Iodine, it's role, and why it's important. - Page 6

[WildIris]

Originally Posted by artemis33

Wow - glad you bumped this - I missed it before.

WildIris - I also have a thyroid nodule - a large-ish one that has been there for about 15 years now. It recently started swelling a bit (I have that tight, something it stuck in there feeling - hate it!) and I've been trying to find info about how to shrink it with diet/herbs/etc. I have had 2 or 3 biopsies in that time that were thankfully negative but I get nervous when I feel any swelling going on. I'll check out the board you mentioned but was wondering if any natural treatments have worked for you. In the past it hasn't been quite big enough to bother me, so my ND and I (as well as the specialist I had seen) decided to'watch it but leave it be'. But now it is really annoying me My hormone levels are in the normal range.

Thanks!

Hi Artemis,

Keep in mind that I am no expert here and not giving you medical advice, blah blah blah disclaimer. :-) But what I have read about shrinking nodules is that can be helpful to keep the TSH suppressed (below 1) and keep the Free T4 and Free T3 at the top end of the normal range, like the top third of the range. My doctor concurs with this and this is the approach we are taking, knowing that it doesn't always work but sometimes does. I can't remember the statistical percentage of how often this works; something like 40%?

However, my nodule started to shrink before I started taking thyroid meds. I tried a lot of natural approaches (diet change and supplements) first, and saw a "slight but significant decrease" (that was the wording of my follow-up ultrasound report) in the nodule size. What I felt was key for me was avoiding dietary iodine (I know that ingesting excess iodine had contributed significantly to the growth of my nodule in the first place), taking selenium (100-200mcg/day), and other anti-inflammatory supplements like Vit C, MSM, and Vit E. I also try to keep my diet pretty clean of inflammatory foods, like sugar and excess grains.

You say your hormone levels are in the normal range; could you post lab numbers? They may be "normal" but not necessarily "optimal" for you, kwim? My numbers have never not been normal, but they are not ideal. Also, if you have certain antibodies they can mimic the TSH and skew the lab results, making everything look "normal" when it's not. So you have to go by the Frees (T4/T3) not the TSH. Sorry for the overly-simplistic explanation but it's late...

Please note that I am not anti-iodine; that might be the very thing you need to shrink your nodule. Maybe you could do a trial both ways--eliminate it for a month, and add it for a month, and see if you notice a difference?

The other thing to consider is food allergies. This is a whole new area for me, but I just found out last week I have a corn allergy. In just a few days of eliminating all the sources of corn I can find so far, I notice my throat feels a lot better. So I have to wonder if symptoms I have been attributing to my thyroid were actually caused by this food allergy? i.e., my throat swelling up because I'd ingested my allergen, not my thyroid swelling up or nodule expanding.

HTH,
Iris

[carnelian]

Any thoughts on this product ?

[quietserena]

bumping this tread since mentioned it somewhere...

[quelindo]

So strange that you bumped this thread, Serena. I JUST ordered Iodoral a few days ago. I really think I may have iodine deficiency and I'd been pondering it thanks to this thread and a few other sources.

[Punchy Kaby]

Originally Posted by WildIris

What worries me is that many people are starting iodine supplementation without being tested for ALL the antibodies... even Brownstein, I believe, will only test for the TSI antibodies if a person has hyperthyroid symptoms. But this is erroneous, in my view, because just as people with Hashi's can go through hyper phases, people with Graves can go through hypo phases. So it is important for anyone with signs and symptoms of thyroid disease to be tested for all of the antibodies. There can be a lot of crossover symptoms between hypo and hyper, Hashi's and Graves.

Combine all of this with the fact that when I ingest iodine-containing foods, my eye symptoms flare up and my thyroid swells up and my throat starts to feel tight, like I can't breathe right or swallow, and, well, you can imagine why I might want to see more convincing and specific research about iodine use in Graves disease before I would even consider supplementing.

I am just saying people should be careful and be aware that iodine supplementation is not going to be right for everyone.

Iris

I tried supplementing with potassium iodide and i got itchy eyes and a sore throat, sneezing, very tired. I had been using only sea salt at home so I was worried that I wasn't geting enough iodine/iodide, but even when I started at 10mcg I got those symptoms. After a few months of also taking DHA fish oil and going to Hawaii and gorging on fish I think I became Hyperthyroid, I could not sleep more than 6 hrs a day, had tons of energy and a really high libido.

