Iodine, thyroid, and breast cancer??
Comments
-
Anom,
That bit about not including iodine in a trial as it might be toxic, but chemo is okay, is about killing me!!! Good GRIEF!!!
Update on me: I moved from synthroid to desecrated thyroid (Nature-Throid) several days ago and I don't know if it could happen this fast, but the first day i felt better. I have not had the "crashing" in the evenings !!
Spring.
0 -
Vivre,
Here's the link to the study. http://breastcancerchoices.org/hrtsurvival.html
I wish more people who took HRT would stop blaming themselves and start thanking themselves.
Spring,
Great news! It's so great to hear about these quality of life changes. We really need to spread the word about Synthroid being a clunker. That stopthethyroidmadness.com website doesn't reach enough people.
I didn't know how sluggish Synthroid made me feel until I switched to Armour. But I hear now more people are switching to your Nature-throid.
Keep us updated on your adventures
0 -
Anom-when are they going to start blaming the pill? This is the most common form of HRT, yet it is never addressed as a possible link to bc. My stepmother died of cervical cancer at 35 while taking the pill, which was give in much heavier doses back in the 70's. They later admitted it is dangerous for smokers. The other part of the story is that we had "socialized" medicine. My father was in a union and we had to go to a doctor who seemed like a quack to me. She had been complaining about severe pains and he did not even do a simple pap, or any other test. He just told her to get more rest and gave her some kind of liver shot. She kept going back to this idiot for 2 years, waiting several hours to see him each time, and he did nothing! By the time her stomach started to blow up when the cancer spread, there was nothing they could do. My father was too stupid to sue the SOB because he believed the union was helping him. What a joke!
An added note-I was pulling some weeds in my yard and pulled up some poison ivy. Later I saw what looked like it on my face, and by the next day, it had sort of dried up. I wonder if it is the iodine?
0 -
Anom,
There was info on the STTM.com web site about a recent "reformulation" of Armour and some people not doing well on the new formula. Also there were bits about "availability" issues. Anyway, most of those folks went to Nature-Throid and had good results. I thought I may as well just go with the Nature-Throid initially, and my GP was fine with that.
I swear, these social networking sites are really powerful in terms of information sharing and knowledge transfer.
Vivre, that is interesting about the poison ivy...
Spring.
0 -
Good article about the dangers of flouride
I met a nurse yesterday who tried to tell me I was nuts to think that taking iodine will help prevent bc. She insisted that there is no clinical proof because SHE had never heard of it. Honestly, what do they teach these people in medical school. I think I learned more studying health education.
0 -
Yeah, the iodine thing is very new and I often get the same response, Vivre. I did have one doc say, well maybe Iodine will be the next "new thing". She told me people thought the same about Vitamin D when it first "came out". Now *everybody* is getitng tested for Vit D, even my husband was told to supplement after his yearly physical!!!
0 -
Do any of you have a source for iodine or Idoral that is an actual store, and if so, what type of store, or is it only available over the intenet?
0 -
PatMom - I think most of us are taking idoral. You can purchase it at http://www.breastcancerchoices.org/ You can learn a lot about it at this site also.
Patty
0 -
Hi ladies,
I actually had a good day today! My brain fog has been especially bad on anything related to numbers and I made a mistake in my checkbook that set off a chain of bounced checks. That stressed me out and I was feeling some ptsd issues associated with the anniversary dates of what I call my 'physician encounters of the third kind'. It still aggravates me to this day that people who consider themselves 'health care professionals' would cause me so much stress at a time when they're supposed to help me battle my disease.
Honestly, it's my own personal miracle that I don't have mets from head to toe. Sometimes I wonder if maybe I've had such a hard time because that very battle is raging inside me and sapping all my energy. I'm now four years out from finishing chemo and going through surgery. It's all speculation of course since I have an oncologist whose office doesn't even know how to do a blood pressure reading correctly. If there's any cancerous activity going on inside me, it's undiagnosed. All I know is I have greater faith in iodine than anything else to restore my health, whether it's combatting a recurrence, or simply recovering from the treatments themselves.
