Iodine – What’s so important about Iodine?
Iodine….Iodine…what is this hoopla about?
Iodine is the most misunderstood nutrient.
After 17 years of practicing medicine, I can say that it is impossible to achieve your optimal health if you do not have adequate iodine levels. I have yet to see any item that i more important to promoting health or optimizing the function of the immune system than iodine. – Dr. David Brownstein
Do we really have an Iodine Deficiency? What causes an Iodine Deficiency? And what are the symptoms?
This all started to become interesting to me the day my niece was born. We were all talking and the midwife on duty mentioned that she has given iodine to a couple of her new moms that have a hard time producing milk. She has had good success with this supplement. I was all ears because I have a friend that struggles with milk production and was curious if it would help her.
So that is how it began. I do have my own story about iodine – radioactive iodine. That will have to be another post.
You can take it in tablet form or liquid. I like both for different reasons. Liquid can be used topically and easily given to children or those who struggle with assimilation. Tablets are tasteless and easy to grab and take one.
Lugols is the liquid. If you put it on an old keyloid scar, it make make it crawl and itch… can’t help but think it is killing something in the old scar…
Here is a list of some of the Iodine Deficiency Symptoms:
- hair loss
- dry skin
- multiple miscarriages / infertility
- cold intolerance
- muscle cramps
- menstrual problems
- inability to concentrate
- nervousness
- infertility
- irritability
- Cretinism — a cause of deafness and mental impairment of children, caused by Iodine deficiency during pregnancy.
- Thyroid disease — When there’s not enough iodine to bind with cell membranes, it allows enzymes called peroxidases to wreak havoc and cause autoimmune disease, such as thyroiditis (Hashimoto’s or Grave’s Disease).
- Breast, ovarian, and skin cysts — In addition to fixing almost all cases of breast cysts, iodine also has a remarkable healing effect on ovarian cysts, and even on skin cysts.
We used to get more iodine in our food. It was used to in bread products, but now they use bromine (bromine acts against iodine in our bodies!) and it used to be trace amounts in our drinking milk because they used to clean the cow’s udder with iodine before milking. Not any longer. If you eat seafood and seaweed consistently, you are some of the few people getting sufficient iodine in your diet.
Do you know what else competes with iodine in our bodies besides bromine? Chlorine. Every time you take a chlorinated shower (which is everyone that is on city water without a house filter) and every time you go swimming or sit in a hot tub, you are getting lots of exposure to bromine and chlorine. (say goodbye to the iodine in your body).
If you want to read what others have said about how their body has responded to taking Iodine, click here:
The Contrarian Mom 
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