Benefits of Iodine for Health

Thyroid Issues

Posted by Elizabeth (Gaston, OR) on 09/25/2006
★★★★★

I'd seen all kind of Dr. s they said my thyroid was in reasonable limits. The natureopaths had me on tons of herbs saying my thyroid was low. One natureopath put me on thyroid medication which had me in horrible mood swings and no benifits. I found Lugol's when I read Dr. hulda clarks book "a cure for all diseases". I've been taking 4-6 drops a day and my weight gain stopped(I'd gained 65 pounds in 4 months) and I've actually started loosing weight, 10 pounds in the last 3 months. And my mood has returned to normal. I've also been doing the zapping and all the cleanses she reccommends in her book. Thanks.

Fibrocystic Breast Disease

Posted by Tracie (Willow, AK) on 11/24/2006
★★★★★

I'm in the process of experimenting with iodine to cure fibrocystic breast disease. I've had cysts since I was 13 and am now a menopausal 48 yr. old. (Can't even dicipher a self-breast exam since I'm so lumpy) I started with some kelp tablets and increased all the way to 8 per day. At that point the quantity of lumps was lessened but then a couple of them enlarged and were really sore. I then changed over to Iodonol tablets (iodine/iodide) and now the cysts are getting smaller and for the first time since I can remember, my breasts are beginning to feel like they are supposed to. My hot flashes have lessened also, which is curious and I wonder if the iodine is the reason.

Fibrocystic Breast Disease

Posted by Jean (London, England) on 01/11/2006
★★★★★

I can confirm that iodine in the form of kelp is a cure for fibroystic breast disease. I have been taking it for about 10 years and it works so well that if I don't take it for a few days, say if I run out of tablets or forget to take them on holiday, my symptoms return within days. I have read that taking iodine can be dangerous if you have thyroid problems, but I don't see how the dose I take (1 tablet a day or 150mg) can be a problem. The side effects caused by conventional medicine e.g. diuretics, can be much worse, so I was determined to find a natural remedy. I think this use of iodine/kelp should be more widely known, but there seems to be a curious silence about it. Maybe it is too cheap and readily available as you suggest in your article! Keep up the good work.

Thyroid Issues

Posted by Ted (Bangkok, Thailand) on 01/21/2007 392 posts

Actually, the T3 method to measure iodine deficiency is not accurate. Another way is your body temperature.

I have seen instances that body temperature is low while T3 is good. In other instances I have seen none of these but a severity of fibrosis to occur. Fibrosis is actually a condition of iodine deficiency but the T3 is o.k. while the conditions was cured after taking iodine. So present medical practice in my humble opinion is primitive. Iodine quenches glycation of protein involved in aging and arthritis and this doesn't show on T3 but is a wonderful way to reduce arthritic pain by allowing the healing to process. Skin pores opening up too large is also cured with an iodine as it stimulates skin regeneration reducing the size of skin pores. I know, I have a huge one on my face and it is mostly cured that most people cannot see it.

So we really have to be practical about it. Analysis is just that, it won't cure your conditions and you will be lost forever in trying to figure out how the T3 is related to oversized pores, arthritic pains, fibrosis, asthma, clogged eustachian tubes, fallopian tubes (preventing pregnancy), where such fibrosis formation are due to abnormalities in skin metabolism. Figuring out why is one thing, getting yourself cured is what we all seek.

Thyroid Issues

Posted by Mary (London, UK) on 01/20/2007
★☆☆☆☆

WARNING!

These poor people need to be treated for hypothyroidism. Brittle nails, falling hair, being deathly pale and being exhausted and tired are all symptoms - as are most of the things you are saying the iodine "cured".

The iodine will help only because it is feeding the thyroid but it may not help completely and they will feel much better if they take a free T3 test to confirm low thyroid hormone. Publishing these instances without proper attribution to the serious health problem they can signify is irresponsible. These are sick people! And they need more than iodine.

Alopecia

Posted by Barb (Auckland, New Zealand) on 09/12/2006
★★★★☆

Alopecia Areata is bald spots that occur all of a sudden on your scalp. I dab it on once a day on bald spots for a week to a fortnight - and then forget about it (if I can) and hope:) So far it seems to start the growth of hair again. It changes the scalp texture from red and irritable back to normal scalp. Within 6 weeks to 8 weeks usually spot is covering with little hairs. The iodine may even help the fatigue that comes when your hair falls out too - when a bald spot is occurring I tend to get deathly pale and feel exhausted.

Skin Ailments

Posted by Sharon (Boston) on 09/29/2006
★★★★★

Please delete my previous email from January and put this one in its place. This is the most successful remedy combination I have experimented with for dermatitis!

