I’m now on the eighth week of the protocol. It was begun with fairly low dosages – 2 drops of lugols 10% two times a day for a couple of weeks with two days a week off. Then, for a week I upped the dosage to 8 drops and then, on the fourth week, I doubled that to 8 drops twice a day. Up until then, I supplemented with B-Complex, Potassium, Selenium, Ubiquinol, NAC, and NADH (the activated form of B3) but added: vitamin B2, L-Tyrosine, Boron, salt water, and more recently, Milk Thistle and ALA.
Like some of us here, I was preparing to use antibiotics so, needless to say, I was very happy to see all the excellent research being presented here as a far easier to do alternative. Having said this, by the end of the high-dosage 4th week at 16 drops, I experienced the eye twitching and at least two days of really tough depression. I had also experienced some strong tiredness. And more memory of dreams.
I had a bout of shingles about a year and a half ago which was treated with antibiotics, so this was, in part, a reason to do the protocol. But a bigger issue is a mitochondrial energy-production issue I have which, if the research is correct, may be ameliorated somewhat by iodine. This is the reason I was already taking the supplements mentioned above in addition to eating Keto, and exercising, which seems to have benefited me. And the reason why I wanted to try the relatively high dosage of iodine.
Should probably mention that I had all my amalgam fillings removed a few years ago, and also addressed heavy metal toxicity using chlorella, the dmsa protocol, far-infrared blanket, and supplementation with nac/glutathione/milk thistle/ala, coffee enemas, and EDTA. So I suppose the symptoms of heavier iodine dosaging could have been worse all things considered, and particularly with what Joe has related in his experience.
On the subject of feeling sick, down, depressed, etc. like several of us here, I was very heartened to read Joe’s account because it only goes to show that these effects happen to the very best of us and we can use his example of reaching out to both help ourselves, and pave the road for others who either are or may experience something similar. And if the great response to Dr. Gaby's article is any indication, there may be a lot of folks learning from this thread even if they don't post or are even members of the forum.
There may be a big emotional/psychological component to doing the iodine detox (or any serious detoxifying it seems). It's as though there are cells or physical memories of emotions and psychological states that are getting dredged up and released but also re-experienced as the process is occurring. Or, if it isn't quite this, the very process of detoxing causes us to feel ‘low’ as we know during a lot of illnesses. And this 'feeling low' somehow gets associated in our minds to memories of our worst mental states and so we seem to experience those mental states then. Just speculating here though.
One example of how this might occur was illustrated in a TV show I once saw, which I always thought was pretty insightful: The main character wakes up in the middle of the night and says to his wife, "I feel terrible! My life is terrible! I feel like I'm going through a mid-life crises". Then he runs to the bathroom, throws up, and then says, "No -- the fish I ate for dinner was bad!"
So just another way to understand it maybe. But when we're going though it, it can be awful tough I know. Something that has helped me is just friendly interactions with people I feel close to. Friendly, funny, caring communication about anything at all. It sustains me when I'm going through something in general, and I think that just being that way with others helps them too. Thank god for humor too! And that we don't have to suffer alone.
At the same time though, I try to remember why I'm doing this: Its being proactive for the future. And no matter how unpleasant it may be at points, the doing of it adds immeasurably to the chances of being less sick and incapacitated later on – when we want, and will need to be, strong and functional.
Getting back to the protocol, I’ve ramped down to 3 drops of Lugols a day which seem to be fine. No super-bursts of energy or cognitive skills yet, but that’s ok. I took the muscle test a few weeks ago and according to that, 6 drops a day would be optimal (which is strangely what I guessed would be good for me). So I think I’ll be going up to 6 again soon.