I haven't been posting much lately because I've been wading through my stockpile of unread emails from the iodine list which I joined last year. I upped my dose to 100 mg/day 2 weeks ago. And today, I actually felt like DOING things! I almost hate to say anything for fear I'll be back wading through molasses tomorrow, but I finally had a GOOD day!
Patmom, I saw the answer to your question on the iodine list -- Iodoral is available from compounding pharmacies, doctors offices or online at breastcancerchoices.org (and a small handful of other sites too). The reason isn't clear to me, but it's 'professionally dispensed' even though no prescription is required.
0 -
PatMom-I get my iodoral from my local compounding pharmacy. They make up their own, based on Lugol's formula, with a couple of added things for absorbtion.
Althea- So glad to hear that when you upped the dose, it is making a difference.You have dealt with the fatigue for a long time. Honestly, sometimes I wonder why we even have doctors, when we end up figuring it out by ourselves anyway. You're not alone on the checkbook issue. I cannot do anything with numbers, not even type them. Fortunately, my husband does the check book! Hope the larger dose is the ticket. I was reading on the iodine group that some people really need a lot more. I guess you are one. Wouldn't it be great if this was the answer you were looking for?
0 -
I will be seeing an Endocronologist next month due to several nodules some large on my thyroid. My oncs believe she will order a biopsy but want her to make the call due to her expertise. Thyroid issues run rampant in family so it wil be intersting to see what I learn. I have been dealing with fatigue, sleep issues, and memory problems but blamed them on too many surgeries and work stress, hip replacement and then lumpectomey and follow up treatments. I am currently taking tamox and undergoing rads so that also adds to the above issues. I will continue to read this thread as I journey down yet another road this year. I raise and process a good deal of our food so wonder if lack of iodine could be an issue as I use sea and kosher salt alot.
0 -
interesting. i am hypo taking whole thyroid. found out that my iodine levels were almost non last year (nz doc told me it was irrelevant lol) .
0 -
Hey Vivre,
I saw you stopped taking Melatonin. I just sat with 2 diff. Naturopaths last week and one put me on Melatonin because it was supposed to be very protective against cancer. She put me on a lot of other stuff as well of course. Curious what you have heard that was bad? Also can you note info. about Myomine? I have seen a few people talk about taking it and am curious. Both Naturopaths were hesitant to recommend DIM to replace Tam. because it is so new.
thanks
Danette
0 -
Anom,
Any thoughts on this? Vivre mentioned you may have some insight...
For the last 2 nights I've been having trouble staying asleep, woken up by foot / leg cramps. This is new. I've been on the iodoral for 3 months now. (I also take a slew of other supplements).
Any insights appreciated...
Spring.
0 -
Codex Alimentarius---- I am too lazy to figure out who. I went to look at it and I find it hard to believe that all that is listed there could possibly come true? It looks a bit like conspiratorial thinking. How could any international meeting actually publish results that would predict billions of deaths resulting from their recommended changes? I know these things can and are happening on a smaller scale due to medical lack of knowledge, big Pharma power etc. but something like this where each rec. makes no sense and effects such a huge percent of the pop? You would think companies that man. vitamins would ban together and put out commercials to get people to help stop the implementation of this. If it truly went into effect, all of us cancer people with be firetrucked big time!!!! I will go to sign the petition but I am skeptical, albeit without reading all of the articles there yet. petition: http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/ind
0 -
Hi Spring,
The Iodoral can sometines cause odd sensations as the bromide is detoxing. The kidneys may not be getting bromide out fast enough and it gets "stuck." If you stop Iodoral for 48 hours that should get the bromide "unstuck." That's assuming it's the Iodoral.
Are you taking magnesium as part of the companion nutrients?
I found that even when I had been on Iodoral a year I would get little bursts of detox once in a while or if I tried to raise my Iodoral dose.
