Help understanding my Iodine lab result - Thyroid UK

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Help understanding my Iodine lab result

JIssenmann profile image
19 Replies

Hello group, I need help, please. I have hypothyroidism and beginning the 22nd of July I started taking 50 mg of Lugol 5%. A week later, I went for a test for my iodine level. In France, my lab doesn't do iodine "loading" test. They took it by blood and the result is as such:

3 455,0 µg/l N: 40,0 à 100,0

27 225 nmol/l N: 315 à 788

Can someone, please tell me what it means? I'd say that I have low iodine in my body. Your help is greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!

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19 Replies
SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering

Jlissenmann

What you really should have done is test iodine before starting to supplement. You need to know your normal iodine level to know whether you are deficient and need supplements, or whether you are in range and don't need supplements.

The iodine loading test isn't a good idea apparently, taking iodine before a test then testing doesn't make a lot of sense, it doesn't give you your normal level.

Your actual results don't make a lot of sense, in the UK we don't write figures in that way.

I think it may be fairly obvious that the ranges are

40,0 à 100,0 = 40-100

and

315 à 788 = 315-788

but I don't understand what these results are:

3 455,0 - is that 3 thousand 4 hundred and 55 decimal point zero, which we would write as 3,455.0 or what?

And

27 225 is that 27 thousand 2 hundred and 25 (27,255) or 27 decimal point 225 (27.225)

Without clarification it's not really possible to interpret your results.

JIssenmann profile image
JIssenmann in reply toSeasideSusie

Hi, Seaside Susie, thank you for the reply but I am as blind as you that's why I posted the question! I have never done this before so I am not familiar with the value of it. My GP never had a request for iodine test in all his 35 years career either so I am not sure if he'd understand it. I had it tested after watching a video by Dr. Jorge Flechas about iodine deficiency which causes us to be hypothyroidism amongst other ailments. youtube.com/watch?v=kZ-iDbg...

SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering in reply toJIssenmann

Jlissenmann

Hypothyroidism can possibly be caused by iodine deficiency, but the most common cause is autoimmune thyroiditis which is where antibodies are present and attack the thyroid until it is gradually destroyed. There are other causes of hypothyroidism too - trauma, childbirth, Epstein Barr Virus, plus others. So it makes sense to test your iodine level first. If you are not deficient then supplementing with iodine can make hypothyroidism worse, particularly so if it is autoimmune as it can trigger the antibody attacks.

But you haven't explained about the actual result, it's not possible for us in the UK to understand what the numbers are. ICan you explain the units of the results ie tens or hundreds or thousands?

JIssenmann profile image
JIssenmann in reply toSeasideSusie

Seaside Susi, like I said, I have NO CLUE! I am an American. My autoimmune is fine and dandy - been monitored for a year now. Three years ago, I was tested for Lyme disease and EBV due to neuropathy problem and yes, I had those two (Lyme and EBV) but they were dormant and the doctor didn't know when I got them) but my GP couldn't do anything about it then as they both were dormant. I have been watching dr. Jorge Flechas' videos which give me more understanding about my hypothyroidism! What I learned, this hypothyroidism came about when I took Prozac and Xanax. Both are PURE 100% FLUORIDE (FLUOXETINE)! Fluoride blocks thyroid receptors which then disable the pituitary gland to produce iodine sufficiently. I'd think you'd learn a lot from his videos, too. Give yourself a chance to watch them...

SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering in reply toJIssenmann

Your EBV is very likely to be more to do with your hypothyroidism, as you know you had the virus, than guessing about an iodine deficiency you don't know whether you had before you started taking iodine.

JIssenmann profile image
JIssenmann in reply toSeasideSusie

According to what I learned, if we're deficient then it takes about 6 months to saturate the body to achieve the level of needed iodine and I only had taken it for 5 days when I had tested for it so I suppose, I was "ok" because if they were doing "loading" test then that's what I had to do, taking 50 mg of Lugol 5% 24 hrs prior to the test. I learned about being hypothyroidism on Dec. 2017 while Lyme and EBV test was done over 2 years prior to getting hypothyroidism.

