One of the most common questions I get are “Where do I start?” and “How much do I take?”
I know it may feel overwhelming but its a difficult answer to give because everyone’s story is different. Their health conditions and history are different and the reasons they are looking into taking iodine again….different. There is no one size fits all as drug manufacturers would have you believe for their products. I think we all too often try to impose the rules of pharmaceuticals onto natural supplements. It doesn’t work.
So where do you start?
- Read – The Guide to Supplementing. This gives you the foundation of the supplements to take with ranges of supplementing plus the reasons for why we take each one.
- Test – If you are dealing with some health concerns it may be best to get some baseline lab testing done. The following would be very helpful to have.
* TSH, Free T3, Free T4, RT3, TPO Ab and Tg Ab (Thyroid labs)
*RBC Se (Red blood cell selenium)
* 24 Hour Iodine Loading Test with Bromide and Fluoride levels (Gives you a baseline saturation level and halide toxicity level) - Order – You will need to decide which products you want to supplementing with. I offer liquid Lugol’s formula (J Crowe – 2% and 5% solutions) or two different forms of tablet Lugol’s formula (LugoTabs and Iodoral). You can purchase a kit of all the products you need or get them individually.
To determine “How much?” is a more difficult proposition as I have explained that there are no rules. The average intake of the Japanese is 13 mgs per day. However, in my experience I have seen little to no progress being made by those who choose to supplement with this low of a dose. The majority of the success is found in doses of 25 mgs – 100 mgs. What is appropriate for you, you must decide as it is illegal for me to tell you. That would be prescribing. I can only tell you what I have seen in my 12 years of supporting the iodine groups. Those who choose to start low and go slow often have the worst issues and get discouraged – so be warned that this advice that is given out isn’t always the best. It’s crazy I know. But again, it’s what I’ve seen. Ask on the Facebook Iodine group and many will chime in that they learned the hard way.
Fear is a big issue with iodine. It’s unnecessary. Would you be afraid if someone told you to take vitamin C or calcium or magnesium? Why are you afraid? Because someone told you to be? Thousands of us have gotten our lives back with iodine and improved our quality of life.
Maybe it’s time for you to do the same.
