Iodine and Potassium Iodide

[Chu]

I think the problem here is that most people, like Haskell, are focused on iodine for thyroid problems, and it seems reasonable to sound a warning about using a "one size fits all" approach when it comes to that. There are clearly many different body 'types' and that probably means different thyroids and their functioning. So the appropriate thing to do in that case is, as Laura has been saying throughout this discussion, to take it very slowly. Start off with 1 drop per day and pay close attention to any reactions, both physical, mental and emotional over a period of say, two weeks. If there are no real effects, then move on to two drops and repeat the process.

Now that's just for thyroid function. BUT we are also considering iodine for 'critter killing' and 'detox' which is a whole different application. Iodine is probably very effective for amoeba/virus/detox treatment and if it were ONLY for that purpose and ONLY had that effect we could possibly take the 'nuclear' approach by using higher doses. Unfortunately, iodine as amoeba/virus/detox treatment can't be separated from its direct and probably PRIMARY effect on the thyroid.

So a minimal initial dose and close observation seems to be the responsible approach to take.

Indeed, and I would imagine that even for the nuking option, there isn't a "one size fits all" approach either. What "nukes" critters in one person might be very different to the amount another person needs to reach the same effects, and to do so safely. And, if by taking too much all of a sudden you damage your thyroid and stress your body, I doubt that it will be very productive when it comes to "nuking". So, slowly, slowly, and paying close attention to the effect each extra drop has, is the way to go, as others have said many times.

 

[Gaby]

Some thoughts and observations:

- Dr. Haskell explains how the thyroid gets inflamed by so much hydrogen peroxide. Dr. Brownstein argues the same which is why he highlights the need of cofactors and antioxidants in those predisposed and/or those who have autoimmune diseases. When there is a proper metabolism of iodide to iodine with safe levels of hydrogen peroxide, there is the possibility of healing from conditions like Hashimoto's. Selenium is very important for these patients, but also going very slowly on the iodine.

- Dr. Haskell also describes cases of hyperfunctional nodules. It might be the case that these were not necessarily produced by high doses of iodine per se, but was already there as part of an autoimmune disease or a structural disease. Dr. Haskell describes how detox was enough to treat one of his patients and no surgical removal of the thyroid gland was needed. This is indicative of the necessity of complementary supplements and detox in order to decrease the fire of oxidative stress. Clearly, if there are hyperthyroidism symptoms plus oxidative stress, the iodine dose should have been much lower and just enough to allow healing (as opposed to complicating things), which is why starting with the lowest dose is the safest. Dr. Browstein explains that in his experience (and his colleagues' experience) the only cases were iodine was contraindicated was in hyper functional autonomous nodules. As I understand it, no amount of detox or carefulness will get rid of those, only surgical removal of the independent hyper functional autonomous nodule. Other nodules could be actually due to at least iodine deficiency coupled with too much toxicity, oxidative stress, gluten intolerance and other environmental factors (other than the genetic susceptibility). That doesn't mean that the treatment is high doses of iodine. On the contrary, taking it easy and taking the necessary supplements and doing detox seems to be the key.

- In case of suspicion of autoimmune thyroid disease, other than having a full panel on the thyroid gland: TSH, T3, T4... the thyroid antibodies need to be monitored.

- For those with breast and ovarian disease, potassium iodide is most probably not enough as we have reviewed in this thread. Supplementing at least a minimal amount in the form of iodine seems to be needed.

- It might be difficult for a person to distinguish die-off Herx reactions and iodine/bromide detox troubleshooting.

I'll do some self-muscle testing, then I'll ask someone to test me next week and compare the results. So far, I had some 3mg of iodine per day (lugol 3% one drop). It is clear to me that it is not enough for my chronic fatigue. I take 18mg or so and I feel great, but I cannot take that dose in two consecutive days. This is why I'm doing pulse therapy, 18mg and two days off and if I feel there is too much detox reactions, I switch to one drop in pulsed therapy. Hopefully the muscle testing will help clarify.

I also wanted to share that I've always been very allergic to onions, garlic, and other spices. Somewhere between my last cycles of metro (from the autoimmune antibiotic protocol) and the beginning of iodine therapy, this stopped. Now I'm eating garlic and onions practically every single day without the side effects I used to have :)

My 2 cents!

 

[Bo]

A small update.

