U.S. News and World Report has an article, talking about the effect that supplements and their ingredients can have on your medical treatment. In this case, a thyroid cancer patient, on the low-iodine diet, kept having elevated iodine levels. It turned out that a selenium supplement he was taking also had kelp -- which is rich in iodine -- as an ingredient. It's definitely a worthwhile caution -- but take the rest of the pronouncements from endocrinologist Lewis Braverman, MD with a "grain of salt." Dr. Braverman, like many traditional endocrinologists, is not especially knowledgeable about or friendly towards supplements, at one point even derisively referring to iodine supplementation as "voodoo medicine." There's no question that someone on the low-iodine diet should absolutely avoid supplements that contain iodine, or ingredients like kelp or bladderwrack that are high in iodine. But beyond suggesting that patients check the ingredients in their supplements, in my opinion, Dr. Braverman should stick to his own area and leave advice about nutritional medicine to the experts...
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I have always had a problem understanding if I should take thyroid supplements that have iodine or iodine containing ingredients. I am hypothyroid.
Can iodine make me worse?
Same here! I’m hypothyroid and I’d like to know if I should avoid kelp or embrace it.
How much kelp is safe to take? I have low thyroid. I was taking 750 Mg (?) mlg (?) not sure which and it seemed to cause thyroid storm. Which tells me it works but I stopped it because thyroid storm is nooooo fun. What is a safe amount?
Are Iodine supplements safe to take if a person has thyroid problems? And should we take them if we do to help our Dx.?
You might check out this website and get the book: Iodine why you need it.
http://www.drbrownstein.com/
I have Hashimoto’s and my Endocronologist said there is nothing he can prescribe for it. I now am being treated by a Nurse Practitioner who titrated me up to 50 mg of Iodoral/day and I feel better.
Thank You Mike, I just ordered the book.
Doses of 10 mg iodine (66 times the minimum daily requirement (150 mcg)) are used against cancer, to detoxify against brome and fluoride and is apparently needed to fulfill the body needs.
Minimum daily requirement is
just enough for the thyroid gland which monopolises it.
Any surplus would simply go to other much needed uses in the body.
Overactive Thyroid would not be caused by the extra iodine.
If anything, less infections are a benefit of sufficient iodine levels.
http://www.iodine4health.com/body/breast/derry_breast.htm
As a hypo person I look forward to an iodine assist on handling wieght gain. I was diagnosed 9 years ago and have yet to find an endrochronoligist that can provide a consistent course of action. I have only been following a T4 synthroid as a treatment, that’s why I have been following about.com. Looking for more….thanks
Hi ale, you don’t say where you live but any Endo in Ireland who cam out with such a grossly ignoreant statment would find himself short of patients – at the very best!
Hashimoto’s – which is a form of hypothyroisim is certainly treatable – with T4 or and combination of T4 and T3 and treatment in the early stages can be hihly beenficial and has been found to pevent the patient goign on to develop full blown hypo. I can’t advise on Ildoral and nurses (Nurse practitioners) are not legally permitted to prscribe anything.
Some of these comments on iodine are dangerous. Especially for those with Hashimoto’s. Even small amounts of iodine can trigger hyperthyroidism and awful symptoms, as I and many others can attest to, some of us ending up in the ER. Dr. Brownstein’s cinical methods and experience is sloppy and I’ve talked with some of his patients who reacted badly to the iodine, yet Brownstein did not have good, stringent follow-up protocols or controlled methods. Use caution with iodine, and more is NOT better for many. Yet to read his book you would think hardly anyone had adverse reactions. Simply untrue.
I was on Synthroid for 10 years. I never did feel well from it and I continue to gain weight. What was worse is that I could not lose weight no matter how hard I tried. My doctor thought Armour was off the market. Armour put me in a very bad mood all the time. I then found a doctor who let me try Cytomel. Well I have been taking it ever since. My weight is slowly coming down and I feel more normal on Cytomel than I ever did on Synthroid.
I got really ill from the iodine in vitamin pills, and other hashimotos patients have posted about similar experiences too. Only a few have reported getting better with some iodine. Iodine is proven to even cause temporary hypothyroidism because it can block thyroid hormones in large doses. It has been used like that in hyperthyroidism (for a short time before surgery to shrink the thyroid gland)(just to illustrate that it can be very potent)
Hello, doctors! Taking iodine is voodoo medicine? I guess they are very misinformed. How sad that they don’t know the average American is consuming/being exposed to enough bromide to displace iodine in the body, thus causing thyroid, breast and prostate issues. Bromide is even in our flour and bread!
Why, I wonder, did I have a goiter since childhood and NO doctor ever recommended that I have an iodine supplement? Now I have no thyroid thanks to doctors like this.
Actually, voodoo medicine is where doctors take out the thyroid gland and then tell us that one tiny pill will make it okay. It doesn’t work that way, but they keep saying it!
Check out http://www.naturalthyroidchoices.com for more info on iodine and thyroid health.
