Why Lugol's Iodine is Essential for Optimal Health

I began using Lugol's and companion nutrients 7 month's ago. Starting with 1 drop of 2 percent until I reached 20 drops.(please read protocol here on E.C.) I tried to change my diet, but was injured and now at the mercy of my husband and children for purchasing and preparing most of my food. Anyway, I have been indulging a little in sweets, fried foods, and breads. I did eliminate diet soda. I only use the water purifier from the fridge. Hopefully, because we have city water, I will be able to get a good one for the entire house, soon.

I also use 1 tblsp. ACV (for weight control and kidney stones, which I have passed 3 pain free), lemon/lime in each glass of water, baking soda, and Borax (had a terrible anxiety attack 2 days ago from it and my face broke out, badly! ?). I take a borax/Epsom salt bath each day. I stopped taking P*x*l for anxiety and OCD, 4 months ago, after slowly tapering (1/2 dosage of 1 pill weekly, until completely eliminated), began using a non-fluoridated tooth paste, and switched to sea salt.

Results:

I am never tired during the day. I used to come home from work and take a nap, and sometimes sleep right through to the next morning!!!

My face is clear of acne. (except, that one day)

My seasonal allergies do not bother me, anymore.

Food allergies are not as aggressive. (Dairy)

No more breast fibrosis.

Goiter gone.

Toe nail fungus gone...fingernails not completely cured, but nails not afflicted, are long, strong, and healthy.

Frequent headaches gone.

Hand blisters gone (I believe a fungus).

Energy restored.

Gray hair (light amount) turned back to original color and thinning hair grew back healthier. It turned very dark/reddish for the first 3 months after beginning protocol(?) I was born blonde.

Eyebrows grew back to outer edges of eyes.

Several moles have disappeared. (external use of Lugol's)

Brain fog lifted most days. (I still suffer with bad weather)

OCD tendencies are reduced.

No need for reading glasses. Dr. said my vision actually improved!
Emotions in check, for the most part. (situational)

Avoided all colds/flu/viruses that my family suffered.

So as you can see...E.C. posters (THANK YOU)...I am restoring my health without the use of Modern Medical Doctors! Did I say thank you?

I then tried Lugol's iodine, and the little buggers started to crust over after 3 days of applying Lugols twice a day with a Q-tip, and when the crust fell off, nothing was underneath!

You could actually see the white center (that is the virus) soak all the iodine up and look like a blackhead, YEAH! That's exactly where the iodine needed to go. Within one month all my children are Mollusum free. You cannot describe the relief I feel, I have to share that.

My wife and I found as we got older that we were both starting to have digestive problems and really bad acid reflux at nite. The wholist concept is acid reflux is due to NOT ENOUGH acid! You can confirm if this is the case by taking a tablespoon of ACV when you are getting it, if it stops it, then you are LOW in acid.

The next step in the wholistic approach is to take digestive enzymes and HCl to substitute for the low acid. I always thought this isn't getting to the root problem of WHY isn't the body producing enough acid anymore. This is where Dr Donsbach came in.

He discussed that the body needs IODINE to produce the stomach acid. That made sense in that since becoming a Vegetarian, I don't get much seafood and I keep my salt intake down.

So I ordered Lugol's Solution from Amazon and began taking 2 drops a day in a glass of warm water first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, monday through friday with the weekend off. My wife did the same. Sure enough within a few weeks my digestion is back to where it was as a teenager, and acid reflux is gone! My wife had the same results as well as a friend that tried it.

If you go to take the iodine, first make sure you aren't allergic. I think a drop on the inside of the wrist or arm and see if it gets swollen or itchy, is a good test. After that, if no reaction, then you can start with one drop in water and see how that effects you. If you have no problems then you can proceed to the 2 drops.

I've been trying to get this information out there, because when people take antacids and medicines that decrease acid production in the stomach, it greatly limits the bodies ability to digest the food,and starts a process that ends up greatly harming your health.

If the word can get out about this cure, it will help millions to improve their health for less than a penny a day and prevent them from ruining their health as they are trying to help it.

Good luck and please write your feedback here so others can see.

Best wishes for health and happiness,
David from H.B.

Hello wonderful people, I was officially diagnosed with Fibrocystic Breast Disease (FBD) about 2 years ago. I also was diagnosed with a uterine fibroid the size of a grape and one cyst on each ovary and hypothyroidism. I have had FBD since I was 19 years old. My breasts were so lumpy I was afraid to touch them. My breasts would become so painful before my period that I was forced to sleep wearing a bra. I have been on the iodine protocol for about 14 months now. I am a 42 year old woman who exercises like crazy (I am a triathlete). I eat very healthy now. I have eliminated dairy products, soy, caffeine, preservatives and processed sugar. I eat 95% organic and grass fed beef.