Let us know if the foot leg cramps go away.
xx
0 -
Hi Anom,
I am taking Magnesium, yes. I have been on Iodoral now for 3 months. Would the bromide detox cause foot/leg cramps?
What other symptoms are there of bromide detox?
Thanks, as always, for your help!!
Spring.
0 -
I met a thyroid cancer survivor this weekend. She told me how much she wants to get off of all the drugs, so of course I sent her a bunch of our links. She is so excited about iodine and even sent me a good one too:
http://www.illnessisoptional.com/cms/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=134
0 -
The detox symptom I notice the most lately is cloudy urine. I know headaches are common, and I have them on some days also. What's your level of vitamin C intake? I'm taking ester C. I can't handle more than one at a time (1000 mg each) and I take two each day. Then there must be vitamin c in my daily juice, and I need to figure out what I'm taking in from that.
I'm noticing that my fingernails are really improving. I feel reasonably certain it's damage from chemo. I used to have no problem growing long nails, and I never used to have these ridiculous ridges, and they were never so weak and brittle. And porous too. I used to like wearing fingernail polish and then one day I used the remover, and the color had permeated into my nail bed. I'm pretty sure this started either before or during rads, and here I am 4 years later with fingernails I can't get to grow. I can really see a difference lately though. The sheen is returning, and the index fingernail on my left hand has NO ridges.
Springtime, how much magnesium are you taking and what kind?
0 -
athea ~ If you aren't already, try adding Biotin for your nails. I started using it immediately post-chemo to help my hair grow, and it worked like gangbusters -- with the extra benefit of stronger nails than I had pre-chemo. Normally, I wouldn't separate B-complex vitamins and take one in excess, but post-tx I find my body is requiring all sort of things to rebuild. Plus, Biotin is one of the B's that's rarely included @ 100% in B-Complex blends, so it's hard to get too much of it. Deanna
0 -
I know I've gone through at least one bottle of biotin, if not more, since treatments. I didn't seem to get any discernable improvement in anything from taking it. I don't know, maybe I just wasn't taking enough. The book I just read about antioxidants emphasized the importance of knowing the difference between RDA and optimal amounts. The RDA is often ridiculously low, especially in regard to iodine.
I've gone through several bottles of sublingual B complex vitamins. I expect them to perk me up, esp with all the B12 it has in there. It's time for me to get more B vitamins, and I feel a quandry over which product to choose.
0 -
Althea ~ I've had really good results with the Biotin from Henry's, which is a division of Whole Foods, so I assume is the same as Whole Foods' own brand. Other than that, I stick to natural, high quality health food store brands or Shaklee, which I've used for years -- before there were so many excellent brands more readily available. Personally, I think there is a difference in the higher quality brands vs. the cheaper, drugstore brands, but we're all so individual. What works for one of us may not be as effective for someone else.
I think we also need to be very careful re. who we get any of our stuff from re. purity. My PCP was recently telling me about another patient of hers, a young man who owned a health food store and is dying of liver failure, evidently brought on by using what turned out to be an impure brand of Red Yeast Rice for an extended period of time. That story's made me think about and scrutinize what I buy even more critically that I was before. Deanna
0 -
Hi Spring,
I thought sure I posted a reply to your post. Maybe I posted it in my head. Or I deleted it instead of pushing the SUBMIT button.
Eek, I hope I don't do that too often. I see foot twitching and tingling on the bromide detox symptom list. But not cramping.
http://breastcancerchoices.org/bromidedetoxsymptomsandstrategies.html
Did you try stopping the Iodoral for 48 hours?
Let us know.
xox
0 -
Anom, after 2 days to foot cramping went away - was happening at night and I put on warm socks. Not sure if this was anything but maybe wearing different sneakers? I will have to keep an eye out. See if it comes and goes.
Thanks for the link! I will check that out.
I am having surgery in Sept (Stacked DIEP/Lumbar in New Orleans) and the doc wants me to stop all supplements and vitamins (except for multi, calcium, Vit C) 2 weeks prior to surgery. I am wondering if I should stop the Iodoral. Has anybody else been faced with this decision? I am also not wanting to stop the probiotic per fear of constipation!!!
