How much Iodine do I take for thyroid

I can,t find this anywhere on the forum. No clear answer.

125 mcg

12-14 mg daily.

I didn't have any problems at this level. I experienced some unpleasant sides once I hit the 5 mg mark, but high dose vitamin C and sea salt alleviated this. After 2-3 times at this dose it wasn't pleasant, but after this I didn't experience any more sides and was able to steadily increase up to the 12-14 mg mark without any trouble. I did note that during this time, my TSH increased by about an entire 1.5 pts. Something to think about, but I felt absolutely fine.

>> 125 mcg

is that a joke? Japanese use 100x times that

How do I know Im done supplementing it.

J.C. Jarvis, M.D. who wrote highly of Lugol's in the 1950s commented "If it should happen that your body becomes saturated with iodine, you will find that there is an increase of moisture in the nose. If this occurs, omit the iodine until the nose is normal."

Here's what you will be likely to experience from taking megadoses of iodine, based on my experience with it, in this order:

1. Restlessness, being unable to sleep
2. A runny nose unlike any runny nose you've know before (if you watch Brownstein's conference, you'll see him sniffing every 30 seconds)
3. Tachycardia (NEVER happened to me before iodine supplementation, scary as hell)
5. Numbness in your hole left side, like you're about to have stroke
6. Symptoms of bi-polar disorder, hypomanic phase, grandiose delusions
7. Symtoms of depression, low phase
8. Symptoms of schizophrenia
9. Acute psychosis that last about 2 months
10. After that, 6 months of depression

And then it's over , all those steps are true, you can even find my old topics of september 2011 when I say I have tachycardia and numbness on my left side.

Have fun taking megadoses of iodine, that's quite a ride .

PS: I'd like to add that I took ALL the co-factors (3g vitamin C, selenium, magnesium, etc.)

I've heard about people suffering from insomnia/restlessness after taking iodine and it was resolved after taking selenium.

Let me guess - you're taking iodine before bed. That's dumb. Take it first thing in the morning.

Al those other symptoms are there from toxins being pushed out. Depression/fatigue phase will eventually pass and after that iodine will only do positive things.

As I've said before, people in Japan are taking those "massive" doses of iodine every single day.

I know Browstein like to make up studies and statistics to sell his books, but the real average japanese intake of iodine is a little above 1 mg which is the upper limit.

Estimate of daily iodine intake in Japan

We estimate that the average Japanese iodine intake, largely from seaweed consumption--based on dietary records, food surveys, urine iodine analysis and seaweed iodine content--is 1,000-3,000 μg/day (1-3 mg/day). This estimate compares to a recent report claiming that the average iodine intake of the Japanese from kelp is around 1,200 μg/day (1.2 mg/day) [19]. Iodine intake can vary from day-to-day depending on diet, and it is unlikely for a single persons iodine intake to remain constant for an extended period of time. With the multitude of edible seaweeds (each with different iodine content) consumed in the Japanese diet, it is not appropriate to use a single type of seaweed to determine iodine intake, though many estimates do. Although seaweed provides a majority of the Japanese iodine intake, other food sources (containing far less iodine)--such as fish and shellfish--can increase the total amount of iodine consumed daily

just going to link this again:

http://www.functionalps.com/blog/2011/10/12/the-myth-of-iodine-deficiency-an-interview-with-dr-ray-peat/

you can come to your own conclusions, but definitely be careful and absolutely stop at the first sign of something amiss. it's dangerous to mess around with dosages that high of anything, imo.

Ray Peat after me: "I am a quack". Hahahahaha, hum ...

I have become more skeptical of using higher doses of iodine, there is no doubt about it.

But this is only because taking the iodine shot my TSH up to about 5. Shortly after stopping the iodine I had it retested and it was 1.5.

Now, even I have been an iodine defender, but this was an odd finding. And in terms of other factors that may have been contributing, I was only taking a few basic vitamin/mineral supplements at the time, none of which I stopped during the entire period. The only change was iodine, and a concomitant decrease in TSH. That's coming from 13-14 mg daily to nothing.

But on the other side of the coin, two TSH tests aren't conclusive evidence either.

I have had the opposite experience. My TSH went down with iodine.

CS has said repeatedly that when first starting higher-dose iodine, TSH may go up. It normalizes after a while. This was my experience. Others may vary.

There should also be no problem with taking iodine before bed. I take it before bed every night. I did not take it before bed when I first started because I was afraid it might be too stimulating, but my fears proved to be unfounded. My sleep has improved with iodine and there's no difference if I take it in the morning or evening. If you can tolerate iodine, what time you take it should make no difference. However, everyone's experience is different, and we should remember not to assume that our experience is the same as someone else's (Fred and moby).

