Iodine making hypothyroid symptoms worse?

[Ippodrom47]

Hi! My t3 and t4 are both at the very low end of normal range, my TSH is okay, though. Lately I've been noticing that iodine is making my simptoms worse, such as feeling cold, numb extremities, fatigue, brain fog, slow gut motility, etc. Can that be the case? I'm taking about kelp pills or even using iodized salt. I eat 2-3 brazil nuts a day. Large dietary beta carotene intake some time ago was definitely a contributing factor, too. Thanks in advance!

 

[Makrosky]

Hi! My t3 and t4 are both at the very low end of normal range, my TSH is okay, though. Lately I've been noticing that iodine is making my simptoms worse, such as feeling cold, numb extremities, fatigue, brain fog, slow gut motility, etc. Can that be the case? I'm taking about kelp pills or even using iodized salt. I eat 2-3 brazil nuts a day. Large dietary beta carotene intake some time ago was definitely a contributing factor, too. Thanks in advance!

Hello. Things that come to my mind, let's see if it helps!
- Are you eating enough calories?
- I ALWAYS had bad/unpredictable effecets with kelp. Drop that thing and give a try to small doses of Lugol or Nascent iodine. I wouldn't touch kelp with a pole.
- 200mcg of selenomethionine x day when you use iodine, you cannot rely on brazil nuts to get the needed selenium.

 

[Makrosky]

Also, iodine is the same as coffee in regards of glycogen. Too early in the day without proper calories ingested and used to replenish glycogen stores → stress reaction

There is a recent thread about how to make cofee work, check it. All that applies to it I have found to be true for iodine.

 

[Dr. B]

Hello. Things that come to my mind, let's see if it helps!
- Are you eating enough calories?
- I ALWAYS had bad/unpredictable effecets with kelp. Drop that thing and give a try to small doses of Lugol or Nascent iodine. I wouldn't touch kelp with a pole.
- 200mcg of selenomethionine x day when you use iodine, you cannot rely on brazil nuts to get the needed selenium.

whats your experience with the stuff? Ray doesnt like supplementing it at all... ive put on 20 pounds in 6 weeks, from using just 3mg potassium iodide once a week. alongside 250mcg selenium. I dont understand how or why the effects occurred, according to Peat the iodine simply makes you more hypothyroid. in my case this is exactly what occurred. my hair started thinning, put on weight, my face bloated up, and my balls even shrunk by like 30% of their regular size. Had colder hands and feet and overall slower digestion and felt colder.

 

[Ippodrom47]

kelp. Drop that thing and give a try to small doses of Lugol or Nascent iodine. I wouldn't touch kelp with a pole.

Hi! Could you please elaborate on what exactly you were experiencing with kelp?

 

[Makrosky]

whats your experience with the stuff? Ray doesnt like supplementing it at all... ive put on 20 pounds in 6 weeks, from using just 3mg potassium iodide once a week. alongside 250mcg selenium. I dont understand how or why the effects occurred, according to Peat the iodine simply makes you more hypothyroid. in my case this is exactly what occurred. my hair started thinning, put on weight, my face bloated up, and my balls even shrunk by like 30% of their regular size. Had colder hands and feet and overall slower digestion and felt colder.

wow!! That sucks man. Hope you can get better soon.

Why could this have happened I don't know, honestly. Let´s think out loud :

- A single dose of 3mg KI per week, while 250mcg selenium x day? It could be too much selenium and too few iodine ratio. Doses higher than 100mcg x day can cause hypothyroid IIRC (someone posted it on the forum once).

- Was the selenium selenomethionine? One of the most knowledgeable MD on iodine (Dr. Brownstein) advices to take that form, not others.

- Are you really sure it was because of the KI? 18mg (6x3) of KI is... not much, really. Pills for radioprotection are 100mg. Treatments for infections are several hundred mgs during many days (or weeks). 18mg is really nothing. I have taken almost a gram (1000 mg) sometimes in the past as an experiment and didn't cause anything bad.

- Were you eating proper nutritious food? If you ramp up metabolism, you need more minerals and calories.

- Putting up weight isn't necessarily bad. Lots of people experience it, also when approaching Peat inspired diet/lifestyle. The other effects are indeed worrying and a clear signal something is going bad. Sounds like a lot of estrogen/hypo.