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toJIssenmann

Technically there are several things wrong with that. Fluoxetine is around 18% fluorine by weight. The fluorine in fluoxetine is covalently bonded so it is wrong to refer to it as fluoride.

I simply do not understand what you mean by which then disable the pituitary gland to produce iodine sufficiently?

greygoose profile image
greygoose in reply toJIssenmann

The pituitary doesn't produce iodine. It produces TSH - among other hormones. Fluoride doesn't block thyroid receptors, it just takes the place of… No, that's just too weird. That's not how it works at all.

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toSeasideSusie

I think your interpretation is spot on.

3,455.0 µg/l

27,225 nmol/l

Whether expressed in micrograms per litre of nanomoles per litre, that is massively high. For clarity 3,455.0 µg/l is EQUAL TO 27,225 nmol/l - just expressed in different units.

It is widely suggested that we need 150 micrograms of iodine a day. 50 milligrams is about 333 times that.

It is completely without surprise that the results show an iodine level that is very high.

Depending on where you look, you might see that total iodine content of a human body is around 15 milligrams.

ign.org/cm_data/2001_Hays_E...

Obviously that could be a bit higher or lower depending on things like size of the body! But it serves as a starting point.

Assuming that a week is seven doses of 50 milligrams, that equates to around 23 times the entire iodine content of a human body. The results are about 34 times top of range. Seems quite feasible to me.

SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering in reply tohelvella

Thanks helvella

Hopefully JIssenmann reads your post and sees that this was what I was trying to understand regarding the actual result.

JIssenmann profile image
JIssenmann in reply tohelvella

Hi Helvella, thank you for the reply. What I assume with the numbers is to indicate that I secret that high amount of iodine for the reason which means then I am "deficient" because what left behind is very little. No, that's NOT what I learned about the level of our daily need of iodine. That's what the FDA tells us. The Japanese consume 13.8 mg/day and dr. Jorge Flechas and David Brownstein advise us to take a min of 12.5 mg/day contrary to what dr. Guy Abraham where his protocol advises us to saturate with 50 mg/day till we're sufficient then take 25mg/day for maintenance. optimox.com/iodine-study-5

greygoose profile image
greygoose in reply toJIssenmann

What I assume with the numbers is to indicate that I secret that high amount of iodine for the reason which means then I am "deficient" because what left behind is very little.

Was it a urine test, then? No, you said it was a blood test. It tests what's in your blood, not what you excrete. That would be a urine test. What you have in your blood is an awful lot of iodine.

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toJIssenmann

There are many claims about Japanese consumption of iodine and many of them end actually saying that the highest amounts quoted are actually exaggerated for various reasons.

There are reasons to consider that supplementing with iodine after being deficient represents a significantly different state to having always had sufficient iodine. Intake which might be acceptable to some are not always acceptable to others. So saying the Japanese consume an amount does not imply that others can also tolerate that amount.

I am well aware that a small number of doctors do claim that high doses are desirable, necessary or at least tolerable. I am not convinced.

I apologise but I do not understand what you mean by tis sentence:

What I assume with the numbers is to indicate that I secret that high amount of iodine for the reason which means then I am "deficient" because what left behind is very little.

greygoose profile image
greygoose in reply toSeasideSusie

3 thousand 4 hundred and 55 decimal point zero. Yes. And 27 thousand 2 hundred and 55. :)

Presumably the 455 is much higher than 100 ... The 225 is much lower than 315.

JIssenmann profile image
JIssenmann in reply to

Hi Dulaigh, that's what I assume, too which then means they contradict one another. What does that mean? That's what I'd like to know...

in reply toJIssenmann

I would regard the (first numbers) 3 and 27 as machine identities of the tests. IN addition to D Jorge Fletches you might peruse the following Stephanie Buist at the same conference.

SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering in reply to

Maybe, but that doesn't explain what the 3 and the 27 are in front of the other numbers or whether they are actually part of the result.

3 455,0

27 225

I can't interpret results when I haven't a clue what the units are or what they mean.

SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator

If you have had EBV this can be cause of Hashimoto's

thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/resear...

drchristianson.com/epstein-...

If you have Hashimoto's then iodine is not recommended

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

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