What dose of iodine is recommended for those with hypothyroid?

[rjb112]

What dose of iodine is recommended for those with hypothyroid?

I don't consume any salt so need to supplement iodine.

I have seen recommendations for extremely high amounts of daily iodine, and also for none at all.

thanks

[Paula101]

Iodine is definitely not recommended to take, particularly if you have Hashimotos and a lot of hypothyroid patients have this.

Are you on Levo only, combination T3 & 4, NDT?

Have you any symptoms presently that you feel need addressing?

Post your latest results & members can help.

[rjb112 in reply to Paula101]

"Iodine is definitely not recommended to take, particularly if you have Hashimotos and a lot of hypothyroid patients have this.

"

I don't know if I have Hashimoto's because even though I have had hypothyroid for 15-20 years, none of my doctors have ever tested for thyroid antibodies. They only test TSH and free T4. I have not been successful getting them to order free T3.

"Are you on Levo only, combination T3 & 4, NDT?"

Levothyroxine only. I asked to take levothyroxine plus cytomel, but 3 different doctors said they don't

treat hypothyroid that way....only with synthroid.

"Have you any symptoms presently that you feel need addressing?"

I have symptoms, such as insomnia and a lower energy level. But when I sleep a lot more, my energy level is very much improved.

[Paula101 in reply to rjb112]

SlowDragon's advice is spot on, I'll take a look at the iodine link myself.

I remember when I slept more I was still lacking in energy & sometimes could feel worse.

It's a right ol' game this thyroid business 😉 If you get the tests done, post back with results and members will only be too happy to help.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

For full testing you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG antibodies

Plus vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

Guessing you might be in USA?

Link about why iodine is not a good idea

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

[rjb112 in reply to SlowDragon]

"Guessing you might be in USA?"

Yes......Los Angeles, CA.

When I have my next blood work, I'm going to push hard to get all the blood tests you mention in your post.....although for some reason getting a free T3 has been especially difficult !

Thanks very much for your reply, and for the article link on iodine.

Much appreciated.

[rjb112 in reply to SlowDragon]

In the article which you linked, it says: ".......I strictly prohibit iodine supplementation in my Hashimoto’s patients........."

I think I need to take some iodine, because:

1. I consume no salt

2. I eat a lot of Brassica vegetables (cruciferous vegetables), such as broccoli, kale, cabbage, collards, etc. Vegetables make up a huge part of my vegan diet.

But I don't know how much iodine I should take to offset the negative effects of a large Brassica consumption.......

Any ideas?

Is there a way to know or to calculate how many grams of Brassicas causes interference or lack of uptake of how many micrograms of iodine?

I know that consuming goitrogens from cruciferous vegetables AND having very low to no iodine intake is a very bad idea for the thyroid.

[humanbean in reply to rjb112]

Just out of curiosity, why don't you use any salt in or on your food?

[rjb112 in reply to humanbean]

"Just out of curiosity, why don't you use any salt in or on your food?"

There's a lot of people on an SOS free diet.......

No sugar, no oil, no salt.

Salt messes up the taste buds, and makes you not be able to taste the true taste of foods. It artificially stimulates the taste buds.

And it is very harmful to the blood pressure. It's one of the major reasons that hypertension is rampant world wide.

People on a truly salt free diet tend to have great blood pressures, very healthy.

There's even one indigenous group/tribe of people that consume no salt at all, and their blood pressure does not go up as they age. It stays at the super healthy levels of their early years.

"Salt" (sodium) is naturally plentiful in spinach, celery, chard, beets, carrots and many other vegetables and greens.

My blood/serum sodium is always completely normal, even though I have not consumed any salt or any foods that have salt added to them, for many many years.

[humanbean in reply to rjb112]

I think I'll stick with my salt and my olive oil. My BP is fine, and so is my sodium level. I use olive oil in my salad dressings and in some of my low-temperature cooking.

And too low a level of salt is considered unhealthy :

medicalnewstoday.com/articl...

If you are worried about your iodine intake why don't you get your level tested and then you'll know if you have an issue with it or not.

But if you do, make sure you get the right kind of test - a loading test is not a good one :

townsendletter.com/Jan2013/...

blog.zrtlab.com/flaws-in-th...

Good luck with your iodine questions.

[rjb112 in reply to humanbean]

humanbean, thanks for the linked article. I read it.

Try this one:

nutritionfacts.org/2018/08/...

Don’t Be Confused by Big Salt

Written By Michael Greger M.D. FACLM on August 14th, 2018

[Panda_26 in reply to rjb112]

I’m confused by the whole salt thing - agree that refined salt is a bad thing but is there an argument that natural unrefined sea-salt may be good in small doses ?

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to rjb112]

rjb112

I think I need to take some iodine, because:

1. I consume no salt

That doesn't necessarily mean our iodine level is low.

I don't add salt to food and I don't each much in the way of processed food so unlikely to get much there.

I tested my iodine a couple of years ago, the range was 100-199 and I was smack in the middle at 150, absolutely no sign of deficiency.

Before considering supplementing with iodine the least you should do is a non-loading urine test. Genova Diagnostics do one - this is the one I used and it establishes your existing levels

gdx.net/uk/product/urine-io...

[humanbean in reply to SeasideSusie]

Don't forget that UK salt is mostly non-iodized anyway. I think you can buy iodized salt in the UK but you'd probably have to make a special effort to do so. So whether you eat salt or not doesn't really affect your iodine level.

[rjb112 in reply to humanbean]

Thanks humanbean. I wasn't aware of that. Most of the salt I see in US supermarkets tends to be iodized salt. But I can't stand salt anyway. Gives me a ravenous thirst. I do better without any salt, and don't even like the taste of it.

[rjb112 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you very much SeasideSusie. I will look into that iodine test. I've heard iodine testing is unreliable so I've never read any articles on it, but now I need to.

[Angel_of_the_North]

Generally a zero dose if you have Hashis or any autoimmune disease. in fact Dr Christainason who is usually an iodine advocate recently mentioned the success of a low iodine diet for hashis. drchristianson.com/benefits... If you are hypo for another reason, you need to get iodine tested and supplement if you are deficient, but not otherwise.

[rjb112 in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

Thanks Angel_of_the_North. I've noticed on Amazon.com that many iodine supplements have these HUGE doses. These are not the huge doses for radiation. Apparently some people are taking huge doses of iodine or Lugol's for their thyroid? What's up with that?

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to rjb112]

Well. some people think it is a good idea, others don't.