptoms of pain, lethargy, muscle pain/weakness, unable to get out of bed without a struggle, low moods and sensitivity to sound.
I'm only taking 6mg of lugols daily, and the symptoms where getting progressively worse, especially on days off from taking lugols.

I've been feeling pretty much the same, and I'm only taking ONE drop of 5% Lugol's a day now, which amounts to 6.25 grams.

As I said before, I started pretty high with 8 drops, and it was generally good for the first two days, but I lowered the dose to 4 drops. I had a LOT of energy and felt that my concentration had improved. But then I had some other detox symptoms including a cherry angioma, very small. So I stopped the Lugol's for 3 days. I felt extremely tired those days, but the other symptoms disappeared.

ATM, I've been taking one drop for 4 days and I have shoulder pain and fatigue, and the brain fog makes it really hard to read anything. Also, low mood, vivid dreams (which wake me up and I never had sleeping problems) I still haven't got the Selenium and B2 / B3, I just wanted to try with one drop for a few days. Again, I guess I'll pause it until I get the co-factors. I also ordered glycine and MCT oil, so I guess that will help too.

Now, I've just had an idea about why we are getting these symptoms at such a low dose, but maybe I'm totally off track (forgive my brain fog )... Could it be that some critters are being activated by the iodine (as the Cs said) and, besides the detox symptoms, this could be due to a mycoplasma infection that "wakes up" with the lower doses? In that case, what would be the best approach to not wake the infection and, at the same time, not overwhelm the body with a "nuke" dose?

I'm sorry if I'm totally off here, I just wanted to share what I thought. I still have plenty to read since I'm VERY slow at it right now.

Thank you all for the updates, it is very interesting to read your experiences. Hopefully, many will get so much better with this new protocol.

I was thinking the same thing. I backed down my dose to 5 mg for the past two days, thinking maybe it was too much detox.

I have been very tired with brain fog and pain in my right shoulder.

This morning I started the day again with 5 mg, then did some searching on the Curezone Iodine thread to see if I could figure out what was going on. I'm guessing Candida. Been battling it for years.

I did applied kinesiology to try to find the right dosage. I took another 200 mg of iodine and the brain fog started to lift within an hour. Another suggested supplement for Candida is Boron. I haven't tried it, but I noticed Laura takes it. I may give that a try as well.

 

[Persej]

I've found that adding vitamin C to the salty water gives it a very nice taste. It's like lime with salt!

I've tried it and it's even worse!

And no, straw doesn't help either. I'll try with smaller doses of salt. Maybe it really is an acquired taste.

Hi Persej, I really enjoy drinking salted water some with tea and lemon, it tastes like a "tonic water", it could be even better if you put some xylitol or other good (and healthy) sweetener in it.

Salted tea? Which tea?
I could try salted lemonade. For some reason I cannot find xylitol in my country. There is stevia but I'm not big fan of that. But I could try it with salt.

 

[Alana]

At first I started out slowly (2 drops couple of days, then 4 etc) and moved up to 10 drops of Lugol's 15% twice a day with the co-factors and morning salt (my husband was taking that much at the time to fight a virus, a battle he won in 3 days and I was impressed). I felt no herx reactions, but boy did I have lots of energy! So much that I couldn't fall asleep until 4-5 am! The first days I was ok with it, but the not-sleeping caught up with me and I started feeling extremely tired during the day. So I made it down to 5 drops 2x a day. I could sleep by 2 am but still felt tired. I went down immediately to 5 drops once a day. It's been two weeks now and I have been feeling and sleeping better, no herx reactions. But I still don't feel any warmer, and like Redfox, I crave chocolate (and more often than not, I eat it ) So I'll look into L-tyrosine too.

Since 2001 I have known that I have sub-clinical hypothyroidism (actually back then it was way worse, got much better for a while and last spring when I did my blood testing my T3 and T4 were within normal range and TSH was up to 12 - I think highest range is 4.500).

So for me, or any person with potential thyroid problems, from everything I read I think that Selenium is the most important supplement to take with iodine/iodide. And I have the theory that if my thyroid keeps getting the same amount of iodine everyday, one day after probably months or even a couple of years, it will relax and feel safe again that its food it is going to keep coming and there's no need for it to excrete more TSH than is necessary. So I am planning in about 6 months to go get another blood test and see how my thyroid behaves then. I'll keep you posted. Oh, and I take my salt-water (I personally love its taste, thank goodness!) supporting supplements and iodine as in the schedule Laura suggested.

 

[Dirgni]

It is interesting to notice how many of you are having what are plainly bromine/fluorine/chlorine detox symptoms at fairly low doses.

It is very interesting. Brownstein talks about only 5% of the people he treated had detox symptoms and apparently he dosed many of them quite high from the beginning (12 - 50 mg or higher).

I also started it with a pretty low dose and low and behold, had rather strong detox symptoms right away at the first day. They are getting better now at the third day, I'm still at a fairly low dose but there is definitely somekind of detox still going on. I'll compile a more detailed list/summary about my experience so far, the next couple of days.

