Hi my name is Julie, I am 49 years old and been living with underactive thyroid since 2004.
I have recently been looking into taking iodine supplements as my neck as swollen and feels suffocating..I have also put weight on, although I do excercise twice a day. (Yoga)The reason I looked into iodine supplements is that I don't eat much fish or dairy products(maybe once every 3 months I'll eat apiece of fish) , I do have milk every day (in coffee and sometimes cereals) and cheese maybe once a fortnight. My question is does anyone with a underactive thyroid take iodine?and is it safe to do so? My energy levels are so low aswell.
Any advice is appreciated thank you
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juils1
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It's advised to test before supplementing with iodine. As iodine solution used to be used to treat hypERthyroidism before the current radioactive iodine treatment, and the fact that it can make hypOthyroidism worse, you need to know if you are iodine deficient before supplementing. If you are deficient then supplementing should be under the guidance of an experienced practioner as there is a protocol to follow.
The best test is a non-loading urine test which can be done with Genova Diagnostics. The test code is END25 and details of how to order are here, along with a link to the pdf showing available tests:
Thank you so much for this information. I will make an appointment to see my GP..I am always looking into alternatives that will help my thyroid naturally as sometimes I dont feel levothyroxine is enough or doing its job. I'm appreciate that you answered pretty fast as I was going to start on iodine,but i think it would be better to find out from my doctor first ..thank you so much. 🙂
It's not really your thyroid you want to help. Once you are on thyroid hormone replacement, the actual thyroid gland is out of the equation because the pituitary senses that you are taking exogenous hormone, reduces TSH, and without that stimulation the thyroid stops working.
In any case, iodine does not 'help the thyroid work'. Iodine is just one of the ingredients of thyroid hormone, that's all. So, not much point in taking it when your thyroid isn't even making thyroid hormone anymore. It would be like shoving a bowl of flour into a cold oven, and hoping to produce a cake. It doesn't work.
Levo's 'job' is to convert to T3, the active hormone - levo is the storage hormone, T4, and isn't a 'cure' for a sick thyroid, nor something to help your thyroid work. It is replacement thyroid hormone, replacing the hormone your thyroid can no-longer make. And, it is perfectly possible that it isn't doing it's job - i.e. converting into T3. But, to know that, you need to get your FT4 tested at the same time as your FT3, and then compare them. But, as doctors won't even test FT4 most of the time, let alone the FT3, you will probably have to do it privately.
So, what do you do if do find you have a problem converting T4 to T3? Well, the first thing to do is test your nutrients, because low nutrients can affect conversion. And most hypos have low nutrients because they have low stomach acid, making digestion of food and absorption of nutrients difficult.
So, the private test that you do should include:
TSH
FT4
FT3
TPO antibodies
Tg antibodies
vit D
vit B12
folate
ferritin.
When you get that lot done, you'll have a better idea what's going on. Post the results - and ranges! - on here and people will explain them to you. Detials of private testing here:
Levothyroxine contains iodine so you likely don’t need any.....if you are on high enough dose levothyroxine
How much levothyroxine are you currently taking
Do you always get same brand of levothyroxine
When were thyroid and vitamin levels last tested
For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also EXTREMELY important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12
Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially if you have autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's) diagnosed by raised Thyroid antibodies
About 90% of primary hypothyroidism is autoimmune thyroid disease
Ask GP to test vitamin levels (and thyroid antibodies if not been tested)
Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and before eating or drinking anything other than water .
Last dose of Levothyroxine 24 hours prior to blood test. (taking delayed dose immediately after blood draw).
This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip)
Is this how you do your tests?
Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or thyroid antibodies or all relevant vitamins
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