Detoxing, Detoxing........

I am still struggling with my latest increase from 100 to 125 mgs of Iodoral. I know it is due to detoxing. I am experiencing fatigue, weight gain, aching joints and headaches. To relieve the headaches I can take 1/2 tsp Celtic Salt in 4 oz OJ and within 1/2 hour it is gone. The rest of my symptoms are harder to deal with. I find myself not taking iodoral at all every few days just to give my body a break. It makes me wonder. What on earth am I detoxing and how much? We know that iodine moves, bromide, chloride, fluoride, mercury and lead out of the body.

I do have an interesting observation to share. A week ago I was drying off after my shower and went to put my bra on. I noticed that there were gray circles in the middle of the cups where my nipples would rest. How weird I thought. So I got out another clean bra from my drawer that was also white. What do you know? It had the same gray circles in it. I must be detoxing something from my breasts. I have not had this before. I do have a grayish paste that I can scrape off my chest on my breast bone - is this bromide? I have no idea. I am thankful whatever it is, is coming out.

I will schedule my thermography in the next week or so and am eager to see if there have been any changes. I have lost 2 of the 3 fibrous masses in my breast through iodine supplementation. Let's hope that the 3rd is gone. It was smaller last year.

I don't think we quite understand the level of exposure to toxins we are receiving on a daily basis. I know I had no idea that I was this bad and I work hard to stay clean. I cannot imagine how bad someone would be who does not concern themselves detoxing. It seems they are a ticking time bomb of ill health. We are in for a health care crisis in the future I believe. It makes me sad becuase it does not have to happen.

So that's my update. I will continue on 125 mgs and then retest with a loading / bromide level test the end of October.

Day 6 on 125 mgs Iodoral

Things were going quite well with my increase of Iodoral from 100 to 125 mgs until today. I was in my kitchen cutting up vegetables for dinner when all of the sudden I started to feel very anxious. I was baffled as to why this was happening since there was nothing for me to anxious about. Then it hit me. I have been on 125 mgs of Iodoral for 6 days. The last time I increased from 50 to 100 mgs it took 8 days for me to feel its effects. This time was shorter. It has to be the bromide coming out again. It makes me wonder exactly how toxic am I? I have been supplementing with what is considered to be very high doses of Iodine since 3/2006 (2 yrs 5 mos). I also noticed that I have a metallic taste.

Many websites will tell you that what I am experiencing is Iodism or an allergy to iodine however, this is obviously not the case since I have been taking iodine without issues for literally years. If you google bromide toxicity symptoms you will find that they mirror what is considered iodine toxicity. For me, I am lucky to have a doctor that tests my bromide levels when we check my iodine saturation level and I am still pumping out large amounts of bromide. It really gives me a window into one of the reasons why I probably got thyroid cancer. Between the bromide, mercury and low nutrient levels in my diet and stress of my job I was destined for it.

Increasing Iodoral Dosage Again to 125 mgs

I am on day 2 of 125 mgs of Iodoral / day. The decision was made to increase to this level from 100 mgs due to my continued large levels of bromide being dumped. Bromide is so toxic that it needs to come out! I started on 100 mgs in November last year and felt good until I hit day 8 and then I experienced some bad detox symptoms. Panic attacks, depression, fatigue, joint aches, abnormal menstruation and more. It was very hard and lasted for 5 weeks. I had to take it for 6 days and then take a day off. I am hoping that does not happen this time.


Here are my Iodine Loading Test results:


July 2008
Iodine Excreted 53%
Bromide Excreted 28.6 mgs/24 hr

Dosage history:
50 mgs March 06 - Sept '06
75 mgs Oct 06 - Nov 06
50 mgs Dec 06 - Mid Oct 07
100 mgs Mid Oct 07 - Mid Feb 08
Took a break from iodine from mid March 08 - end of April 08 for a detox protocol (off all supplements)
100 mgs April 08 - July 08
Currently on 100 mgs

Here are my past results:

November 2007
Iodine Excreted 66%
Bromide Excreted 34 mgs/24 hrs

Dosage history:
50 mgs March 06 - Sept '06
75 mgs Oct 06 - Nov 06
50 mgs Dec 06 - Mid Oct 07
100 mgs Mid Oct 07 - Mid Nov '07


August 2006
Iodine Excreted 60%
No Bromide done

Dosage History: I took 50 mgs Iodoral from March '06 to the time I took the test.


