CS: Iodine and supplements

Why is it that I hear bad stories from some who take iodine—is it from skewing the dosage?

I know it is needed, so is there any modern diet that can accommodate iodine deficiencies, or is supplementation imperative?

I ask simply because I am at a crossroads. I fear I am becoming closer and closer to figuring out why I lost my hair, but I need someone's help. I have tried everything (all with at least six months of practice to evaluate different hair cycles) within the last five to six years. This all included: a myriad of healthy/organic diets (everything in between a meat/fish eater - vegan), supplementation (IH6, MSM, B12, D3), deviation from masturbation—avoidance of sex is impossible in early 20's with a girlfriend, various manual methods (most recent being DT for 8.5 months), massages with rosemary, olive, coconut, and jojoba oils, ACV—internally & externally, adequate sleep, exercise, meditation for stress, inversions and other techniques to increase bloodflow...


...and I am still losing my hair on the temples. My remaining head of hair seems thick and pretty lively some days.

I always hear about a hypothyroid, but how about hyper? It is very difficult to gain weight, but I can do it. Sometimes my hands and feet are cold. This is my only conclusion that I have come to. To give you an idea, I am in my early 20's and very fit, but cannot understand what I am doing wrong. Is it really this difficult to grow hair?

Growdamnit - Iodine scares people because the vast majority of MD's have been misinformed. This is because in med school, there is a misinterpretation of what occurs with changes in TSH, T4, and T3 within the initial 6-months of use.

Further, there are reactions that can be mild to severe in the beginning, which is also presumed to be something different than what it is. However, in most cases these reactions can be reduced substantially with the correct preparations.

Iodine is good for both hyper and hypo. Also, every cell needs it.

I can answer your question about the mystery of no results. I've had a long time to experiment with most of the kitchen sink and the bathtub. A lot of times in refractory/non responders, there's a lot more to it than whatever topicals, internals, DT, other scalp massages, no fap, etc.

I used to be one of these refractory types...and eventually discovered that not only is everyone different (an understatement), but there are certain internal issues that will prevent even the most reliable methods to grow hair, not to work.

The good news is that most of these are treatable, the bad news is it's not that easy to find all the time.
Sometimes these can be picked apart with lab work, other times it requires an extensive check list of information to run over all the possibilities.

I think many veterans here would probably agree that for some people, hair loss is much more difficult to treat than cancer.

So, you reccommend it for everyone? Is it necessary to supplement or is diet alone enough? I heard Lugol's (sp?) is a reputable brand to buy. Can you link me to a good one and tell me how much I should be taking a day? It is at the point now where it is very uncertain if I'll grow back any at all.

Growdamnit wrote:So, you reccommend it for everyone? Is it necessary to supplement or is diet alone enough? I heard Lugol's (sp?) is a reputable brand to buy. Can you link me to a good one and tell me how much I should be taking a day? It is at the point now where it is very uncertain if I'll grow back any at all.

I usually suggest Iosol to start out, because it's much easier to start small and it's generally well tolerated.

You very well may have one or more underlying issues that will prevent any progress. If I were to try to list them, it would fill up the page. However, iodine is definitely worth trying.

Grow: J. Crow is a reputable dealer of Lugol's. I've been using their products for several years.

I really like iodine. It's helped me in many ways, including increased energy (probably due to helping thyroid function) and helping with hormonal problems.

I did have to chelate before I could tolerate it, however. It took several months and couple rounds of chelating before I could take it without getting unpleasant side effects. If you do some research and reading there's already tons of good info on this forum about starting iodine.

Any recommendations for a safe dosage? As I've seen there are lots of different opinions.

So far im thinking 2-4 drops of lugols 2% iodine twice a week to be safe?

Dara27 wrote:Any recommendations for a safe dosage? As I've seen there are lots of different opinions.

So far im thinking 2-4 drops of lugols 2% iodine twice a week to be safe?

http://longevitypost.com/iodine-the-misunderstood-mineral/

Sorry to hijack the thread GD, but I just wanted to give a big shout to CS for always being so kind and answering all the questions.

You rock CS!

Before becoming vegan, I ate a lot of sushi and figured I was getting plenty of iodine from the seaweed. Since then, I don't believe I have any intake of iodine unless I'm missing something.

Hi Growdamnit,

I would suggest getting a thermometer and checking your temperature to find out how your thyroid is functioning.  I have been taking large amounts of Iosol, along with all of the companion nutrients, chelating, watching my diet, massaging, etc, etc for about 5 years, but kept putting off buying a thermometer.  

I finally bought a thermometer about 6 weeks ago and was shocked to find out how low my temperature was.  I would wake up about 96.5 F and wouldn't get much higher than 97.5 F throughout the entire day.  Now, I've changed my regimen a little and have been averaging about 98.2 F the last few days.  I am feeling much better as well.

Just simply finding out what your temperature is could allow you to tweak your regimen a little and possibly make more progress.

How do you increase your temp? Thyroid alone or does exercise play a major part? What is the best type of thermometer?

Growdamnit wrote:How do you increase your temp? Thyroid alone or does exercise play a major part? What is the best type of thermometer?

95% of people tested are low on iodine. If you factor in all of the halides in the diet, it's nearly impossible to get enough iodine unless you eat a lot of seaweed. Even then there can be challenge, because there a lot of elements that chemicals that block iodine from receptors.

I am most certainly going to buy the one you suggested. Perhaps this is my problem as I have been nutrition deficient as a child.