I have had an itchy dermatitis on and off around my nose for about 10 years. It was triggered after working in an office in Los Angeles for a man who smoked all day long (illegally of course, but he was a top entertainment executive so no one complained at that point in time). After years of smoking, the cigarette smoke was embedded in his furniture-- that's a horrendous smell to someone whose never smoked. Plus, think of all those microbes! At any rate, it took about 3 years to clear and then came back every time I would get around old, furniture embedded cigarette smoke. Psychological response? Maybe! At any rate, it came back again this summer after a few month respite.

But this time, I am happy to report that after years of playing around with every prescription and supplement under the sun, I think I have finally hit upon a dermatitis cure! It will only cost about $5... $.79 for the decolorized iodine, and $4 for a bottle of vitamin E oil. Here is my cure:

Using decolorized iodine for the face, take a q-tip and dab the dermatitis with iodine. If this is not on your face, you can use regular iodine. But it will stain you orange for a few hours.

If your dermatitis is on sensitive skin around your nose, like me, it will burn like crazy when you apply the iodine. Don't inhale the fumes while it is drying (takes about 10 seconds to dry). After it dries, apply some natural vitamin e oil. I open a large capsule and use that for several days before it runs out. Your skin will redden from the iodine and dry out, but the vitamin e will heal it and keep it from flaking. Keep this area moist with vitamin e oil all day and night if possible.

Do the topical iodine for 2 days, 3x a day. After the 2nd day, cut the iodine back to 1x a day. However, you will still want to keep the vitamin e oil on all day. After 3 days of 1x daily application of iodine, cut the iodine back to every other day. Continue every other day for 10 days (or less). Keep up the vitamin e oil every day until the dermatitis has disappear completely.

Let me tell you, the iodine and vitamin 3 oil starts to work on clearing up the dermatitis in about 24 hours! Initially the skin will look red and inflamed, but don't worry... the vitamin e speeds up the healing process.

I hope everyone with dermatitis (even perioral dermatitis) will try this cure. My particular form of dermatitis is one of the trickiest to heal so I am thrilled to maybe have a cure! I will let you know in the future how long this holds before I have to do the iodine again. Hopefully, never! Thanks, Sharon.

General Feedback

Posted by Dan (Largo, FL) on 09/16/2006
★★★★★

For a really insightful viewpoint on iodine, check out this lecture by Dr. David Brownstein (http://www.internetwks.com/clips/bsBCancer.rm) about iodine and its deficiency relationship to Breast Cancer. Note he also suspects an unproven relationship between an iodine deficiency and Prostate Cancer.

He mentions that the Japanese diet includes 14mg per day of iodine on the average (coastal Japanese ingest even more.) The US RDA is 150 ugs (micro grams) per day -- about 100 times less than the Japanese eat -- and the recommended upper level for iodine is no more than 1.1 mg/day, and they estimate the average requirement to be 95 micrograms per day or about 150 times less than the Japanese consume.

The 125mg Kelp tablets that I have from Vitamin Shoppe, have 225 ugs of iodine in them. Thus, to get to the Japanese level of Iodine (14 mg/day), I would have to take 62 of these tablets a day! Dr. Brownstein also states that iodine is stored in the thyroid which requires 6 mg/day and is also stored in a women's breasts and required for proper breast development. The breasts require 5 mg/day for a 110 lb woman.

And catch this... Breast cancer researchers have to starve test animals of iodine in order to be able to induce breast cancer in any significant number of them. Hmmm...

Another 2 mg/day of iodine is required by the adrenals, hypothalamus, pituitary, and other organs. Therefore, the total required iodine for a woman is 5 6 2 = 13 mg/day. The RDA is 150 ugs per day, so a woman would have to take 86 times as much as this to achieve the 13 mg/day needed by her body, and even more if she had a larger body or bigger breasts. A man has smaller breasts and his prostate requires somewhat less iodine than a woman's breasts. However, a man's body is generally larger than 110 lbs, so this would have to be factored into the total requirements for a man.

Dr. Brownstein states, "Over the last 30 years, iodine levels have fallen over 50% in the United States. Breast cancer rates have risen dramatically. Thyroid illness from hypothyroidism, autoimmune including Grave's and Hashimoto's, as well as thyroid cancer has risen dramatically."

Since the Japanese have so much iodine in their bodies (they're ingesting 100X our 150 ug RDA of iodine), and iodine is essential for dealing with radiation exposure, it makes me wonder what might happen happen if there were a mishap involving massive radiation exposure in a country such as ours where the iodine level is so pathetically low.