I'd stick with 12mg recommendation. I take higher, but that's because I'm treating a condition that's not related to my thyroid. I'm probably going to reduce my dose soon, however, as I'm likely iodine-saturated and just peeing out the excess (i.e., wasting money).

Please be aware that if you're metal toxic (mercury, bromide, etc.), you may not be able to tolerate even 12mg of iodine. You might need to chelate first and clean your diet up. This was also my experience. Iodine caused me a laundry list of unpleasant sides until I cleaned my body out really, really good (two heavy rounds of chelation and several months of eating nothing but animal protein, fruit, and veggies, no starch) and began salt-loading.

If you start iodine, you might want to dramatically increase your salt intake for a while until you see how you tolerate it. I've heard that salt loading alone can sometimes eliminate unpleasant sides from iodine, although I don't have any experience with that. I will say that keeping up your sodium intake is essential when supplementing with iodine, as is supplementing magnesium and selenium.

Hope that helps.

About TSH rise. This is expected.

http://www.optimox.com/pics/Iodine/IOD-04/IOD_04.html

Lots of posts on iodine in the past. Every conceivable answer on it is in here, hopefully not too buried.
The short answer is over 35,000 people have been tested before/after high dose iodine, or at least according to the FDA.
The human body needs 1500 mg, so after the thyroid gets 50 mg, the body uses the rest.

Search salt loading if you're worried about side-effects. Those can come from what iodine pulls out. It has been stated
many times, especially if one is taking pharmaceutical drugs, that iodine should be taken along with a holistic approach.

Salt loading involves vitamin C, magnesium and salt.

Off topic but is there no way to block a user on this forum?

No. Trouble sleeping because of my posts?

anthonyspencer54 wrote:I have become more skeptical of using higher doses of iodine, there is no doubt about it.

I don't mean to derail the thread but wanted to give my input because not many people may be aware other than CS and a few others these days.

I took extremely large doses of Lugol's for many months many years ago. By extremely large amounts I mean up to 300 mg in divided doses spread throughout the day. I didn't take this everyday such as when I was still in need of detoxing. I also took up to 1 gram of iodide/SSKI in divided doses throughout the day on days I didn't take iodine. That is 1,000 mg. This may sound like a lot to many but extremely large doses were used in the past. For example, Dr. Szent-Györgyi, the discoverer of vitamin C himself used 1000 mg of iodide per day.

Nowadays, for most people, it's hazardous doing this without knowing what you're doing due to the extreme toxicity that comes off when taking large quantities of iodine or iodide.

At least one person has tried commiting suicide by drinking the VERY large bottles of Iodine (not the dropper bottles) to no avail and with no long-term effects.

When I think of "large" quantities of iodine or iodide I liken the toxicity to colloidal silver. Not really a good idea to take in extremely large quantities if one has other methods at their disposal but certainly the benefits outway the downside "for those who know what they are doing" and don't have access to other means.

But when we are talking about small quantities of iodine such as 50 mg and below, I would listen to CS. Also is best to read past posts on this from a couple years ago to get a better understanding. For example, don't forget about chelation. Including Vitamin C and salt loading protocol and selenomethionine at 200 or 400 mcg. Selenomethionine is needed to help balance the thyroid when supplementing iodine. Selenium and iodine both work like a sea saw when it comes to the thyroid. Taking too much of either selenium or iodine can push the thyroid too far in one direction in a manner of speaking. But supplementing both keeps the balance in place regarding the thyroid. And selenomethionine is the form I would recommend.

By the way, what I give my family is detoxified iodine or nascent iodine. This way, one can supplement with much smaller quantities of iodine for the same benefit as the large quantities.

I managed to "poison" myself with 12,5 mg a day for a month and I don't think I have bromide and mercury flowing through my veins instead of blood, so I would not listen to CS/Browstein/Abraham.

Another heavy user of iodine here who has gone through many bottles of lugols in large doses, as has been said already EDUCATE yourself heavily before getting into this area of supplementation, otherwise as Fred pointed out you may pay the consequences and end up whining about it on this forum every chance you get. Ensure that what you're pushing out of your cells can be properly excreted from your body, ensure cofactors, and of course salt protocol and plenty of fluids. I believe the salt loading thread has been posted already.

I had my detox at a rather low dose, i think it had it at around 5mg which is the amount of iodine in iodoral and then i kept gradually increasing my dose (with co factors) and now i'm up to 50mg.