Have Hashimoto’s and 0 to little adrenal function. Feel sick and exhausted most of the time; so I stay in bed and only go out to the docs or if I absolutely have to. I didn’t take my Iodine/Potassium Supplement and couldn’t even move – just to test your theory – I couldn’t take it anymore, and I took a 1/2 and w/i minutes I was able to function! Co-incidence? I think not! It DEFINATELY WORKS FOR ME – guess it depends what kind and how much and what else you’re taking..
To Hashi’s and Hurting…. I am in the SAME BOAT! I was just thinking I can ever find info on HASHI’S AND ADRENAL INSUFFICIENCY TOGETHER! As for the comment on Iodine/Potassium, I AGREE 10000%. I went through my RX’s, slowly, trying to find the one(s) that: either make me feel worse, OR do no good – according to test results. But mostly FEELING. When I stopped my 12.5 Iodoral – 5 mg.Iodine and 7.5 mg. Iodide (potassium) I WAS SICK AS A DOG. I WENT RIGHT BACK ON! MY eyebrows came back, my hair and nails grew more and I’m going to talk to my Doc about maybe going up to 25 mgs. I stopped taking thyroid meds after Armour “fallout” and it NEVER made me feel better, neither did Synthroid and I lost all my eyebrows and more hair on that, and even compounds didn’t work. I have gone down on cortisol, gotten off Prozac-was making me SICK and 10X MORE DEPRESSED, and down on major pain meds for chronic pain. I think the Iodoral is the best. I am going to try, per my Doc, who I totally respect, a new mixture, albeit synthetic of T4 and T3 made especially for me according to my tests. My goiter increases if I do not take Iodoral; and I need a test to see if increase in my Hashi’s nodule has grown and my huge adenoma from my hemorrhaged right adrenal gland. But, one things for certain – I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER ON THE IODORAL. But then again, more is NOT always better. But it’s made SUCH a difference as I can point to EVERY RX and SUPPLEMENT I now take and have documented how I felt WITH IT and WITHOUT it – dosages assigned by my Doc. She’s a top Thyroid Doc in FL and works with straight medicine as well as alternatives and is ALWAYS OPEN to me for suggestions. And I, 2 weeks ago, would have written those same words you just did. I’ve been in BED 7 YEARS EXCEPT FOR DOC APPTS AND MRI’S, ULTRASOUNDS, BLOODTESTS. IT’S HELL! Work with your Doc(s), make sure they all know what you’re on and maybe, like me – you’ll find a MAJOR NO NO! BTW, every TCA, SSRI I was on, I had to get off and switch to another or nothing after a few years because of side effects. Because Prozac even admits it affects your metabolism, and WHOA-THYROID, I stopped it. It made me so tired that I decided to switch day to night. When I missed it that a.m. I FELT LIKE A MILLION BUCKS. When I took it a little before bedtime, I felt like I have every day for 5 years-brain fog, confusion, sickness, 0 appetite, constant urination, and on and on. For those who NEED PROZAC and DON’T HAVE THYROID AND/OR ADRENAL PROBLEMS, it’s a different story. But things affect us differently.And there are not that many that have BOTH ADRENAL AND THYROID PROBLEMS. So it was great to hear your story – but try to find something that doesn’t agree with you OR maybe you need to ADD something. Every drug we take affects our thyroid and adrenals, as a great Endo once explained. I wish you well and I agree – IODINE/IODIDE WORKS FOR ME TOO!
I just wanted to add that it took FOREVER to get diagnosed. I was sick for over 7 years, took physicals a few times /year and wasn’t until my OB/GYN found the adrenal mass that the TARGET search began. They did a CT and found the hemorrhaged adrenal gland and adenoma-HUGE! I went to several Endo’s and only 1 FOUND THAT MY THYROID WAS ENLARGED! NOT ONE ENDO OFFERED ME ANY CARE OR PILL AT ALL – ONLY MORE TESTS! I had been sick for years and years and I went EVERYWHERE-from Neurology, Primary Care Docs (many), Psychiatric-you name it, I went. Just LUCK that a Diabetes Doc actually EXAMINED MY NECK THE CORRECT WAY AND FOUND THE THYROID PROBLEM – WITH NODULE AND GOITER. So I found my doc at about.com’s TOP DOCS and She’s saved my life! It’s a partnership; albeit I’m a control freak – but she’s ALWAYS on the ball and extraordinarily smart and ALWAYS ALWAYS MAKES ME FEEL BETTER WHEN I SEE OR TALK TO HER! She’s my greatest ADVOCATE! And WE ALL NEED ONE OF THOSE because NO ONE UNDERSTANDS-EVEN MY PAIN DOC TOLD ME MY MEDS WON’T AFFECT MY ENDO PROBLEMS-WRONG WRONG! – AND getting support from my family and even some friends, is very difficult because THEY CANNOT UNDERSTAND SUCH A RARE PROBLEM. Most Endo’s have most of their business dealing with the Diabetic epidemic, so they don’t have time to even understand what they learned. “If you don’t use it (knowledge), you loose it.” So just keep on trying little things. I guarantee you’ll find something that makes you feel ALIVE AGAIN AND READY TO HOP OUT OF BED!