Currently on 2 drops (12,5mg). Nothing noteworthy. The flu like symptoms I had in the first week with 1 drop dissapeared in that week rather quickly. I don't feel any changes, like any energy boosts or whatever. I did have some weird dreams not sure if its related to the iodine, but that's all. I also stopped with the Co-factors as an experiment for myself to see how things will be after a few months. (A note: I still use salt every morning)

Anyway, I will stay on 2 drops as recommended and not go higher.

 

[Persej]

In fact, I'm wondering if just plain potassium iodide is not good enough for most people?

Well, Dr. Haskell says in that video that too much iodide is the problem because it transforms into iodine in the thyroid which creates too much hydrogen peroxide which inflames the thyroid. And he says on 7:38: "but the problems happen with too much iodide".

And Dr. Brownstein says this in his book (pages 105, 106, 108, 110, 112):

6-iodolactone is not only important for preventing cancer, its production is also necessary to help regulate the oxidation of iodine.
...

If there is not enough iodine in the cell to organify and produce adequate amounts of 6-iodolactone, it can set the stage for damage to the thyroid cell and the development of an autoimmune thyroid disorder such as Hashimoto's or Graves' disease.
...

If there is a deficiency in iodine, which is common when ingesting the RDA for iodine, there will not be enough substrate (i.e., iodine) to produce iodinated lipids. As can be seen from Figure 10, the lack of 6-iodolactone and other iodinated lipids results in a loss of the 'brake' in the pathway to oxidize iodide. This may result in a temporary production of too much hydrogen peroxide. This excess hydrogen peroxide can damage the enzyme TPO.
...

So what can you do?
As shown in Figure 10, providing enough iodine to produce iodo-lipids (e.g., 6-iodolactone) is a start.
...

If iodine levels are low, I recommend taking enough iodine to ensure that there will be enough substrate to organify (iodinate) lipids.

So it seems that too much iodide is the problem, not iodine.

 

[SummerLite]

My latest experience with iodine, I suspect this is related to the iodine but not sure. I've been taking 1 drop of the 5% for the last 2 weeks merely as a supplement. On Monday (2 days ago) I didn't take any. The following morning I awoke with a stomach "bug" and rushed to the bathroom to vomit followed by diarrhea, and this occurred several more times (sorry for the graphic details). I slept most of the day and following night. I'm much better today. I've been around people who have had this bug for a few weeks so my theory is I've been infected but the iodine has kept it at bay until I stopped then...wham! I wasn't taking enough iodine to kill the bug but it wasn't making me sick either.

I've noticed people saying here, on the days they dont take the iodine they feel worse, as the detox symptoms are more exaggerated I believe. So this I've considered but I do think it was a bug, could be wrong. I suggest if your being exposed to something, dont stop taking the iodine. I considered taking more iodine or a higher dose while sick but my poor stomach refused so didn't.

Another thing I noticed is I do better taking the iodine on a full stomach and just after breakfast usually. One day I took it on a rather empty stomach and shortly after had a attach of low blood sugar that sent me quickly looking for something to eat.

 

[lilies]

Any way to test that this is really Potassium Iodide?

This is what will arrive:

Potassium Iodide Crystalline powder - 50 grams USP grade 99+% Pure KI crystals
http://www.ebay.com/itm/171829049735

I bought from User ID jwheld (Feedback score 1555)
99.5% positive feedback, from 437 Positive 0Neutral 2Negative(1 not arrived, 1 wrong shipping address)

A white powder will sit before me and I don't have a Star-Trek Tricorder to point it to the powder and immediately receive a spectroscopic analysis.

Any way to test that its the real thing? Or I just take it: what are the effects? I plan to take 100mg to take care of not healing scar on left ankle (tiny varicose veins focal point) and red plaque on arm. Latter I managed to make disappear spotless with long topical application of DMSO+ fresh galric. Now with the iodine protocol I want to experiment, at what KI-dose the skin problems will fade and disappear. I'm taking 10000IU Vitamin A since a couple of days.

EDTA also definitely helped to fade the red plaque. This type of fungi probably went to remission, since it came out on the same spot, where I made it disappear spotless months ago.

Approx. 1.5 years ago I bruised both skin areas around the armpit by practicing firefighter pole-climbing without use of legs, climbing with just the arms. In a public place, where many people grab the same iron gymnastic poles and some of them probably with questionable hygiene. In the summer. The old t-shirts inseams were hardened by the many washing and mediocre shirt-material. That bruised my skin, which I probably managed to get fungi-poisoned by scratching the itching skin _and_ using the parallel bars, holding my weight exactly on the skin area around the armpits, these iron bars have seen also much public use and grabbing.