I started taking 100 mg of lugol's iodine for the first 3 months, then I was taking 150 mg for 4 months. After that, I went back to 100 mg. Now I am back to 150 mg. I believe my ovarian cysts have dissolved because I don't feel nauseous anymore and I don't have pain in my ovaries like I used to. And at some point I bled and it wasn't time for my period so I am assuming the cysts burst. Regarding the uterine fibroid, I am not sure if it has dissolved completely, but I know for sure it has shrunk because my period isn't painful anymore and I don't get lower back pain either like I used to. In terms of my breasts, they are almost free of lumps. I haven't done an ultra sound yet, but I can feel the difference in texture and pain. I can say pain is 95% gone during pms. My thyroid is working well now. I have energy and I don't feel tired anymore.

I have added castor oil packs on breasts and put an ice pack afterward. I alternate the castor oil pack on each breast every day and I am also taking a homeopathic tincture my naturopath recommended.

I read on this site how people have felt a difference with small amounts of iodine in a short period of time, but it has taken a while for me to see great results. I have read Dr. David Brownstein's book and I was surprised at how his patients improved with smaller amounts. It took 3 months (100 mg per day) after starting the iodine protocol to notice my hair wasn't falling out so much. I thought it was normal to lose so much hair. I read somewhere on the internet that people used to take between 300 mg to 1,000 mg of iodine to treat diseases before drugs.

In the nutshell:

Lugol's iodine (5%) 150 mg a day

Magnesium taurate 500 mg a day

Selenium 500 mcg a day

Sodium ascorbate 2.5 to 5 grams a day

B complex

Himalayan sea salt about 1 tsp a day

I take St. John's Wort, apple cider vinegar and baking soda in small amounts most days of the week. I am in the road to being completely healed and I am grateful for this site and the people who post their experiences. Thank you all and remember BE PATIENT.

The companion nutrients are: selenium (200 to 600 micrograms); magnesium (400 - 600 milligrams); Vitamin C (3,000 to 10,000 milligrams); 1/2 teaspoon unrefined salt per day. If a person has autoimmune thyroid disease they would add Vitamins B2 and B3 - 100 mg riboflavin and 500 mg niacin, 1-2x per day. (People with autonomous nodule (toxic nodule) of the thyroid should not take iodine, so it is important for people with thyroid nodules to find out if the nodule is caused by Graves' Disease or a toxic nodule (Toxic Multinodular Goiter) -- see Grave's remission case report on jeffreydachmd.com).

If you want to avoid the flush from niacin (the flush is not a health problem, but some people prefer not to experience it), then go with the niacinimide form (inositol hexanicotinate); stay completely away from the "timed release" or slow release forms of B3 as they have caused problems.

Iodine, which is very good for health, is in the same category of elements as bromide, chlorine, and fluoride, which are toxic to the human body. This category is called halogens -- they all go to the same receptors in our cells. We are surrounded by the toxic halogens, contained, for example, in our water supply and in things like flame retardant on mattresses. If a person has toxic halogens stored in their cells, when they take iodine, the iodine will begin to displace the toxic halogens, kicking them back into the bloodstream, and then the kidneys will excrete them through the urine. If the toxic halogens start hanging out in the bloodstream for a while before the kidneys can excrete them, they can cause a whole host of detox symptoms, so it is important to know that taking half a teaspoon of unrefined salt in 8 ounces of water, followed immediately by 12 ounces clear, filtered water will help the kidneys flush the toxic halogens right away (the sodium binds with the halogens). See breastcancerchoices.org for the salt-loading protocol as well as a list of bromide detox symptoms and iodine-literate practitioners. This is one reason why some people get confused and think they are "allergic" to iodine -- they take iodine without companion nutrients or without doing the salt push should they experience bromide detox.

One way to avoid detox symptoms altogether is to take one drop of 5% Lugol's solution per day, along with the companion nutrients, for one week. The next week increase to 2 drops per day, and so on, until reaching 16 drops per day, which is 100 milligrams of iodine. Another way, which I am less familiar with but which is described at curezone.com, is to start right away with 16 drops of Lugol's 5% (100 milligrams iodine) or iodine in pill form, per day. Some people have experienced freedom from asthma using that dose. See curezone for that info as well as the other conditions that have iodine has affected positively. It can take quite a while at 100 milligrams (or more) per day to reach a state of iodine sufficiency. The length of time it takes depends on how ill a person is, for example it might take 6 months for a healthy person, or 3 years for someone with cancer. Once sufficiency is reached, the protocol is to drop down to a maintenance dose of, say, 50 mg per day.

Good sources of information on iodine are optimox.com (lots of medical articles), steppingstonesliving.com, which has a free download guide to supplementing with iodine, curezone.com and the iodine yahoo group. Hakalalabs.com offers iodine testing.

I used to get horrendous ear infections a few years ago. After 3, ineffective, courses of antibiotics and 4 months of near complete deafness, pain and tinnitus, I decided to use my Lugols 7%. that I had used orally a year or so previously.. I got an old eye dropper and cleaned it out with boiling water. I filled it 1/4 full of Lugol's and the rest with the boiled, cool water. I put 3 drops, into the ears 3 times a day for the next 4 days. The pain vanished completely, my hearing returned and the noises went away, never to return.