Growdamnit wrote:How do you increase your temp? Thyroid alone or does exercise play a major part? What is the best type of thermometer?

I believe optimal thyroid hormone is very important as far as increasing temp, but there could be other factors as well, I'm certainly no expert.  In my experience, exercise does not play too big a part in increasing temp.  I say this because I now believe my temp has been low for a very long time and I've always been active and worked out a lot.

I just went to Walgreens and bought a digital thermometer, Vicks brand, $14.99.

The main reason I brought this up is because CS and others stress how important a healthy thyroid is for optimal hair growth, and I just kind of assumed I had a good thyroid because besides thin hair I really have never had any signs of a thyroid problem.  Never usually feel cold, no weight issues, etc.

tcpratt wrote:Now, I've changed my regimen a little and have been averaging about 98.2 F the last few days.

tc, what changes specifically to your regimen?  Mind sharing?

And Dara, I was taking up to 100mg/day TriQuench iodine at one point. I've fluctuated on intake and currently am taking 25mg Iodoral. Some non-hair health problems I have seem to like Iodoral best, at least for now.

whodathunkit wrote:

tcpratt wrote:Now, I've changed my regimen a little and have been averaging about 98.2 F the last few days.

tc, what changes specifically to your regimen?  Mind sharing?

Whoda:

The first morning as I lay in bed and I took my temperature I was 95.3 and my girlfriend was 95.1…Not good.  I knew I had to make some changes to what I was currently doing.  I was also upset I had waited so long to take my temp, I wish I would have started taking it years ago. I decided to continue with all of my current supplementation, including iodine, all of the CS recommended supplements, etc and start following more of a Peat/Roddy inspired diet.  I  also ordered some cynomel and cynoplus.  It took about a month for those two things to arrive from Mexico, so during that time I focused on my diet to see if just that plus my current supps would help increase my temp.  I was able to get it to stay higher with my diet changes but it wouldn't go higher than about 97.6 or 97.7.  Almost two weeks ago my cynomel and cynoplus arrived and I started taking small amounts of cynomel during the day and a half of a cynoplus at night.  It took a couple of days, but my temp started to go up and the last few days I've had temps that are really close to 98.6 throughout the entire day and evening. My girlfriends temp has also gone up nicely and she has also been feeling much better.

CS, just ordered Iosol. Any recommendations prior to my trying of this product?

tcpratt wrote:Whoda:

The first morning as I lay in bed and I took my temperature I was 95.3 and my girlfriend was 95.1…Not good.  I knew I had to make some changes to what I was currently doing.  I was also upset I had waited so long to take my temp, I wish I would have started taking it years ago. I decided to continue with all of my current supplementation, including iodine, all of the CS recommended supplements, etc and start following more of a Peat/Roddy inspired diet.  I  also ordered some cynomel and cynoplus.  It took about a month for those two things to arrive from Mexico, so during that time I focused on my diet to see if just that plus my current supps would help increase my temp.  I was able to get it to stay higher with my diet changes but it wouldn't go higher than about 97.6 or 97.7.  Almost two weeks ago my cynomel and cynoplus arrived and I started taking small amounts of cynomel during the day and a half of a cynoplus at night.  It took a couple of days, but my temp started to go up and the last few days I've had temps that are really close to 98.6 throughout the entire day and evening. My girlfriends temp has also gone up nicely and she has also been feeling much better.

Awesome news!   Please update as things progress.

One last question:  do you and your girlfriend generally sleep through the night?  I ask because I usually get up a couple times to pee, especially a couple  hours before I actually have to get up.  It's like I'll go pee two hours before my alarm goes off, and then take another two hour nap until it does.  I wonder if waking up like that so close to arising would skew the first-morning temp results.

whodathunkit wrote:

tcpratt wrote:Whoda:

The first morning as I lay in bed and I took my temperature I was 95.3 and my girlfriend was 95.1…Not good.  I knew I had to make some changes to what I was currently doing.  I was also upset I had waited so long to take my temp, I wish I would have started taking it years ago. I decided to continue with all of my current supplementation, including iodine, all of the CS recommended supplements, etc and start following more of a Peat/Roddy inspired diet.  I  also ordered some cynomel and cynoplus.  It took about a month for those two things to arrive from Mexico, so during that time I focused on my diet to see if just that plus my current supps would help increase my temp.  I was able to get it to stay higher with my diet changes but it wouldn't go higher than about 97.6 or 97.7.  Almost two weeks ago my cynomel and cynoplus arrived and I started taking small amounts of cynomel during the day and a half of a cynoplus at night.  It took a couple of days, but my temp started to go up and the last few days I've had temps that are really close to 98.6 throughout the entire day and evening. My girlfriends temp has also gone up nicely and she has also been feeling much better.

Awesome news!    Please update as things progress.

One last question:  do you and your girlfriend generally sleep through the night?  I ask because I usually get up a couple times to pee, especially a couple  hours before I actually have to get up.  It's like I'll go pee two hours before my alarm goes off, and then take another two hour nap until it does.  I wonder if waking up like that so close to arising would skew the first-morning temp results.

Thanks! yes I'll be sure to update.

We generally sleep pretty well, I usually wake up about halfway though the night to use the bathroom, but my girlfriend usually doesn't get up too often during the night.  I would think that if you've been back in bed sleeping for two hours it shouldn't really affect your morning temp much, if at all.

CS, I just received Iosol and took my first dosage of the day. Only two drops? What symptoms/side-effects should I be prepared for. How long will it be until I notice any benefits?