Always had sensitive skin.

 

[Tristan]

I purchased the lugol Dr Clark's formula. The label reads 5 mg per drop.
Today I started the entire protocol with all such supplements. I put 3 drops. Everything seems ok, this morning I felt more awake than usual.
Tomorrow I plan to go up to 4 drops (20mg)
I am also taking boron because of my musculoskeletal problems.

 

[SummerLite]

Gaby today:

- It might be difficult for a person to distinguish die-off Herx reactions and iodine/bromide detox troubleshooting.

Yes! Is it possible this wasn't a bug I experienced but rather the detox system? If so it was very pronounced and only after taking a very low dose for 2 weeks.

 

[Persej]

My latest experience with iodine, I suspect this is related to the iodine but not sure. I've been taking 1 drop of the 5% for the last 2 weeks merely as a supplement. On Monday (2 days ago) I didn't take any. The following morning I awoke with a stomach "bug" and rushed to the bathroom to vomit followed by diarrhea, and this occurred several more times (sorry for the graphic details). I slept most of the day and following night. I'm much better today. I've been around people who have had this bug for a few weeks so my theory is I've been infected but the iodine has kept it at bay until I stopped then...wham! I wasn't taking enough iodine to kill the bug but it wasn't making me sick either.

My mother caught the same bug from her friend this Saturday. Also a lot of vomiting together with diarrhea and fever. She is better now but still hasn't fully recovered.

I was taking iodine all this time and had no stomach problems.

On the other side, a couple of weeks ago I started feeling very weak again (I have hearth problems). And my nightmares also came back. But once I started taking Lugol's my nightmares disappeared! The only things that managed to stop my nightmares before were antibiotics and some anti-parasitic herbal protocol that I was taking. And now this. I still have dreams, but just not the bad ones. So iodine is certainly doing something good in my body.

But I still don't feel much improvement with my hearth. I do feel a little better now, but that could be because of the salt water or vitamin C.

The only detox side effect so far (10 days) was twitching of my left eyelid. It lasted for two days and then it stopped.

 

[Mrs.Tigersoap]

I can't view it either (from Germany), and found nothing so far about a navel tap, but this one about allergy tapping on the back, but don't know about its reliability: _https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhBBWMbOd30

For the sake of clarity, it's not a navel tap, it's an allergy tap. I could not find any (good) videos of the allergy tap - I have no idea if the one you linked is reliable, as I have never used that one. Personally, I do the following:

You need to tap for about 30 seconds, one set of points after the other with the allergen placed just below the navel:

Bladder 1 –tap beside the nose at the inner corner of the eyes.

Kidney 27 – tap just below the collar bone, beside the breast bone and above the first rib.

Bladder 67 – tap outside edge of the little toes, just below the nail cuticle.

Kidney 1 – tap centre of the balls of the feet.

Stomach 1 – tap cheekbones, just below the centre of the eyes.

Stomach 45 – tap outside edge of the second toes, just below the nail cuticle.

Spleen 1 –tap inner edge of the big toes, just below the nail cuticle.

Spleen 21 – tap measure along the torso halfway between the armpit and the elbow.

These points are always tapped 'in mirror', that is to say both sides at the same time: both sides of the nose, both little toes, etc.

 

[Laura]

I purchased the lugol Dr Clark's formula. The label reads 5 mg per drop.
Today I started the entire protocol with all such supplements. I put 3 drops. Everything seems ok, this morning I felt more awake than usual.
Tomorrow I plan to go up to 4 drops (20mg)
I am also taking boron because of my musculoskeletal problems.

Tristan, PLEASE READ THE WHOLE THREAD UP TO DATE!!!

 

[Jacques]

I have been on Lugol's for 10 days and I have found the best way to get the dose and cofactors right is to do muscle testing beforehand. I have built up to 15 drops a day and if you ask the body beforehand it will tell you the correct answer (eg the number of drops for that day). Same for cofactors, if you stay strong when holding eg selenium you can then ask the correct dose too.

It takes the guesswork out of it all as the body knows what it needs and will give you the correct answer every time. If you want to know how to muscle test, search youtube or google it.