What kind of antibodies would I need to be tested for? I am 10 weeks pregnant and I insisted on getting my thyroid tested (at the allopathic DR) everything came out in the normal range but I feel like further testing is warranted. Do I need to ask to see an endocrinologist? I feel like every time I go to the dr. they see me as a hypochondriac because I ask for tests and everything comes out normal.

[WildIris]

Originally Posted by Nolansmum

What kind of antibodies would I need to be tested for?

TSI antibodies = Thyrotropin Stimulating Immunoglobulin

This is a marker for Graves disease. Generally you will not have full-fledged hyperthyroid symptoms until the TSI antibodies hit about 125-130%. Most endos are conservative and won't call it Graves disease until it's over 130%, and your TSH and T3/T4 are out of range, but in reality it is not normal to have ANY of the TSI antibodies in your system!

My standard lab numbers (TSH, free T3, free T4) were never tested completely out of range, although in retrospect when I look at them now I see that they were moving toward hyperthyroid for awhile, and I was having symptoms on both sides (hypo, hyper). At my worst I had terrible chronic insomnia, anxiety, irritability, terrible noise sensitivity, general craziness, felt shaky a lot, couldn't concentrate, couldn't function normally, had lots of accidents, heat intolerance, exercise intolerance, chronic fatigue, low energy, but was vastly overweight and in some other ways looked "hypo." At my worst I was mis-diagnosed with "adult ADD" and put on Adderall. The psych doc who diagnosed ADD did initially ask about thyroid, but my PCP had already run a thyroid panel and told me it was "normal."

I never had antibodies tested until years later, when I grew a nodule on my thyroid. Even then, the PCP wouldn't test antibodies. I had to pay out of pocket and go to a holistic D.O. for that, and even she did not know about testing the TSI Antibodies. I found out about that on my own (internet research) and it started to make sense that some of my symptoms were hyper, not hypo. Plus I had a cousin with Graves disease, and a brother with Multiple Sclerosis. There is a genetic link between Graves and MS.

The D.O. tested the TSI antibodies for me only because I asked, and to both of our surprise it came back with a level of 107%. So I was not "full blown" Graves but clearly moving that way.

An interesting thing about the TSI antibodies is that TSI mimics TSH. So your labs can look normal but not be.

It's complicated, and I don't mean to overwhelm by throwing out a lot of info. A great resource if you want to research it further is anything by Elaine Moore. She wrote a book called Graves' Disease: A Practical Guide, and she writes articles and answers questions on Suite 101 in the Autoimmune Disease section.

HTH

[Punchy Kaby]

WildIris thank you for your quick reply. Great info, gives me somewhere to look. I have my first OB appt tomorrow and I want to discuss this subject. I'm in the military and so during pregnancy the OB is my all around Dr. and from my experience they are a lot better at listening than other military DRs.

My Mom had thyroid cancer and had her thyroid removed several years ago. When she was young, they radiated her tonsils instead of removing them and they say that is what caused her cancer. I wonder what kind of affect it had on me in utero.

I only recognized some of my symptoms of being HyperT after I got pregnant, I started to get the racing heart and really bad diarrhea, especially after I ate any fish or took any fish supplements. I believe at different times in my life I was probably Hypo too. I kind of enjoyed the energy of being Hyper after being tired most of my life, but once I got the racing heart I got scared.

[WildIris]

I know exactly what you mean about the energy of being hyper. It is better than being constantly tired. The racing heart part is scary though, so true. And I went through a phase of having accidents--once I cut myself while washing a knife because I was so shaky and jittery, and had to get stitches in my finger. A few weeks later I was on a bike ride and had heat intolerance, my heart rate spiked, I fainted and crashed into another person on their bike, then flew off my bike and hit the pavement face first and split my nose open. Noone could tell me why this stuff was happening to me. My PCP doc just said, "Wow, I'm seeing a lot of you lately." Prior to that I had a rash on my shins for over 2 years. I asked the PCP about it twice and she said "I guess you just have really dry skin." Turns out it was a rare side effect of Graves disease called pretibial dermopathy (or sometimes known as pretibial myxedema).

Are you having any eye problems? Any rash on your legs? That is the "classic triad" of Graves disease: goiter, shin rash, eye problems. Although the shin rash is considered rare.

[quelindo]

Wow, WildIris, you just blew my mind. I've been trying to figure out my health issues and also, in that context, those of my family members. My mom and sister were diagnosed hypothyroid a year or so ago, but I think my mom had problems relating to the thyroid since I was a kid, at least.