I barely even noticed the detox and had no bad side effects which is weird since i was expecting the opposite.

I salt loaded and took the co-factors, didn't prevent me from being poisoned.

Fred said:

I managed to "poison" myself with 12,5 mg a day for a month and I don't think I have bromide and mercury flowing through my veins instead of blood, so I would not listen to CS/Browstein/Abraham.

Hmmm. And because you *think* you don't have bromide and mercury toxicity, what with your extensive knowledge of anatomy & physiology, microbiology, allopathic medicine, and natural medicine, that obviously must be the case. :eyeroll:

Why are you so dead set on thinking that iodine is the problem when the problem likely resides in your own bod?

Iodine caused me bad sides on 12.5 mg after less than a week! But I read and educated myself, and decided to try a different approach. After I chelated and salt loaded, magically I could tolerate a 100 mg dose, stepped up in less than 2 weeks. I wonder what changed? Apparently the problem was what was in my body, not the iodine.

Sounds to me like you likely DO have mercury/bromide toxiciity. Do you have fillings? Do you eat commercially made bread? If you can answer yes to both those questions, then you likely do have mercury and bromide not only flowing through your veins *in* your blood (not instead), but likely lodged in some fat and soft tissue, as well.

Please stop bashing iodine, especially since you obviously haven't explored all the options to deal with unpleasant side effects (i.e., you haven't chelated). It's been said many times on this forum that salt and co-factors aren't always enough to eliminate sides, and that if you really want to take it you may have to chelate.

Also note that no one is advocating that you take it again. Just saying to quit moaning about iodine being bad for everyone because you had a bad experience in which you didn't explore all options to help it work. It's a valid therapeutic agent for hypothyroid and many other problems.

Myself, I'll never quit taking it, although I'm not going to be on the big dose forever. I'll ramp it down in the near future.

I said I wasn't going to engage with you any more, but I lied about that, didn't I?

rdkml wrote:

anthonyspencer54 wrote:I have become more skeptical of using higher doses of iodine, there is no doubt about it.

I don't mean to derail the thread but wanted to give my input because not many people may be aware other than CS and a few others these days.

I took extremely large doses of Lugol's for many months many years ago. By extremely large amounts I mean up to 300 mg in divided doses spread throughout the day. I didn't take this everyday such as when I was still in need of detoxing. I also took up to 1 gram of iodide/SSKI in divided doses throughout the day on days I didn't take iodine. That is 1,000 mg. This may sound like a lot to many but extremely large doses were used in the past. For example, Dr. Szent-Györgyi, the discoverer of vitamin C himself used 1000 mg of iodide per day.

Nowadays, for most people, it's hazardous doing this without knowing what you're doing due to the extreme toxicity that comes off when taking large quantities of iodine or iodide.

At least one person has tried commiting suicide by drinking the VERY large bottles of Iodine (not the dropper bottles) to no avail and with no long-term effects.

When I think of "large" quantities of iodine or iodide I liken the toxicity to colloidal silver. Not really a good idea to take in extremely large quantities if one has other methods at their disposal but certainly the benefits outway the downside "for those who know what they are doing" and don't have access to other means.

But when we are talking about small quantities of iodine such as 50 mg and below, I would listen to CS. Also is best to read past posts on this from a couple years ago to get a better understanding. For example, don't forget about chelation. Including Vitamin C and salt loading protocol and selenomethionine at 200 or 400 mcg. Selenomethionine is needed to help balance the thyroid when supplementing iodine. Selenium and iodine both work like a sea saw when it comes to the thyroid. Taking too much of either selenium or iodine can push the thyroid too far in one direction in a manner of speaking. But supplementing both keeps the balance in place regarding the thyroid. And selenomethionine is the form I would recommend.

By the way, what I give my family is detoxified iodine or nascent iodine. This way, one can supplement with much smaller quantities of iodine for the same benefit as the large quantities.

Thankyou for posting your experience.
Would you share with me on how to supplement the dosage of nascent iodine to get the same benefits of using the other brands.
I was given to me a bottle of nascent from friend, i have read some through forum but their is more information on brands such as lugols, iosol etc. if you could share link or how to convert nascent dosages to what would be equivalent of using the other brands as i understand nascent is much more energised bioavailble form of iodine, i would be thankful.

No I do not have mercury fillings and, well I do eat an multicereal sandwich twice a week and some whole wheat bread, and good news, I've read an article in french that bromide has been banned from the bakeries in Belgium. I've been eating organic for more than three years. I don't say it must be bad for everyone and I'm not bitching about eat, I'm just warning people that it's not totally safe to play with megadoses of iodine.