But definitely iodine is not for everybody and RP discourages its use, that is true. I never had problems with it though.

I would drop it in your case, it is clearly doing you no good.

 

[Makrosky]

Hi! Could you please elaborate on what exactly you were experiencing with kelp?

I don't remember exactly it was many years ago. I bought a few brands, tried different doses, I ended up trashing them all and never buying it again. Stress reactions (similar to the ones you describe) and depressive/dark thoughts were 2 of the things that I remember, that's for sure.

 

[MyUsernameHere]

This happened to me as well, my hair and eyebrows started thinning out even more and my TSH jumped up. Ironic that it's touted as the cure for hypothyroidism and then that happens.

I like it conceptually but not when it does that kind of ***t to me. And yes I took all the cofactors.

 

[Ippodrom47]

Doses higher than 100mcg x day can cause hypothyroid IIRC (someone posted it on the forum once).

Hi! Can one overdo their daily selenium intake with several Brazil nuts and no supplements? Thanks!

 

[Dr. B]

wow!! That sucks man. Hope you can get better soon.

Why could this have happened I don't know, honestly. Let´s think out loud :

- A single dose of 3mg KI per week, while 250mcg selenium x day? It could be too much selenium and too few iodine ratio. Doses higher than 100mcg x day can cause hypothyroid IIRC (someone posted it on the forum once).

- Was the selenium selenomethionine? One of the most knowledgeable MD on iodine (Dr. Brownstein) advices to take that form, not others.

- Are you really sure it was because of the KI? 18mg (6x3) of KI is... not much, really. Pills for radioprotection are 100mg. Treatments for infections are several hundred mgs during many days (or weeks). 18mg is really nothing. I have taken almost a gram (1000 mg) sometimes in the past as an experiment and didn't cause anything bad.

- Were you eating proper nutritious food? If you ramp up metabolism, you need more minerals and calories.

- Putting up weight isn't necessarily bad. Lots of people experience it, also when approaching Peat inspired diet/lifestyle. The other effects are indeed worrying and a clear signal something is going bad. Sounds like a lot of estrogen/hypo.

But definitely iodine is not for everybody and RP discourages its use, that is true. I never had problems with it though.

I would drop it in your case, it is clearly doing you no good.

it was just the selenium alongside the iodine on that day along with other cofactors like a b complex, some vitamin c, and salt. yes selenomethionine 200mcg plus, it was 55mcg of possibly another form maybe sodium selenite.
however ive used all these cofactors without iodine and not had the same effect.
yes totally sure its iodine because that was the only thing added. it was terrys tri iodine 3mg, plus sometimes it would include life extensions 1000mcg iodine product.
My macros were something like 210g protein, 70-80g fat, and 150g carbs. bit lower on the carbs. but I was in good shape before the iodine experiment
i did drop it after the 6 weeks however the effects seemed to be permanent!

 

[Makrosky]

This happened to me as well, my hair and eyebrows started thinning out even more and my TSH jumped up. Ironic that it's touted as the cure for hypothyroidism and then that happens.

I like it conceptually but not when it does that kind of ***t to me. And yes I took all the cofactors.

Were you using potassium iodide or lugol? They act differently.

After seeing it under a Peat prism I think Lugol is better since elemental iodine is pro oxidant I think. So it balances potassium iodide and viceversa.

TSH is meant to increase during the first stages of iodine supplementation, according to one doctor (I can't recall her name now, maybe Tennpeny) TSH increases as a means to pump more iodine into cells or something like that. Don't know how accurate is this or if she made an ad-hoc explanation. I remember from many years ago on iodine forums people reporting this : TSH going high, then after a few weeks/months going down.

I am not advising anyone to use iodine, keep it it mind please. Just sharing the info that I have gathered after many years.

 

[Makrosky]

Hi! Can one overdo their daily selenium intake with several Brazil nuts and no supplements? Thanks!

I don't think you can be sure of anything that comes from brazil nuts because :
a) you don't know how much selenium they have, different crops, varities, etc. have different ammounts.
b) you don't know how much of that selenium is bio available
c) you don't know how much you are absorving from your GI tract.

