Iodine

[hemerocallis]

I’m confused about whether iodine is helpful or harmful for hypothyroidism. Can anyone clarify this for me?

[greygoose]

It's only helpful if your hypothyroidism is caused by iodine deficiency. So, you need to get tested. And, if you are deficient, you need to find a doctor capable of treating you with iodine - it's not as simple as just taking a pill.

Excess iodine is harmful. It can lower your levels even further, because it's anti-thyroid. It can also trigger Hashi's.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Both Dr K and Izabella Wentz advise anyone with Hashimoto’s to be extremely careful and best avoided

drknews.com/iodine-and-hash...

thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

[granula1980]

I'm diagnose with overactive thyroid and my endo (after 4 years treatment with carbimazole) told me I can have Iodine treatment or removal surgery... I have decided for surgery (pls dont judge) as I'm working with people at airport and cant be away or be unpaid for leave 4 weeks becuase I'm radioactive or some shit anyway I'm worried about gaining weight AGAIN as I gained on carbimazole 25kg and already look like pig with my 158cm height. Anyone can have any info? I read some posts about armour thyroid and NDT?

[madge1979]

Marta ..Why don’t you start a new discussion on the HYPERThyroid

Board .. as it would draw more attention and you’d get more answers that way ..

Also if you have your blood results write them out in full including figures in brackets

Which are your lab results .

Mx🌹

[Mauds]

I have Hashis and due to other illness I need to have yearly CT Scans. They contain Iodine I they always effect me. They completely drain my body about a week after I've taken the contrast. If you have Hashis I would keep away from it.

[Davidc555]

It is obvious that there is a lot of Iodine phobia in this group. If you either read Dr David Brownsteins excellent book Iodine - Why you need it - Why you can't live without it or any of his You Tube presentations he shows VERY clearly that thyroid disease is caused by iodine deficiency !!

Also check out Lynne Farrow's book- Iodine -What you don't know about it can wreck your life.She cured her breast cancer with Iodine.

I have Hashimotos and have been tested as deficent and am now on 1000mg of Iodine and never felt better.

If you take low doses of it it will make you feel ill. The RDA of 150mcg is obscenely low. Normal thyroid glad uses up to 30-50mg per day !!

Every cell in the human body needs iodine especially when we are exposed to toxic halides,bromine,flouride,and chlorine which all displace iodine.

Read and understand what Iodine does and how we can't be without it.

Best wishes

David

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Davidc555]

Davidc555,

Are you really saying you are taking a whole GRAM of iodine every day?

The lethal oral dose has been reported to be 2 to 3 grams.

cdc.gov/niosh/idlh/7553562....

It is one thing for you to take what is possibly one third of the human lethal dose.

It is quite another for you to recommend that to others.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to helvella]

I'd also point out that current official world reserves of iodine would only support this dose for the world population for about two and a half years.

[bekayee in reply to Davidc555]

Please do not supplement with iodine unless you are tested for deficiency and working with a physician.

Do not fall for the internet articles advising 30-50mg (plus) per day. IT IS DANGEROUS.

I speak from experience on this matter.

I had healthy thyroid and then opted to begin taking 6mg of iodine per day for 4 months. I used iodine because I believed the online articles. I regret this immensely.

My TSH level flew up and I now have a goitre and 2-inch nodules (per ultrasound). I am now dealing with terrible throat reflux as well, which the doctors believe is related to the hypothyroid state.

I just don't want anyone to suffer as I have.

[Petronella]

My sister-in-law, who is a doctor, and I both suffer from hypothyroidism, and she recommends taking iodine daily to "kick-start the thyroid", so I take a kelp-extract pill (i.e. low dose iodine, & natural).

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Petronella]

Petronella,

On the basis that the phrase "kick-start the thyroid" doesn't appear even once on PubMed, would you and she be willing to explain what is actually meant?

How much kelp do you take (in terms of iodine content)?

There are plenty of sources which criticise kelp as so much is significantly polluted. So much for "natural".

[Dana100880]

Back in 2013 I started taking kelp tablets and within a couple of months I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and Graves. Never had thyroid problems before this. Could be coincidental but I did wonder if this played a part in me developing a overactive thyroid.

[Gambit62]

the thyroid needs iodine to function

however, there are numerous studies that show that high levels of iodine intake are also associated with high rates of hypothyroidism - which seems to be due to increase incidents of auto-immune hypothyroidism.

This tends to run in families. It also seems to affect more women than men.

There are strong reasons to suspect a latent genetic component - a genetic variant that needs something environmental (eg high levels of iodine in diet) to activate it but there seem to be so many possible genetic variants involved that it hasn't proved possible to tie down exactly what genetic variants are involved.

Sorry, but basically there isn't a clear answer to the questions - though if you have auto-immune hypothyroidism definitely best to control the amount of iodine in your food but not to the extent that you become iodine deficient.

[Dewberry1]

I was under the impression a normal western diet has enough iodine in it?