I think this might be a good idea for those who are able to do it. What method do you use and exactly how do you determine the dosage? I was thinking about putting doses of lugols on strips of tissue paper and running through them one at a time to find out which one was ideal since one can't exactly put a pill or two in the hand for testing.

It is best to muscle test with a partner with arm outstretched with the partner pressing down for strength or weakness to any question. (See David Hawkins 'Power vs Force' approach). It is possible to do it with the thumb and ring finger method, but not as accurate IMO. You can also get yes/no answers to questions with a pendulum. I am a bit weird in that I have a 'yes' answering system going on with my feet. If I ask a question I get a muscle twitch in my right foot if the answer is 'strong' or no twitch at all if the answer is weak. This is beyond my conscious mind's control, but you can give permission for this to occur for muscle testing purposes if you wish for yourself. You can ask the body any question and it will respond with either strength (energy) or weakness (lack of energy). Getting the dosage right is asking enough questions that can be a yes or no answer.

Indeed that is a very good method. My partner and I are using the method describes par John Thie and his son Matthew. But as we learnt, we must make sure that we have an opened channel first, otherwise the answers could be not accurate.

Very good book about that :
http://smile.amazon.com/Touch-Health-paperback-John-Thie/dp/087516871X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450293369&sr=8-1&keywords=john+thie

In french : http://www.amazon.ca/SANT%C3%89-PAR-TOUCHER-THIE-JOHN/dp/2813206016/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450293681&sr=8-1&keywords=la+sant%C3%A9+par+le+toucher

 

[lilies]

Gaby today:

- It might be difficult for a person to distinguish die-off Herx reactions and iodine/bromide detox troubleshooting.

Yes! Is it possible this wasn't a bug I experienced but rather the detox system? If so it was very pronounced and only after taking a very low dose for 2 weeks.

At 50mg of Lugols 2%, one Friday, one day before a salt flush weekend, I had a memory of the feeling: In the pre-paleo years I always caught a stomach bug, every year around November-December. Fever and difficulty of digesting food, same phenomena you recounted, but to a lesser extent.

Now on iodine - doing intermittent fasting and fasted sprinting - the memory of these past sicknesses were activated. It began as a very strange pseudo fever, without physical symptoms, which always were ear inflammation, tremendous hurting of the throat, spreading to the lungs, causing intense coughs of various sorts. I was always forced to pay Big Pharma and suffer a lot, worse with age.

But now on iodine I only got a feeling of a memory: my ears felt hot [reminder of fevers in the past ] and that strange remote feeling in the stomach that rekindled memories of how that yearly stomach bug felt. Both in form of reminders only for one night, then the feelings were gone.

 

[Djc123]

Gaby today:

- It might be difficult for a person to distinguish die-off Herx reactions and iodine/bromide detox troubleshooting.

Yes! Is it possible this wasn't a bug I experienced but rather the detox system? If so it was very pronounced and only after taking a very low dose for 2 weeks.

At 50mg of Lugols 2%, one Friday, one day before a salt flush weekend, I had a memory of the feeling: In the pre-paleo years I always caught a stomach bug, every year around November-December. Fever and difficulty of digesting food, same phenomena you recounted, but to a lesser extent.

Now on iodine - doing intermittent fasting and fasted sprinting - the memory of these past sicknesses were activated. It began as a very strange pseudo fever, without physical symptoms, which always were ear inflammation, tremendous hurting of the throat, spreading to the lungs, causing intense coughs of various sorts. I was always forced to pay Big Pharma and suffer a lot, worse with age.

But now on iodine I only got a feeling of a memory: my ears felt hot [reminder of fevers in the past ] and that strange remote feeling in the stomach that rekindled memories of how that yearly stomach bug felt. Both in form of reminders only for one night, then the feelings were gone.

These cells memories may be activated by the iodine which goes to every cell of the body and wakes them up. I think this is a good thing. I had lower back pain today which I have not had for years which needed self massage to fix, and I have not hurt my back in any way (possibly lymph pain?).

I have found that some dormant emotions can be awoken too. EFT or FasterEFT is brilliant at moving through these memories and releasing the cell stress. Also massaging acupuncture points (especially sore ones) really aid in moving energy throuh the meridians. (See books by Donna Eden).

 

[RedFox]

I had lower back pain today which I have not had for years which needed self massage to fix, and I have not hurt my back in any way (possibly lymph pain?).

Around the kidney area? Are you having enough salt water/water?