If dosing properly with pure supplements is difficult, imagine with a food. Doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[Makrosky]

it was just the selenium alongside the iodine on that day along with other cofactors like a b complex, some vitamin c, and salt. yes selenomethionine 200mcg plus, it was 55mcg of possibly another form maybe sodium selenite.
however ive used all these cofactors without iodine and not had the same effect.
yes totally sure its iodine because that was the only thing added. it was terrys tri iodine 3mg, plus sometimes it would include life extensions 1000mcg iodine product.
My macros were something like 210g protein, 70-80g fat, and 150g carbs. bit lower on the carbs. but I was in good shape before the iodine experiment
i did drop it after the 6 weeks however the effects seemed to be permanent!

These products have iodine from Kelp. That's NO good in my experience. Not at all. Anyway it is still a small dose and everything else you said seems pretty fine. Very strange reaction indeed. Definitely iodine is not for you. Drop it. And don't worry it is extremely unlikely those effects are permanent. Just don't try to compensate now with other experiments, give your body some time to go back to baseline and it will.

Think about this : in many places in the world they use iodine to disinfect the skin before/after surgery. I haven't done the calculations but imagine they have to cover your whole leg with povidone for a few days, that is maybe equal amount than what you have taken. This is happening right now everywhere in the world and ppl is not having those reactions.

 

[Dr. B]

These products have iodine from Kelp. That's NO good in my experience. Not at all. Anyway it is still a small dose and everything else you said seems pretty fine. Very strange reaction indeed. Definitely iodine is not for you. Drop it. And don't worry it is extremely unlikely those effects are permanent. Just don't try to compensate now with other experiments, give your body some time to go back to baseline and it will.

Think about this : in many places in the world they use iodine to disinfect the skin before/after surgery. I haven't done the calculations but imagine they have to cover your whole leg with povidone for a few days, that is maybe equal amount than what you have taken. This is happening right now everywhere in the world and ppl is not having those reactions.

but thats external right, if you ingest potassium iodide it could target and affect the thyroid somehow/ whereas external has a different, maybe non thyroidial effect? it does have anti bacterial effects. anyway i think ray said even amounts above twice the rda, long term will damage the thyroid gland

 

[mariantos]

@Makrosky

I take 6-7 drops of lugol's 5%. Can you tell me please, what made you take 1g a day? Why did you reach this amount and the side effects or benefits you noticed after the experiment ?!

Thanks!

 

[Makrosky]

I am just seeing now in the "similar threads" at the bottom of the page a thread byba guy getting a "weakened erection" from Kelp. Stay away from that garbage!!!!!

 

[Makrosky]

but thats external right, if you ingest potassium iodide it could target and affect the thyroid somehow/ whereas external has a different, maybe non thyroidial effect? it does have anti bacterial effects. anyway i think ray said even amounts above twice the rda, long term will damage the thyroid gland

Yes but I can tell you 100% sure that transdermal route you absorve it also. Oral route doesn't touch the thyroid. But can have different metabolic reactions, even though in my experience they are undistinguishable. Just cut it and leave some time not trying to recover by taking other stuff you are not sure it will help. You'll get better man!

And yes, povidone i think has less affinity for thyroid, they made it on purpose, but it still does to some extent.

 

[Makrosky]

@Makrosky

I take 6-7 drops of lugol's 5%. Can you tell me please, what made you take 1g a day? Why did you reach this amount and the side effects or benefits you noticed after the experiment ?!

Thanks!

Hello!

1g of potassium iodide, not Lugol. 2 different things.

Why? Just to experiment. I was young. And bit stupid maybe for doing those experuments. But didn't get any bad effects. I don't recall it exactly but I think from 300mg and above I didn't notice much difference. Whereas from 0mg to 300mg there was an increase in benefits. But please guys be careful when doing that. Everybody is different.

Some people can tolerate 15 or 20mg DHEA x day and I can barely tolerate even 1mg.

 

[mariantos]

Hello!

1g of potassium iodide, not Lugol. 2 different things.

Why? Just to experiment. I was young. And bit stupid maybe for doing those experuments. But didn't get any bad effects. I don't recall it exactly but I think from 300mg and above I didn't notice much difference. Whereas from 0mg to 300mg there was an increase in benefits. But please guys be careful when doing that. Everybody is different.

Some people can tolerate 15 or 20mg DHEA x day and I can barely tolerate even 1mg.

Understood, thanks for the advice also!

 

[Makrosky]

Let's call @burtlancast which is very knowledgeable of iodine also.