I got the idea to try this from reading a clinical trial conducted on children in the remore African bush, obviously far from the nearest doctor. They administered the Lugol's neat, and 10 drops a day, but I thought that sounded a bit harsh, so adapted down. They had complete resolution of ear infections, even supporating inner ear infections; they all went away - the trial must still be on the internet somewhere.

Hope this has been helpful. I know that if I ever get a painful ear again, I won't be going to the doctor, I'll sort it myself.

BTW, I don't think I will go higher than 100mg as I am getting very good results now. I don't worry about ODing at all. Please Google "Dr.Brownstein and iodine" for more info. You do need to take companion supplements like magnesium, zinc, lipoic acid, vitamins B C D E K, selenium, fish oil, zeolite, chlorella, to help with the detox that high levels of iodine will force to happen. You will excrete lots of bromine, chlorine, and fluorine, that your body has been storing/accumulating for decades. I can smell the stuff when I pee. Join the Yahoo iodine group.

My cold has almost subsided now and feel pretty well this afternoon. I had horrible pressure in my sinuses and forehead and woke late last night from barometric pressure headache from the dropping due to the storm that was coming from the hurricane from Texas. I have had to blow my nose all day and it was terrible green. Loads of it. I think I am cleaning or detoxing. (I am usually not this graphic, but you may experience these things and should know this is normal)

I never mentioned my fibroid breast tumors that the docs want to do images for every year (I have refused for the past 4 years to have mammograms and furthered images due to the amount of radiation and money in their pockets with the same results... no cancer). I began evening primrose from GNC for bad breast pain in May and had no pain 2 days after beginning that regimen but I ran out so I bought a brand from a local grocery store and wound up with terrible heartburn. So, I stopped taking it and the pain and lumps came back. Since using Lugol's, I have no more breast pain. I would purchase the primrose from GNC again because, upon further research the grocery store purchased one contained many ingredients not found in the GNC brand.

I know the detoxing is hard to go through, I work full time and went everyday. I wanted results and although I was completely miserable, it was and will be worth it, in the end. I have not bought any Brazil nuts, I understand we need Selenium but they are not sold at my grocery store. I will continue to look for them. I have been taking Cod liver oil for a couple of years now because the doc wanted to put me on Statins for cholesterol. I asked her to give me six months on fish oil, first. My numbers greatly improved and she told me to keep it up.:) I began taking Zinc about a year ago and magnesium about six months ago. I am taking baby steps and adding things that I know my body needs from research on E.C. Thank you Earth Clinic, I never really thought about my body needing minerals, only vitamins. I wish the doctors and schools would get together and learn for themselves so they may teach young people the vital importance of health through all of nature. I guess as we get older and we see life slipping away, we try to better ourselves. I suppose this is why I have turned to this site. I will share the love. God bless.

I have blisters all over my palms and fingers and finger nail fungus. My hands exploded with tons more painful blisters and sensitivities/ fungus went rampant (getting worse before better for 3 days)... then all of them dried up. Now my hands look really dry like I used bleach to clean without gloves. I keep finding little spots all over my body like I dropped Elmer's white glue and they flake off. Not sure what was there to begin with that needed to go away.

I also have had many ailments described as what iodine deficiency does to some people and this is a small list of issues I have had: Fatigue, weight gain, sugar cravings, enlarged thyroid (no prescription meds), cysts, yeast, pimples, irregular women's cycles heavy or none, to mention some. Through research on Earth Clinic, Iodine should fix this, hopefully.

I did notice some improvement in energy, my skin seems to be clearing. I have also used it topically on a row of 5 moles on my neck, no bandaid just putting it on each morning. They are shriveled up a little so I know it is working. I am just going to keep applying. I will update soon.

i gave it to my dogs when they had the parvo virus and they regained their health. i also gargled with provodine iodine when i had strep throat, 3 times a day and that was cured.

The only recent contributory change I made in my lifestyle was that I started finishing off with icy cold showers. These have been amazing for my skin, digestion, lipomas, stamina, muscles, hormones, libido and overall energy, but a few deleterious things happened along the way - I lost some weight I did not want to lose, I developed throbby wrists, I suddenly menopaused (or thought I did), and my sleep became disturbed. I would wake up at 3:00 am, and during the day felt tired as a result. If I cold showered in the evening, it had the effect of two cups of coffee on me. I'd be wired. I think cold showers affect you in strange ways. And finally, I got this cold. Probably after going out into the cold after one of my cold showers in the am.

Anyway, I started with a dropperful of 7% Lugols' in the middle of my cold. The effect has been nothing short of incredible. For the first time in several months, I've been sleeping like a baby. I un-menopaused. Was it really iodine my body needed to fix sleep problems I've never had in my life? When I sleep well, everything else sort of fixes itself. My skin has become wonderful. My cold melted away. Chest phlegm disappeared. Insomnia I suspect is at the root of many mental and physical ailments. Sleep repairs, restores. Iodine is now going to be a regular part of my life. Now, if I could get my partner to try some, the thyroid issues I suspect in his body might resolve themselves.

I should also add my sense of smell (which had gradually eroded over the last decade) is coming back.