It indeed seems like the people here are WAY over that 5% mark in Brownsteins book. Why? What is different with us?

What do many of us have in common that could account for this?

Two things come to mind: paleo/keto diet and smoking. Anything else you can think of, physically speaking?

So maybe, on a diet like we are on, things go a bit different in the iodine department. What, how and why could that be?

Brownstein started his Iodine Project around 1998 in US (I think) with US people. We are a couple of years years down the road and are quite international.

When there was iodine was in bread (in US - also in other countries?) until the 1970s then there may be less deficit during the first years or even decades in the lifes of his patients. Many of us were born later. It takes some time to write a book, so maybe these additional things like Fukushima, Monsanto etc. toxins, and additional "dirt" in the air thanks to fireballs and volcanoes and other earth changes may not (yet) be mirrored in his numbers.

I am still not really paleo/keto and a nonsmoker but got some detox symptoms (but no herx reactions as far as I can say).

Today is my ninth day. Last Thursday I took one drop of 12% Lugol after breakfast and got very tired quite fast. I slept about 1-2 hours that day morning. Next day I took one drop after breakfast and got tired again but did not have to sleep. I took another one after lunch and got slightly nauseous and quickly included the companion nutrients. So I decided to go back to one drop again the next day. On Saturday I got accidentally 2 drops after breakfast and again felt slightly nauseous and had other issues. So I decided to stay at one drop for the next time as I want to be able to work without too many issues. I still have to read more (Brownsteins book is still on the way but I read this thread and part of iodine crisis), so one reason more to go slow and observe.

The first days I got pain in the different joints, in which I had issues on and off the last couple of years. I also had pains in my shoulders and neck backbone and also one spot at my backbone a bit below my shoulder blades. But this is mostly away now. I am going to the toilette quite often now and the urine is very yellow with a distinct neon tinge (colour could be due to the B-vitamins and also Iodine). I also excrated stool more often than before and it is getting softer and lighter brown now. Around breakfast I sneeze for some time and produce a lot of phlegm. I do not have a cold and also do not sneeze like this the rest of the day.

I am sleeping much better and also longer during the first days. I am less tired and more focused / concentrated. Salt water is tasting ok for me but water with the Lugol drop is tasting really bad. A bit of apple cider acid did not improve this. But I take the co-factors with water quickly after so it is OK soon.

 

[Mark]

I started taking Lugol's today. Here's what I did, and the symptoms:

Upon waking I had 1/2 tsp salt in warm water. Then tea with 2g glycine. About an hour later was breakfast ( bacon, sausage, egg yolk ). Right after breakfast I had:

25mg Lugols ( 10mg iodine / 15mg iodide according to the maker's published specs )
B-100 complex
Niacinimide
NAC
Selenium
Boron

A few minutes after taking the Lugol's I felt a bit light-headed - hard to describe this sensation, not dizzy, not level headed, not thinking clear but not thinking through a fog either. An hour later and my head still felt odd ( and stayed that way for about 4 to 5 hours ), my body heat felt much warmer too.

Almost 2 hours later I took 2g vitamin C and 30 minutes later I felt a tad sleepy, and then that feeling went away mostly, although I could probably go lay down and pass out if I wanted to. About 6 hours after taking Lugol's my head didn't feel odd as it did before, felt Ok actually and got some work done, but a short while later came the monster headache - borderline migraine.

I'm thinking that I will probably skip an evening dose, seems I might be detoxing already.

 

[Kay Kim]

I have found some new information from,

The Guide to Supplementing with Iodine.

1. Iodine should be taken with food. This seems to enhance absorption as well as protecting sensitive stomach from potential upset.

2. The supporting nutrients can be taken with iodine with food.

So, I researched about goitrogenic foods- soy foods, kale, cabbage, like cruciferous vegetables, all of them
deactivate goitrogenic substance when cooking!

3. When to increase dosage?
Start increase slowly then some point, may experience detoxing issues, then after some time of supplementing no longer have an issue, it is at this point that may decide to increase the dosage to determine if further detoxing is needed by the body.
If detox symptom is too strong, then pulled back on the dosage to allow the body to keep up with the detoxing or pulse dosing protocol of 5 days of supplementation with 2 days off while continuing to take the supporting nutrients.

List of my new schedule

6 am- glass of warm celtic sea salted water.
8 am- breakfast, multi vitamin, Lugols, selenium, B2(riboflavin), B3(niacinamide)
9 am- vitamin C.
10 am- salted water.
1 pm- lunch, Lugols, B2, B3.
2 pm- vitamin C.
3 pm- salted water.
6 pm- dinner with apple cider vinegar water, magnesium glycinate.

 

[Bobo08]

Today is my 10th day of taking iodine. I'm using Lugol's solution 5% with salt water and vit B complex + multi vit. I went quickly from 2 drops the first day to 8 drops on the 3rd day and kept it at that level since then. My worst detox symptoms occurred on the first day (with 2 drops), when I felt tired, needing rest almost all day. But I pushed through and upped the dose anyway. Since then, I experienced only mild symptoms: some tiredness, stiff neck, a feeling of walking on cloud some times and some skin rash. On the plus side, my hands are really warm now, which is good because I always have cold hands and feet even in summer.

