KSman Has a Thryoid Problem

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
1

When the iodized sea salt ran out last year [wife did not like the taste], we put a mineral sea salt [mined] in the salt shaker. It had iodine in the mineral analysis. However, with 20:20 hind sight the amount was so small it should not have been listed. The packages on the shelf now state “not a source of iodine” on the front label.

I have been feeling crappy for months, but after my near death surgical disaster, feeling crappy was my normal style. I have not been feeling cold with this problem. I easily feel overheated. That symptom was not there.

Did my 6 month male panel and my TSH was 1.6, it was 0.98 on the prior lab work [before surgery].

So this all looks very lame after the way that I go after guys about iodine intake a few time per day on this forum.

I did some reading and took Idoral. Day 1 50mg, yes mg’s and started to feel better that night. That day I had woke at 97.2F and was 97.7 most of the day.

Day 2, 50mg, feeling better, temps mostly 97.7-98.0

Day 3, 25mg, still feeling better, temps 98-98.2
Day 4, 25mg, still feeling better, temps 98.2-92.4
Day 5, 25mg, hit 98.6, 98.5 now

Temps fluctuate [but that might reduce, or be normal], might be an adrenal - cortisol problem. I have ordered TSH, fT3, fT4, rT3, AM cortisol to see what is going on, will wait for the iodine loading to go to its end point before the lab work.

So I feel rather stupid having done this to myself, but have been feeling that way and now I know why.

This post is a good as an illustration of what can happen when not using iodized salt and how dramatic the effect of iodine reloading can be. If I had simply put iodized salt in the shaker, recovery would be very slow as the iodine stores need to be recovered and one would have a lingering iodine deficiency. According to the Iodoral manufacturer, the body can carry 1.5 grams of iodine [“whole body sufficiency”] then will excrete levels after that. That is 10,000 RDA’s of iodine.

There may be other problems with my thyroid now, other than the deficiency and there could be some problems resulting from the events last summer. The starvation and severe weight loss would be expected to create adrenal problems. Sometimes iodine can create transient increases in thyroid hormones; but that is all unknown for now.

There will be more to this story.

Edit: Jan 2016
New issues discussed here: KSman Has a Thryoid Problem - #27 by KSman

2

I hope you keep getting better.

I’ve been wondering how much iodine is too much?

I already use iodized salt + vitamins also have iodine. Is there a risk of adding too much?

3

The RDA=150mcg was created to prevent goiter and metal retardation. There never was any effort to find what is optimal. Women in Japan eating fish and seaweed are getting 10-15 mg per day. They have the lowest levels of female cancers. Low iodine is associated with fibrocystic breast disease [FBD]. FBD can be resolved with high doses of iodine and 50mg/day has been found have the best response. There is a lot of info, but this thread will not attempt to collect such data.

With iodized salt plus 150mg/day in vitamins, your intake will be sub optimal. You can’t get enough iodine from those sources.

Our biology evolved in the sea where iodine is abundant.

4

I hear what your saying - it is surprising that it is happening to you. I was just talking to someone about your morning-temp test. I have been sleeping against a cold wall because I pushed my bed there but given that it is near zero outside and the bed is really in a corner of two cold walls I figured the temp thing would not be very meaningful.

I have never put much into the thyroid because it is complicated. UC, stroking and T-replacement are complicated enough. However I do seem to have energy issues if I am not physically active. Even as a night freight pilot I was fairly engaged. Computer consulting work has always been tough because I sit all day. Going to the gym helps but frankly I rely on stimulants. I feel about 500% smarter and more productive on them. However I suspect this was my normal state when I was younger. Wed I start a new contract downtown at a startup with a BUNCH of young guns out to get rich. I do not need to be feeling sleepy.

I had an alternative Dr do 10 pages of bloodwork analysis and one of his remedies was iodine pills that are 8333% of the RDA amount. I take them and even though that sounds like a lot - I really do not feel any different so I stop after two days because I just dont have the time to dive into this whole thyroid angle on top of everything else.

The pills are 12.5 milligrams. IF I had a thyroid problem how long would you expect to require consuming these before you saw no measurable change and gave up ?

I missed the part about your surgery - hope things get back to normal for you KSman.

5

Sorry to hear KS, hope you get it sorted. This has got me curious about iodine as well…I need to take my temps.

6

Glad to hear you found a strategy that is proving helpful, KSman.

Two quick questions: will your reload protocol consist of running the Iodoral at 25mg QD until your supply runs out, or will you be gauging the length of the reload by body temperature/feel?

Also, once the protocol is concluded, do you have a maintenance dosage in mind you will supplement with or will you simply switch back to iodized sea/mineral salt as an additive to your meals?

7

I have no idea how much to use in terms of total iodine load. I need to do further reading. If the body’s tissues have taken up all of the iodine that they need, excretion increases, which is a safety valve.

I started with most of a bottle of 180 * 12.5mg; which is 2.25 grams of elemental iodine. That is 1.5 total body saturation loads [1.5 grams]. 120 tablets is 1.5 grams.

I will be using body temp as a guide.

I will stop taking Iodoral for a while before my labs to avoid any effects that are from the high doses. I will note any body temp changes from stopping the high dose iodine.

Will have iodized salt on the table.

What is not known is whether there is problem other than low iodine that high doses are masking. I have my lab work papers in-hand now.

