Study n effectiveness of Iodine
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Who do you go to for Iodine testing ?? I have looked into a lot of diets etc since my diagnosis but non of them make a lot of sense to me, I all ready eat healthy organic ...always have !!! I have talked to my doctors and they agree but when I mentioned the Iodine thing my surgeon actually said she thought that would be worth looking into !!! Are you ladies being monitored by a specialist on how much and how long to take the supplements !!! I would prefer to add to my natural diet eventually not take supplements unless I need them.
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annika12-there are variables for each individual of course, but what I'm providing here is the general approach. The first general assumption is that we are all iodine deficient and that we can't get enough through diet alone because the U.S. food supply lacks iodine at the basic level. It has to be supplemented. The typical Japanese diet has 83 times more iodine in it on a daily basis, about 12 milligrams a day. Our recommended daily allowance in the U.S. is only 150 micrograms. The Japanese have half the breast cancer and one third the incidence of all cancers than we do and their average life expectancy is five years longer. No doubt they are healthier in Japan than we are here.
The Lugol's iodine formula is the one to use because it is a precise combination of elemental iodine and potassium iodide and both are necessary elements. The easiest to obtain is the Lugol's 2% solution. There is a lab test that costs about $80. 00 to determine whether your iodine levels are low to start, and there is also a test to determine when you have enough but these are not usually available through your regular doctor. A quick test that is less accurate but a fair indicator, is called a patch test. You place a drop of Lugol's 2% on the inside of your wrist and use the dropper to spread it to the size of a silver dollar and see how long it takes the stain to absorb and disappear. If it is completely gone in under 7-8 hours, this is an indication your body is deficient. With everyone I've seen, its gone in 4-5. (note, if you are using a stronger solution, say the 5%, the stronger solutions take longer to absorb)
Before you actually start taking iodine, experienced iodine practitioner's recommend that you use start a salt detoxification protocol for two weeks to cleanse your iodine receptors so that the iodine can be absorbed. This is important. After two weeks, you begin the iodine with 5 drops a day for a week (12.5 milligrams), then increase to 10 drops the next week, then 15 the next, and 20 the fourth. Continue at 20 drops a day for two more months then have the iodine loading test done by a lab and continue at 20 drops until your iodine reserves are sufficient or reduce to a maintenance dose of 5 drops, as your case requires.
If you experience any unexplained side effects as you ramp up your dose, stop and ask questions. Some new effects are normal as the iodine starts doing its job and you may experience headache for a day or two as the toxins are flushed from your system. Hope this gives you the general idea.
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sunflowers-1000 mcg = 1 mg. The iodine solution you are taking is so diluted it is nearly useless. I'd prefer to see the label, but if the label recommendation is one drop per day for a DV of 150 mcg and you are taking two drops, you are taking 300 mcg per day. Your starting dose should be about 12 milligrams, roughly 40 times more. According to your figures that would be about 80 drops per day of the solution you are now using. To obtain the beneficial effects that research and practice have shown you should expect, be prepared to use the correct solution at the much higher dose. My personal experience is based on Lugol's formula iodine in the 2% solution, about 2.5 milligrams per drop.
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Sunflowers, I never was able to find iodine at a health food store--not even the big Whole Foods store near where I used to live. I had to order mine from amazon.
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HI,
The iodine thing is suggested for many health problems - in my country they removed the Lugols solution from
shops. A friedn said it was kind of food for the body cells. I eat Chlorella Algae powder in larger amounts,
with iodine in it - also to aid detoxinging metals etc
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Hi All. I came across this in my own research and thought I'd post this as additional information to a few of your recent posts. The issue of iodine supplementation took on a much higher level of significance to me once I was able to gather enough information to begin connecting dots. When I considered the fact that most, if not all, of the symptoms of iodine deficiency listed below, have a different manufactured drug associated with their treatment, I began asking some very serious questions. Drugs treat these symptoms but rarely solve the underlying cause that
creates the symptom in the first place. In contrast, iodine is essential for
the creation of hormones that deal with these symptoms on a cellular
level by modulating our body's core biological functions so our bodies can solve its own problems. If your research also reveals that these symptoms are related to iodine deficiency, then why is it that the drugs manufactured to treat them, never contain iodine?Symptoms of Iodine Deficiency Include;
Allergies, dry skin, cysts and
nodules, fatigue, thyroid problems, ovarian problems, cognitive
problems, unclear thinking, menstrual irregularities, weight gain,
breast pain/fibrocystic breast disease, breast cancer, feeling cold, gum infection,
psoriasis, type 2 diabetes, hair thinning, puffy face, fertility
problems, depression, heart arrhythmia, high blood pressure, high
cholesterol, scars, infections, genital herpes, miscarriage,
fibromyalgia, hearing loss, prostate disease, lung conditions,
constipation, fertility problems in women, vaginal infections, eye
problems, neck pain, GERD, eczema, psoriasis, attraction to colds and
virus, low testosterone, and decreased libido.I also noticed that Lugol's iodine was difficult to find and disappearing from stores that we think should have it. The national drug store chains don't sell iodine without a prescription and, so far as I know, there is no prescription available for Lugol's at all. The federal government passed a law a few years ago (2007) that requires special licensing for iodine above 2% solution. I later learned that California has since passed an even more restrictive law that requires special government licensing to sell iodine in strengths that exceed a 1% solution. That's why stores here don't carry the product in strengths that are high enough to do any good. I'm afraid that someday, we won't be able to buy it at all.