Looking back, I think Yas' hypothesis may be correct in my case in that the low dose of iodine energized / activated some things in my body, hence the tiredness on the first day; but it was quickly nipped in the bud by the higher dose.

 

[Masamune]

125 mg/day is already a pretty high dose. You may want to cut that back to 50mg/day (4 drops twice a day), especially if you are having visual disturbances! A bad detox reaction can happen overnight and if your kidneys aren't up to snuff....it could be difficult. Drink plenty of vitamin C, that will also help.

Okay, I'll lower my dose to 4 drops 2x a day and observe my detox symptoms.

Women do get urinary infections more frequently, men do not. In the latter case, there is usually something else going on that would make a one week antibiotic more suitable, other than addressing the root factor.

It may possibly be related to some kidney stone symptoms I was having earlier this year which I worked through with my alternative health doctor. I was fine for a while and then started to have some back pains recently so I went to the doctor and they had the urinalysis done.

You could also ask for amoxicillin - a 3mg dose of that will stop a UTI in its tracks as well.

If D-mannose and lugol doesn't do it, I would take an antibiotic. Before cipro and amoxicillin, I would try fosfomycin, a couple of doses of 3 grams and voilà. It often does the trick better than any other hard-core antibiotic of one week. If you have a predisposition for urine infection, then perhaps it is best to take a regular antibiotic for one week though.

From what I have seen fosfomycin is very expensive so it is not an option for me living in the US with no health insurance. My mother has amoxicillin that has an expiration date of Nov 2011. Would that be safe or effective to use? From what I've read online many say it is safe and many others say to not take it. Thanks for the help!

 

[3DStudent]

It's a 5% formula, and I started with 5 drops for a 12 mg dose.

One drop of 5% Lugol's should be 6.25mg of iodine, so 5 drops would be 31.25mg, no?

 

[Lilou]

[quote author= Masamune]
My mother has amoxicillin that has an expiration date of Nov 2011. Would that be safe or effective to use? [/quote]

I personally will use expired meds, as long as they have been stored some place dry and cool - and have not been exposed to direct sunlight. If your doctor will change the Rx to Amoxicillin 500 mg, three times a day, x 10 days - those are available at Wal-Mart for $4 and they are free at Meijers store (if they are in your area?). Always good to have them on hand.

 

[Lilou]

It's a 5% formula, and I started with 5 drops for a 12 mg dose.

One drop of 5% Lugol's should be 6.25mg of iodine, so 5 drops would be 31.25mg, no?

That is correct 3D student. 2 drops of 5% will be 12.5 mg. That is the dose I started with and I'm still using. Day 11 and so far, so good.

I prefer to take it after the salt water, on an empty stomach (it made me nauseous with food).

 

[Arwenn]

I was taking 8 drops of Lugols 5% (50mg) and noticed increased fatigue and headaches. So I've kicked it back to 4 drops once a day, and feeling better for it. I love the salt water, was having it when I started the keto diet, to combat leg cramps and headaches. My moods have been crappy though, so I might look at the L-tyrosine. Is anyone taking glycine as well? That came up in our Aussie Skype meetup, and I might look at getting some, if nothing else to use as a sweetner.

 

[Lilou]

I started taking Lugol's today. Here's what I did, and the symptoms:

Upon waking I had 1/2 tsp salt in warm water. Then tea with 2g glycine. About an hour later was breakfast ( bacon, sausage, egg yolk ). Right after breakfast I had:

25mg Lugols ( 10mg iodine / 15mg iodide according to the maker's published specs )
B-100 complex
Niacinimide
NAC
Selenium
Boron

A few minutes after taking the Lugol's I felt a bit light-headed - hard to describe this sensation, not dizzy, not level headed, not thinking clear but not thinking through a fog either. An hour later and my head still felt odd ( and stayed that way for about 4 to 5 hours ), my body heat felt much warmer too.

Almost 2 hours later I took 2g vitamin C and 30 minutes later I felt a tad sleepy, and then that feeling went away mostly, although I could probably go lay down and pass out if I wanted to. About 6 hours after taking Lugol's my head didn't feel odd as it did before, felt Ok actually and got some work done, but a short while later came the monster headache - borderline migraine.

I'm thinking that I will probably skip an evening dose, seems I might be detoxing already.

That's a pretty big dose to jump right to if you're not having any issues. I'd definitely skip a second dose, and drink another gram or two of vitamin C. More salt water will help too.

I know what you mean about the light headed sensation. I do get that in passing, but nothing that lasts for long. Sorry to hear about the headache. You may have really shocked your system. I think the slow and steady method is best.

12.5mg daily is what most of the iodine docs are recommending as a starting point. They use 50 mg/day for cancers and fairly serious health conditions. 1-5mg as a daily supplement, once a lab test determines the tissues are saturated in iodine.