And this may well be an important consideration, as cancer rates have been shown to rise after radiation has been released into the atmosphere, which apparently happened quite a bit with the use of depleted uranium (DU) weapons in Iraq in 2003. Background radiation levels were measured at many times normal in England (click this link - http://www.llrc.org/aldermastrept.pdf - and check the graphs) just a few days after the fighting started in Iraq. Cancer rates in Iraq in 2001 were about 10X what they were before Desert Storm where much less DU was used than in 2003. The big problem is that the effects are global (see: http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2006/DU-Europe-Moret26feb06.htm). So, the problem for us is that the DU rounds burn up or pulverize and tend to stay in the atmosphere, allowing the "aerosol of sub micron" size to enter the slip-stream and come back to America to bite us all.

Therefore, we all need to be aware of any nutritional and purification techniques which will handle radiation.

I've just upped my iodine intake to 1.35 mg/day (6 kelp tablets of 225 ug each) and I feel warmer already (maybe this will help me burn off my excess fat even faster.)

Menstrual Issues

Posted by Heidi (Troup, TX) on 12/07/2006
★★★★★

I had been menstruating for 7 weeks straight (very heavy) and went to my family doctor. She wanted to put me on birth control. I am 37 and I smoke so I didn't think that was a good choice. I decided to see me chiropractor who put me on the iodoral iodine and my menstrual period stopped in 3 days and has been regular for over 7 months. I also feel better and have more energy. I can tell if I haven't taken them. I start to feel "blah".

Kelp

Posted by Fran (Rocky Face, GA) on 01/12/2007
★★★★★

Kelp is a herb with iodine in it. What I read was if you are going to get an organ transplant be sure and take kelp as it helps your body not to reject the organ.

Kelp

Posted by Charles (Hillsdale, NY) on 01/18/2007
★★★★★

Hello Please note that kelp is a well known chelation agent for toxins such as metals. Kelp broth is made by slowly heating a six inch long piece of kelp in 1 quart (pure) water for 1/2 hour minimum. Do not boil, as kelp gets slimey. Leave some small pieces of kelp in broth; discard the rest. Use broth in recipes, especially sukiaki. Remedy from Japan--I read that kelp eliminates over 1200 toxins from body--but somehow recognizes difference between, say, good iron and radioactive iron. High in Iodine, too. A remedy for eliminating toxins.

Anxiety Attacks

Posted by Anne-Marie (Palm Coast, FL) on 02/04/2007
★★★★☆

While I would not consider myself "cured" of anything, I have found that Iodine..or the lack thereof...causes me to have panic and anxiety attacks. This is a recent (within 3 months) development for me as I have never had panic and anxiety attacks prior. And although I now take Kelp in a Thyroid supplement (for my newly developed Hypothyroidism), My Iodine test (painting a 2x2 in sq on my abdomen) still shows a regular Iodine insufficiency. Interestingly, I also drink protein shakes that contain 30% FDA Iodine each. I drink 2-3 of these each day. Yet, my Iodine is consistently depleted.

Kelp

Posted by Fran (Rocky Face, GA) on 02/12/2007
★★★★★

Please tell those who are asking that I had read where, if ACV was taken up to 36 hours straight right after a stroke, that all symptoms would be reversed. Also, you might like to know that when a person is getting a transplant they should be on kelp as this helps the body to receive and accept the body part. If not on kelp most likely the body will reject as a foreign part. God Bless You , Fran. I use potassium base iodine not sodium. you can read about this on iodinesources.com-- should remove skin tags etc..

Sore Throat

Posted by Chris (Battle Creek, MI) on 01/31/2008
★★★★★

For almost 3 days my daughter was complained of her throat feeling like she was swallowing knives. Nothing would take it away. After having tried the egg whites for her fever and it working I came back to this site and sure enough - a remedy for a sore throat...IODINE! I put some on her wrists and on the sides of her throat. It took a little bit - like hours, but her sore throat went away and has not returned since! It has been almost a week now! Thanks again for the wonderful remedies!!

Sore Throat

Posted by Nancy (Austin, TX) on 04/02/2008
★★★★★

Swab throat with iodine---never fails to kill a sore throat, so just'the "sniffles" are left.

Inflammatory Breast Disease

Posted by Janna (Boston, MA) on 04/01/2008
★★★★★

re: lugols and inflammatory breast disease. My breast was leaking a bloody discharge, and after reading articles on Lugols, specifically Dr. Miller's article (Seattle) and work done in Canada, I procured lugols and started to paint it onto my breast using a paintbrush. After a couple months the discharge stopped, the pain stopped, and I have had no further problems.