8

Observation: The large amounts of iodine are changing the flora in my guts. That does not seem like a surprise. I have had the most foul farts since starting the Iodoral. The bacteria that are easily killed off by the iodine are gone and the survivors are raising a stink. Google shows that this problem is known.

Temp is 98.4

And … I have had headaches every morning for weeks and just realized that they are gone.

9

There is research suggesting that iodine supplementation actually hastens the process of thyroid destruction in Hashimoto’s thyroiditis:

Well - The New York Times (scroll down to “Iodine Abnormalities”)

There is a school of thought that suggests that supplementing with selenium (as well as iodine) can offset this effect.

But I would be wary of going nuts with the iodine before being tested for anti-thyroid antibodies (anti-TPO and TgAb) to rule out Hashimoto’s.

EDIT: And I’d see a doctor, because unlike TRT this is something any good endo WILL know an awful lot about.

10

Thanks for the link. Many sites are printing the same text. Hard to know where it started.

This shows some complexities:
http://www.thyroidmanager.org/Chapter8/chapter8.html

Things are not as simple as the nytimes article suggests.

This has great info too:
http://www.thyroidmanager.org/Chapter20/20-frame.htm

11

I just skimmed this post before bed (wi9ll come back to it later), but just so you are aware 12.5 mg of Ioddoral per day took me to 3x Quest’s upper limit urine test for iodine (I think I was around 1500, with top of the range around 500).

Funny thing was, I was only at 80 before taking it!!!

12

As tissues become saturated, taking up the iodine, more is excreted. If you stop the supplemental iodine for a while, then test, you would be detecting how much iodine is leaking out. [interesting pun]

There are tests where you take 50mg then collect urine for analysis. If small amounts of iodine are collected, the body is absorbing the iodine, which indicates lower levels. If 90% if 50mg is collected in the urine, the body tissues are considered saturated. I think that the word that is used is replenished.

There is also bromide detox that can occur and you need a high dose of iodine and a flux of iodine been excreted that will dislodge bromine and then that gets excreted. To dump bromides, one would have to have a high level. One could have a high normal iodine urine test and if loaded with bromides, one would have a functional level of iodine lower than indicated.

I think that the lab that you took is looking at a bell curve of iodine levels seen in the general public, exposed to iodized salt and/or iodine in vitamins. With about 90% of the population iodine deficient, one probably should not want to be inside the bell curve of the general population.

VB, how long did you take the Iodoral?

13

Ive been taking it since around late November, me thinks. So about 2 months between starting it at 80 and testing it at 1500+

I see what you’re saying about falling inside the bell curve…I got a little spooked when I saw how high mine was, but my doc told me to stay the course…

14

I do not even have a salt shaker, I do not put salt on anything. Is that unwise ? I usually do not use the 12.5 iodine either as I cannot tell if it has any effect.

15

[quote]KSman wrote:
Observation: The large amounts of iodine are changing the flora in my guts. That does not seem like a surprise. I have had the most foul farts since starting the Iodoral. The bacteria that are easily killed off by the iodine are gone and the survivors are raising a stink. Google shows that this problem is known.

Temp is 98.4

And … I have had headaches every morning for weeks and just realized that they are gone.[/quote]

reagrding the farts, i had the same problem when starting taking iodoral…

600mg betaine HCL 15 mins before every meal and 5 grams glutamine every morning cleared that up in a matter or a day or two

16

Still feeling better, 1 week near Cancun was good.

Abstract: “transdermal absorption of iodine from seawater by subject drinking margaritas”

Taking only one Iodoral 12.5mg/day seems to allow my gut to be normal as far as farts are concerned, but wife says my farts still smell like death. [make up your own abstract]

Today: waking temp 97.7 and temp during the day is 98.6 - 99

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Good to hear KSM. Is Iodoral prescription?

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No, but not really cheap. Note that prices can vary by a vast amount. Some sources are out of stock lately.

19

[quote]KSman wrote:
No, but not really cheap. Note that prices can vary by a vast amount. Some sources are out of stock lately.[/quote]

Thank all of the idiots on the west coast walking around with surgical masks thinking a nuclear accident 5000 miles away will give them cancer for that…

Good to hear you’re doing better…a week in Cancun usually helps…unless you partake in the local water or local women–that usually results in a setback…

20

My wife found a dried seaweed product that you sprinkle like salt, it is salty, contains 3mg of iodine per 1/4th teaspoon, 20 times your RDA. Maine Coast Sea Vegetables Inc http://www.seaveg.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=32&products_id=81 product of USA

They have a run on product too.

I have had 135mg potassium iodide tabs for over 10 years. Cannot ever go out of date. Nuke plant in the region.

When there is a radioactive iodine exposure, the thyroid can take that up and concentrate it, as with any iodine, leading to increased cancer risk. If you saturate with iodine, the absorbed radioactive iodine will have no where to go and will mostly be excreted. Radioactive iodine has a short half life. So it would decay on the way here as well as becoming very dispersed. Iodine-131 - Wikipedia

An iodine deficiency is a big risk if there is iodine 131 exposure. Many in Japan are normally iodine saturated and will have that as protection.

Iodine 131 is used for thyroid diagnostics and to destroy the thyroid when hyper or cancerous. You do not see people getting hyper about cancer from that. WTF! If you have an iodine saturated thyroid gland, those medical iodine 131 methods cannot work! Docs tell such patients not to eat bread when iodine was pulled from bread 50 years ago, dumb asses.

Meanwhile I have 18 grams of elemental iodine, but that is another story.