My personal experience has all been positive. I was chronically tired. Had to have a nap in the afternoons to make it through the day. My doctor tested me and said my TSH and testosterone at 298 was normal, while the national average for a guy my age is in the 500 range. My saliva pH was also low, on the high end of 5. Within 30 days my saliva pH was normal, and my testosterone was up to 368. Now 60 days later my pH is still normal, never below 7 regardless of my diet, and my testosterone is up to 410 and I haven't needed an afternoon nap in two months. Another odd thing is that my hearing seems to be getting better but I won't know for sure until I have it tested in January. My alternatives, according to my Doc, was to take synthetic thyroid hormone. I declined.
Now that I have seen the benefit, the serious question that remains for me is when to stop taking it. Since my TSH just tested at 2.2, up from 1.3 60 days ago, I've decided that now is the time to stop. Studies indicate that TSH levels at 1.5 and higher, can lead to serious problems over several years. I'm planning to lay off completely for a month, then test, then perhaps start back with a couple of drops per day as a maintenance dose, as opposed to the 20 I've been taking, depending on my next test.
I mentioned in an earlier post that a friend was diagnosed with colon cancer and had a saliva pH of 4.5. She had surgery and is fine now, but had never been able to get her pH up significantly. Tried diet changes and alkaline water, but the slight improvements were only temporary. She started the iodine and nothing changed either, for about 8 weeks, then in about a week and a half, her pH went from 4.5 to 7 and the update is that she has stayed there nearly a month now regardless of her diet.
Just my thoughts and I hope it helps someone else experience different benefits of their own.
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Miffwine, I think you are onto something. "They" must have known about the benefits of iodine and I'm not much into conspiracy thinking but it sure smells like one. I've had at various points in my life at least half of the symptoms you listed. Interestingly, right after I started to take iodoral, a lifetime battle with constipation just. . . . stopped. I feel almost joyous as I step out of that bathroom every morning. I have followed all of the standard advice for years and still no results so this is quite a change. I have also found things that work. For about a week and then we're right back where we were, but not this time.
I have also suffered from ovarian cysts and fibroid cysts, as well as fibrocystic breasts for a good part of my adult life and allergies since childhood. My younger DD, age 19, just got dx'ed with hypothyroid but I think she's had problems all her life b/c I remember that when she was 3 wks old the in-laws were telling me to put her on a diet and I wondered how you put a breastfed baby on a diet! Also I used to block up in a lobe of my breast when I was feeding her and it would be very painful for awhile until I got it cleared up and now I wonder if the iodine deficiency was getting critical at that point and I'm pretty sure that's where my cancer started--same boob anyway.
I am so glad I found out about this, but I'm irritated that this info has been held from us for so long. TG for the internet!
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pipers, the friend I spoke of also had digestion problems for most of her life. She believes her colon cancer was the result. Her bowel problems continued after she had surgery. Her digestion and bowel problems stopped after she began iodine supplementation.
I have said that a low saliva pH is an advance indicator of a deeper problem. That problem starts as a lack of iodine. It is only reasonable to conclude that since iodine corrects low saliva pH, that that same low pH is our best advance indicator of iodine deficiency...warning us of potential health problems perhaps years before disease has a chance to develop. Can it really be that simple? I have no way to know for sure, but if there were thousands of people spreading this same message, we'd find out pretty quick. It could put a whole new spin on the phrase, "just say no to drugs."
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I am sorry guys, but other than conspiracy, it might just be that too much iodine can be dangerous and should not be so freely available.
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it used to anyway have a scull & crossbones on the label, not that it shouldn't be readily available anyway. it purifies iffy water for drinking too
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I see your point Momine, but if you can't buy it anywhere and you can't get it from your doc and the medical establishment deliberately prints misinformation then it begins to stink. I've been supplementing for a month now and feel much, much better.
I'll say this too--if iodine doesn't touch my breast cancer as I'm hoping it will, but it does help my allergies, I'll be singing its praises to the moon.