I am feeling great. My husband and I just returned from a 9 day trip to Alaska. It is wonderful to have a life again.

Here we are.

Just for grins I decided to get out a copy of the picture from our last cruise almost 10 years ago to the month. I was amazed at how much I have changed since then. I had not been diagnosed with cancer yet nor had I had my first child. My life was to change a whole lot after this. But you can see signs of the issues already in this photo.

I will try to keep up with my blog as I continue with the increased dose of Iodoral and retest my iodine and bromide levels.

Until next time....................

To your continued improvement in your health!

Stephanie

Update on me - Progress August 2008

I get continued requests to update my blog with information on how I am currently doing. GREAT!!! That is why I have not spent much time on the blog or caught it up with all the details since December's posting. But I will get to it eventually.

My health continues to improve and it amazes me that I can feel any better. But I do and it is a wonderful feeling to live an abundant life. Recently I lost 30 lbs and went from a size 12 to a 6. I have not been this small in as long as I can remember. I suspect that my thyroid was an issue for many years before thyroid cancer was diagnosed. I always had issues with weight and ate less and less as time went on and worked out harder and harder but nothing fixed it. I joined weight watchers 3 times only to gain all that I lost and then some back again. Eventually you just resolve to being overweight.

One thing that I have discovered that was effecting my weight is Gluten. Gluten sensitives are very common in people with thyroid issues. Especially hashimotos folks need to watch their consumption as it has been show to increase antibody levels. So I have for the most part given up gluten. Wheat is a big issue - after consuming it within a half hour I become very sleepy and feel horrible. It just isn't worth it. So I have gone back to my gluten free ways (was GF for over 1 year). I am getting very good at baking things that taste like gluten products. It just makes it very difficult to travel.

Speaking of travel, we recently took the kids to California and spent two days in Disneyland and one day at Legoland. There was a point in my life where I would have NEVER attempted this. Both for my own issues but with two hypo kids, it would have been a nightmare. We all did great and enjoyed our time - kids first flight as well.

In 4 weeks my husband and I will leave for a 7 day Alaskan Cruise and in November I will attend the National Weston Price conference. It feels so good to have a life full of adventure again and not sleep.

I have also had requests for what I currently take in the way of supplements so I will give an updated list. Keep in mind that these have been designed for my specific needs based on lab testing so please don't think that this is the answer to all your issues. It is a constant fine tuning process. We run labs about every 3 mos on my levels. Which I am happy to report - my cancer markers (Tg) were down again for my July visit with my doctor. I am so thankful!

DHEA 5 mgs (doctors brand)
Pregnenolone 25 mgs 1/day (Research Nutrition)
C-500 4/day (Optimox)
Iodoral 50 mgs 2/day (Optimox)
Multi Mins 2/day (Biotics Research)
BioMulti Plus 2/day (Biotics Research)
Cu-Zyme 1/day (Biotics Research)
MSM Forte 2/ day (doctors brand - 1,000 mgs MSM / tab)
B6 Complex 1/day (Pure Encapsulations)
Sunny A 1/day (Kroeger Herb Products)
Conjugated Linoleic Acid 1/day (Vitamin Research Products - 1 gr / tab)
BioPro 1/day (Vitamin Research Products)
DMG Complete 4/day (doctors brand contains Folinic Acid 400 mcg, B-12 Methycobalamin, DMG Dimethylglycine 150 mg, Choline 50 mg, Riboflavin 50 mg)
1/2 tsp Celtic Sea Salt
UltraClear Plus pH 1 scoop / day as needed (Metagenics)
Methycobalamin injections 1,000 mg 2x / week
Armour Thyroid 4 grains (240 mgs)

The DMG is for a recent discovery that I have a gene defect in the MTHFR pathway. I am only just beginning to understand what this means. You can google Amy Yasko for more info. Basically that is all I know now too. My Dr is finding that many of his thyroid patients have this defect. It is genetic and common in Western European descent people.

So that's the update on me. Living life to the fullest. So much for my endo telling me that if I took Armour my cancer would return and I would probably die. It is now 2 1/2 years later and I am doing better than ever.

To your health!

Stephanie