My dad passed away last spring of dementia-related problems (if you'd call it that), and I've been trying to figure out his health problems as well. He was prone to rage (I had a horrible childhood because of his raging), had glaucoma, very low blood pressure, dry skin, depression (I think, though it was not diagnosed), and a rash on his shins.

I'm looking into iodine deficiency for myself (I'm about to start taking Iodoral) and the more I read about this the more I see connections in my own family.

[Punchy Kaby]

Originally Posted by WildIris

I know exactly what you mean about the energy of being hyper. It is better than being constantly tired. The racing heart part is scary though, so true. And I went through a phase of having accidents--once I cut myself while washing a knife because I was so shaky and jittery, and had to get stitches in my finger. A few weeks later I was on a bike ride and had heat intolerance, my heart rate spiked, I fainted and crashed into another person on their bike, then flew off my bike and hit the pavement face first and split my nose open. Noone could tell me why this stuff was happening to me. My PCP doc just said, "Wow, I'm seeing a lot of you lately." Prior to that I had a rash on my shins for over 2 years. I asked the PCP about it twice and she said "I guess you just have really dry skin." Turns out it was a rare side effect of Graves disease called pretibial dermopathy (or sometimes known as pretibial myxedema).

Are you having any eye problems? Any rash on your legs? That is the "classic triad" of Graves disease: goiter, shin rash, eye problems. Although the shin rash is considered rare.

I am not having any of the 'Graves' symptoms. For now I have reactions that I mentioned above. I saw my new OB today and she was wonderful, listened to everything I said and set up blood tests for a thyroid screen and the antibody screen. It is so nice not to be made to feel like an idiot at the dr.

[mommies_2_be]

Great discussion. Thanks for starting it!

I have a multi-nodular goiter and have at times in my life swung from hyperthyroid to hypothyroid. I got my THS down to about 2.0, and recently learned I'm pregnant. I had been taking a glandular supplement but have stopped now that I'm pg. Does anyone here occasionally feel thyroid swelling? I notice a reduction when I take a few tbs of dulse flakes a day with coconut oil. I'd be curious how folks with abnormal or borderline thyroid issues have dealt with it during pregancy...

[ChristSavesAll]

I found Liquid-dulse by bernard and jensen at the whole foods store for only 3 bucks!

[ChristSavesAll]

website of iodine deficient syptoms

Originally Posted by pampered_mom

The only caution I've ever read about using kelp supplements to get your iodine was that in testing many of the options out there were contaminated with things like arscenic and halides. Not to say that you can't use them, just that you'd want to be sure that the manufacturer was consistently testing for purity, etc.

The general consensus seems to be that by and far the best way to supplement your iodine is with Lugol's. This of course has been complicated recently with the DEA regulating the 5% strength Lugol's b/c meth makers have been using it to sub one of the other ingredients. There are ways to get it - www.jcrows.com is one, but with the recent DEA regs the prices have gone up. At J.Crows it's just about $30 for a 1oz bottle, including shipping. There is another route to get it, but you'd have to pm me for that if you're really interested.

The Iadoral is a good choice as well, but from my understanding the per dose breakdown makes it more expensive than the Lugol's.

Because iodine deficiencies really impact a wide variety of systems in our body I've never actually seen a list of "symptoms" per se. Basically the general consensus is that we're all likely to be iodine deficient - especially with the presence of other halides in our environment that readily take the place of iodine in our bodies. For an overview of areas where iodine concentration is found at its highest in the body you can go to Iodine4Health's page on Iodine and the Body. Which will lead you to more specifics on each area.

ETA: Dr. Flechas also discusses how iodine deficiency manifests itself on his website.

From my understanding the best loading test for Iodine is actually a urinalysis because it focuses on the full body need for Iodine. It's actually a kit you can purchase to use at home (although I'm sure there are other alternate type care providers that can get it for you as well). The test measures how much of a 50mg iodine dose (the iodine load) is excreted in urine over a 24 hour period. If 90 percent or more of that dose is excreted then the body's supply of iodine is considered sufficient. Iodine4Health's website has a good summary page about this as well as a page listing sources for the test. The only place I've ever seen the skin painting test referenced is by Dr. Janet Lang. She has an instruction sheet w/interpretation guidelines on her website. Dr. Abraham actually has a page on his website that discusses why they do not feel the skin patch is best method of measuring iodine deficiencies.

ETA: Dr. David Derry actually answered a reader's question regarding the skin patch test on About.com

http://poisonfluoride.com/pfpc/html/symptoms.html