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abigail48-the skull and crossbones applies to Tincture of Iodine, a poisonous alcohol based product that you buy over the counter in some drug stores. That is not what we are discussing. The Iodine we are discussing is Lugol's water base formula that has over 150 years of history behind it. Different stuff entirely. Not poisonous at all. It's difficult and time consuming to wade through the misinformation, I know, but you have to do it to find the truth.
Momine-I believe the answer is education not restriction. Anything can be dangerous if abused. Education shows us how to use something safely. Rather than questioning possible justification for a more restrictive policy, ask why those restricting the product are not providing the education we should be able to depend on them for.
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Thank you Momine. Your post makes a lot more sense than the "conspiracy" theories. Why does someone who doesn't have breast cancer post these theories on a breast cancer site?
I won't be posting here again.
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Miff, I am sorry, but I am not buying.
A brief google indicates that too much iodine can, indeed, be a problem:
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/01/18/how-much-...
http://thyroid.about.com/b/2012/03/05/thyroid-diso...
"Excessive iodine intake can be toxic to those with kidney disease or tuberculosis, and may increase the risk of thyroid papillary cancer. There is an unhealthy practice of using iodine tablets to "boost" thyroid function, and toxicity can result. You should never take iodine tablets without a physician's recommendation to do so." http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART02872/iodine.html
Etc ...
I simply see no reason whatever to believe that the medical establishment is actively working to keep us all sick. There is plenty of money to be made from producing reliable supplements, so the old "can't be patented" argument doesn't really cut it either, IMHO. The simplest explanation is that the case for iodine supplementation simply hasn't been made so far. Also, I have never seen any persuasive evidence that iodine deficiency causes breast cancer. It may cause fibroids, but fibroids are not cancer.
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iodine is a poison, no matter how it's prepared. but NOTHING should be restricted or outlawed
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also necessary in very small amounts to prevent goiter
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Iodine is not a poison. It's a necessary component for production of thyroid hormones. I personally have supplemented with iodine since 2009. Sometimes I run out and have some gaps, but when I have it on hand, I take 50 mg/day.
There was a time when I took 100 mg/day. I took the higher amount because I had my bromine levels tested, and they were high. Bromines (found in many household products, such as computers, electronics, carpets, anything treated with fire retardants) compete with iodine for the same receptors. It took many months, but my bromide level is finally within proper range, and I take 50 mg/day.
I have a lot more faith in iodine to protect my health than I ever did in tamoxifen -- now there's a known carcinogen. I was supposed to take it for 5 years but stopped after 2. My oncologist practically yawned when I told him I stopped taking tamoxifen.
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Hi Althea--I remember you. My oncologist put me on iodine about the same time as you started. She had seen an iodine presentation the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
Good to hear an update from another long term survivor and hear you've had success with iodine.
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Hi lucy, glad to see you.
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Hi ladies,
I very seldom have input because you guys are basically quite informative . But, on the subject of iodine I did ask for it at my health food store and she brought a bottle of "kelp" saying it was the same.
as I did not purchase it and I told her I wanted to research it first. Upon doing so, the ingredients and
Effectiveness of kelp are the same as iodine. My suggestion is to google "kelp" for yourself. I have
No article to refer you to. There are probably ladies here that are already familiar with kelp. If so
Please expound on it before I make the purchase. Thank you.
Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, joyous NewYear. My prayer for us all is quality health for 2014.
Much love!!
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Kelp is a food source of iodine. If you're iodine deficient, however, it's not likely to be enough to correct a deficiency. I should probably add a caveat to my previous post where I reported my levels of iodine supplementation. I am an excellent case of "it's-not-what-you-take-but-what-you-absorb" that matters. Iodine competes with other halides for the same receptors, so it can take a long time and a lot of iodine to ultimately correct an imbalance.
I personally take Iodoral, which I often get at breastcancerchoices.org. Free shipping is available if you buy 3-4 bottles. Or, swansons.com has it available also, and they frequently have free shipping with an order of $50 or more.
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Momine, I'm not trying to be inflammatory here, but chemo drugs average around $10K/month, while my Iodoral is running me about $50. Nuff said.
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Also not trying to be inflammatory ....chemo is proven effective against cancer, iodine is not. Not fair to compare the two.
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Pipers, neither am I. I just object to conspiracy theories, especially when simple and logical explanations will do instead.
Comparing the cost of chemo with the cost of iodine is really neither here nor there. I hope your chosen treatment works for you, but I equally hope that you were not forced to choose it based on cost.
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No Momine, I am not forced to not get chemo b/c of cost, though I am concerned b/c this is my first year on this job. TG they have pledged their support and told me to do what I need to do and not worry. However, I am still weighing options and don't have to make a decision just yet--surgery is on 1/16 and then from there I'll know more about what's going on. I do feel for those who don't have health insurance--what a horrible position to be in. Just 2 mo before I found my "lump" and between jobs, I went without.