Anyway.... ugh.
0 -
springtime, I just read from the iodine list how someone had really bad leg cramps after drinking buckets of tea. Supposedly the tannin in the tea can bind up minerals and make them unavailable for absorption. I don't know how reliable this information is, but felt it might be worth sharing anyway.
I'd better share this other piece of info before it evaporates into the black holes of my brain -- it would be wise to avoid aloe vera juice prior to surgery also. I know people who swear by it, but I wasn't having very good results and did some homework. Opinions are widely scattered, but the mayo clinic site said it has proven problematic during surgery where it has purportedly led to excessive bleeding. Most sources say it relieves constipation, but my experience was the direct opposite. Since it's a beverage and no one ever specifically asks 'do you drink aloe vera juice', I think it's worth mentioning to anyone approaching surgery.
I don't think I even took supplements back when I was facing surgery. Back then I didn't want to be a pill taker, and that included supplements. I hadn't started tamoxifen yet either. But I did take stool softeners to stave off constipation problems. I don't recall that there was any reason not to, but now I'm not so sure. Oh well. It didn't work anyway, but I think it was ok with the nurses at nola that I was taking the dulcolax.
0 -
Anom, about magnesium, I had to go check! I take 300MG total per day.
Althea, interesting about the tea! I do drink a lot of green tea....
They (feet crapms) seem to be resolved now... who knows.
Spring.
0 -
Do you all take your Iodoral at night or in the a.m.? I'm asking because, after a noticeable spurt of alertness and energy when I started taking mine about a week ago, I have not slept well at all for the past 3 nights, and am wondering if there's a connection. I'll sleep for maybe 3 hours, then am wide awake at 2:00 a.m. and sleep fitfully, if at all, the rest of the night. I've been taking the Iodoral at night (except last night) and am going to try a.m. starting today. Has anyone else had this happen??? Deanna
0 -
Deanna-I take half of my iodoral in the am, and the rest in the afternoon. I now sleep like a baby. It also helps because I do not have to go to the bathroom a lot, which the iodoral seems to cause. I also take magnesium right before bed. I use a liquid drop of 400 mg.
0 -
Spring, I take two capsules of 400 mg capsules of Magnesium oxide. Some people like magnesium citrate better. There was a study ten years ago in which patients getting any kind of surgery had less post op complications and better outcome by giving them magnesium before surgery. I know my local hospital gives magnesium shots too all the heart patients regardless of why they came in.
I wouldn't take calcium at all before going into the hospital. It may throw off your electrolytes (mineral balance) give your cardiagram a little blip, and they will think there's something wrong with you, rather than just the calcium making mischief. Calcium dominance can also cause constipation.
Oh, and the dreaded constipation from the painkillers. I bring my own stool softeners and a mild senna tab laxative to the hospital. A nurse once told me they have patients readmitted with impacted bowels after being discharged from surgery because the painkillers stopped their bowels.
Why don't they warn us???Deanna, I can't take Iodoral past 3 PM. Makes me a little too alert at bed time. They say this goes away eventually when your thyroid gets used to the iodine. But I'm not taking any chances.
Vivre, what is this liguid magnesium??
xox
0 -
Thanks, vivre. You know, I've tried magnesium (tablets), and it just doesn't seem to work for me, which is disappointing because I've read it's supposed to be good for us. Not sure what it is, but the 2 or 3 times I've tried it, I haven't slept well at all. I wonder if the drops would work any better, or if magnesium just isn't the right thing for me?
I also recently tried Calms Forte, and was disappointed in it, too. The blend that's worked best for me in the past is one by Dr. Julian Whitaker that a friend gave me when I was first dx'd, but even that can be hit or miss. Oh, what I'd give for a good night's sleep on a regular basis! This week has been rough! It also worries me because I recall reading somewhere that not sleeping well can be a predictor of recurrences. So I know that sleep is extremely important.
But I'll try splitting the Iodoral, as you suggested. Deanna
0
