Comments on: Iodine–thyroid patients figure things out again!

By: Sandra Barth

Sandra Barth — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:41:14 +0000

I have found that I have palpitations when I add an iodine supplement. I had Hashimotos and then thyroid ca and removal of thyroid a few years ago.
How much iodine is too much? I tried Iodoral drops but the heart palpitations are a bit uncomfortable. Should I take the iodine anyway?

By: Catherine

Catherine — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:07:52 +0000

Noreen…you could be taking “reformulated” armour…alot of folks have been experiencing hypo symptoms on the “new”armour

By: Noreen

Noreen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:31:42 +0000

I am totally confused about iodine now. I lost my thyroid @ birth due to the nuclear testing @ Indian Springs, NV, in 56′, when my mom was expectant w/me. I have a just a tiny shred of tissue left and I believe it’s causing me a thyroid storm bcuz I’m experiencing many hypothyroid symptoms yet am diligent in taking my Armour Thyroid. I can’t find a doctor knowledgeable about thyroid agenesis so I’m a little afraid to experiment w iodine, yet I sense it is either helping or hurting me, don’t know which. How on earth do I find out? I need info on how iodine relates to the thyroid hormone it’self (as in Armour Thyroid, not the thyroid gland). Whew. Going nuts.

By: Carol

Carol — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 14:06:12 +0000

It is my understanding that in the US, only table salt is iodized, that the salt used in manufacturing commercial products (bread, etc) is not. The idea was to get a minimum of iodine in everyone’s diet to prevent goiter.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 02:11:30 +0000

Well Dr.Mercola addresses the connection between the Thyroid gland and the Iodine. Yes it is in many foods but that does not mean it is the correct type of iodine. As Iodine can be absorbed in the body even just through the skin. I always advise being careful in the matter of iodine as it can often be a double edge sword important to check your levels and do what is best on an individual basis. I will say personally that through the struggle of a persistent undiagnosed under active thyroid had I been getting the iodine I need from such food with all the iodine in it I question if this problem would have arose? It’s hard to tell as the iodine I use now is a high quality supplement and because I now eat very well my body is tolerating and becoming healthy and strong. I also take a desiccated thyroid product so everything is better!

By: Debbie MacDonald

Debbie MacDonald — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:28:06 +0000

I’m confused…isn’t that the goal to spur the functioning of the Thyroid? What if we are iodine difficient? And alot of us are…we need iodine!!

By: ibeji

ibeji — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:44:50 +0000

By the way, just in order to avoid possible misunderstandings; I was talking about INORGANIC iodine above, that is, iodine ions in iodine salts.

Remember that table salt is composed of the ion of a metal, sodium (Na+), and the ion of a so-called halogen (“salt-former”, in Latin!), chlorine (Cl-). Iodine is another member of the halogens, and can form salts with metal ions as well.

This is what I was talking about in my previous post – NOT about the ORGANIC iodine, that is, iodine in organic compounds, such as in thyroxine (T4) and thyronine (T3), as for instance contained in Synthroid or Armour Thyroid.

The effects described in my previous posting above DO NOT apply to thyroid hormones, ONLY to inorganic iodine!

By: ibeji

ibeji — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:24:24 +0000

Beware that (at least in Europe), taking iodine supplements is strongly advised against when you have an auto-immune thyroid condition, no matter whether you’re hypo- or hyperthyroid (Hashimoto or Graves’), because taking iodine may spur the functioning of the thyroid, which – it is believed – increases the activity of the immune system in its attacks against the thyroid.

Moreover, there is a strong movement in Europe (or at least, in Germany) against the (excessive) compulsory supplementation with iodine in foodstuff. Since even animal food is enriched with iodine, it has been reported that a single liter of milk may contain a thousand times the recommended daily dose of iodine.

Since iodine supplements are added everywhere (especially in salt), all basic foods like for instance bread contain enormous amounts of iodine.

Or take sausages for example: the meat comes from animals fed with iodine supplements, the salt is supplemented with iodine, and the spices are, too.

The total iodine consumption has been shown to be many times the recommended daily dose, on average.

What is worse, many thyroid patients report that they feel much worse when they consume even trace amounts of iodine.

Imagine how difficult it is for them to avoid iodine, when it is omnipresent in all foods!

There is almost nothing left they can eat!

There are however people who do not feel any difference with iodine, or at least who were not able to discern any effect related to it, myself included.

In my case this may be due to the iodine supplementation not being enforced as extremely in the country where I live (well in the European Union, but not Germany).

Nevertheless I wanted to urge you to be careful, and to listen carefully to your body, what does him good and what does not.

Take care!