My anger about the "conspiracy" thing is justified I think based on the fact that I believe that if the population were not so deficient in Iodine, the breast and prostate rates would be much lower than they are now. So I don't have any idea if iodine could cure breast cancer but I do feel that it had a good chance of preventing it--esp if it's true that over 97% of us are deficient--after the thyroid gets its share, the breasts are greedy for their share also b/c infants need it for brain development.
Also, what would happen to the BC industry (and the economy in general) if today's rates of BC went back down to 1950's rates? I am not a conspiracy theorist--tend to steer clear of that sort of thing, but this does have me wondering. Do I believe that all our docs and nurses are aware of this? Heck no. Also, I am only comparing iodine against the cost of the meds b/c the pharmaceutical industry is making a killing off them.
Here is a link to the article that I got the $10K figure from and it in itself is interesting: The high cost of cancer therapy "Writing in an op-ed in the New York Times in October 2012, three physicians at New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center noted that “the typical new cancer drug coming on the market a decade ago cost $4,500 per month (in 2012 dollars); since 2010 the median price has been around $10,000. These and other injustices led an international group of doctors to band together and call for lowering the cost of chemotherapy drugs. In the medical journal Blood --the physicians—all of whom specialize in treating a form of leukemia, or cancer of the blood—wrote that cancer drug costs are “too high, unsustainable, may compromise access of needy patients to highly effective therapy, and are harmful to the sustainability of our national healthcare systems.”
The article then goes on to say that compared to the lucrative business of selling cancer cures, cancer prevention pretty much gets left in the dust, and yet if we're ever going to have a viable national healthcare system, prevention is key. Oh yeah, and one more thing in that article that is truly inflammatory is that the more chance the drug has to prolong your life, the more they jack up the price, even years after the R&D costs have been surpassed by sales.
I'm sorry, I'm not irritated with you guys but I am truly angry at the greed of these firms, who've posted bigger profits in the last few years than any other industry by far. Again I don't blame the (mostly honest) doctors and nurses who take care of us--they have been to universities that are often run off big grants by pharmaceutical companies. And again, I ask you, who funds many of the studies? Remember, govt sponsored ones are suspect as well.
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My understanding is that the medical community has already ascertained that chemo is not appropriate for all kinds of breast cancer yet it is prescribed anyway for the "possible" 1-2% benefit in spite of it's often debilitating sometimes permanent negative side effects, and long term damage to overall health.
The cancer industry in the US is a growing $250 billion dollar per year business. We know (I know) what happens in our country and around the world with big business as we have seen over the years with oil, and many other industries. Look at what greed and big money has done to our national budget and world economy. Meanwhile the health of humans and animals and ecosystems are declining at rapid rates. This is the macrocosm of greed, with many microcosms of the same occurring inside of that. Just look...and see. The proof is everywhere before your very eyes. Why is the onus of proof on those who speak up? and ask questions when the proof is all around us?
Whether you choose chemo or not is not the issue. Promoting and preserving our health and surviving cancer are the main issues. In doing that, why is it considered wrong by some people here to look at the truth of the way big industries operate, including the cancer/medical industry? Why is it wrong to take my own health into my own hands knowing that my individual survival is not a priority to them, and then using their services only when I see fit, based on my own research, knowing that their top priority is to make money off their product not to keep me alive. I see all these drugs that come out that are "proven" to work, only for many vulnerable patients to later find that many of them never work. How did these drugs make their way into mainstream treatment?
Mardibra, if conventional treatment by itself is so effective, why have nearly 40,000 women and men in the US died of breast cancer in 2012? Why have trends in 5 year relative survival rates for all cancers barely changed since 1975? Why am I a conspiracy theorist, when I'm just asking the questions? It is clear at least to me to see that the cancer business, like any big business is corrupt and greedy. It's the nature of big business, that's all. Why is someone considered a conspiracy theorist, that people on here have to race to try to discredit quickly, just because they seek other preventative methods, that are backed by science, to prevent a recurrence or future disease of another kind? Why would I rather rely soley on a system that has a poor track record,as per the deaths still occurring, and is just not working on saving lives when I want to live?
For me it would be unreasonable and illogical to conclude based on current statistics and a vast amount of my own research that leaving my health entirely in the hands of others who will only prescribe standard treatments is going to increase my survival.
With all that said, I think Momine, Mardibra, and several others that have posted have made a valid and important point which may or may not need to be reiteriated over and over again, that safety with alternative treatments is extremely important. Mfwine, You summed it up far more succintly than I can by saying simply that " I believe the answer is education not restriction. Anything can be
dangerous if abused. Education shows us how to use something safely."0 -
1-2% benefit? Where did that stat come from!
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