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Low Iodine but T3, T4 and Reverse T3 all okay

Peyt

Senior Member
Messages
678
Location
Southern California
Hi,
My tests came back and my Thyroid Panel(TSH, T4, T3, Reverse T3) were all fine (mid range)
However, Urine Iodine was on the lower side 45.1 (Range 28 - 544)
Dr. Suggested I take Iodine and I did , but gave me severe headaches.

My questions are :
1. Can Iodine deficiency alone cause symptoms of fatigue and low energy?
2. Is there a transdermal form of Iodine that works well for Iodine deficiency? Reason I ask is I am very susceptible to headaches when I take supplements by mouth, but injections and sometime creams and sprays bother me less.

Thanks so much.
 

drob31

Senior Member
Messages
1,487
Mid range free t3 isn't nessasarily ok. What were the exact numbers?

I can't comment on iodine, as I don't know enough, but taking iodine without selenium can cause issues. Sometimes you have to load selenium 200 mcg/day for a month or 2 before you can handle iodine. Also, if you have hashimoto's, iodine can trigger symptoms. I this case, selenium would help without iodine.
 

Peyt

Senior Member
Messages
678
Location
Southern California
Mid range free t3 isn't nessasarily ok. What were the exact numbers?

I can't comment on iodine, as I don't know enough, but taking iodine without selenium can cause issues. Sometimes you have to load selenium 200 mcg/day for a month or 2 before you can handle iodine. Also, if you have hashimoto's, iodine can trigger symptoms. I this case, selenium would help without iodine.

TSH 2.58 Range 0.45 - 4.5
Reverse Ts , serum 14.3 Range = 9.2-24.1


What are your thoughts everyone? Normal?
 

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Peyt

Senior Member
Messages
678
Location
Southern California
I think you are right Gondwanaland. 200mcg is too much... The ones I have is 100mcg and that is still too much because I can see after a few days I feel like something is wrong... I will try taking 50mcg...

How about Iodine? Any recommendations on brand or amount to take?
I bought this one from a market close to my house: http://www.iherb.com/Eidon-Mineral-Supplements-Iodine-Liquid-Concentrate-2-oz-60-ml/26006
It says 2 drops is equal to 225mcg which is what I have been taking in the last 2 days .
 
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Gondwanaland

Senior Member
Messages
5,092
I think you are right Gondwanaland. 200mcg is too much... The ones I have is 100mcg and that is still too much because I can see after a few days I feel like something is wrong... I will try taking 50mcg...
Too much Selenium increases insulin resistance. I think you could try taking 50 mcg 3x weekly. Additionally, if you are low on iodine, you won't be able to benefit from Selenium.
How about Iodine? Any recommendations on brand or amount to take?
I bought this one from a market close to my house: http://www.iherb.com/Eidon-Mineral-Supplements-Iodine-Liquid-Concentrate-2-oz-60-ml/26006
It says 2 drops is equal to 225mcg which is what I have been taking in the last 2 days .
I am sorry, I have no experience with iodine, so I can't share anything about it. I take a compounded T4/T3 hormone replacement and just recently reintroduced iodized salt in my diet. I have no intention to try iodine as a supplement because my estrogen is already too low.
 

Peyt

Senior Member
Messages
678
Location
Southern California
What are your symptoms?

Candida that won't go away (I have been trying for years with different drugs and herbs)
Cold sores in the mouth
Sinus infections.
General infections easier than a normal person

And my Iodine test shows very low iodine as mentioned on the top.
 

Wayne

Senior Member
Messages
4,300
Location
Ashland, Oregon
Hi @Peyt

I recently started supplementing with iodine, and it has given my system a much greater sense of resiliency. I'm currently reading a book on iodine that I think is excellent, by an author who struggled with breast cancer for years, intensely researching it during this time.

It took her eight years to run across references to iodine deficiency possibly being a factor. That's how well hidden some of the information on iodine therapy is. Supplementing with iodine was miraculous for her. And is for many others as well. I've seen references to some people needing as much as 50 mg - 100 mg / day to correct iodine-deficient conditions. That's WAY more than the RDA. It appears optimal iodine supplementation is a HIGHLY individualized.

The Iodine Crisis: What You Don't Know About Iodine Can Wreck Your Life

Best, Wayne

ETA -
just recently reintroduced iodized salt in my diet.

Just to mention, I've been reading that most of the iodine from iodized salt evaporates.
 
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Gondwanaland

Senior Member
Messages
5,092
Candida that won't go away (I have been trying for years with different drugs and herbs)
Cold sores in the mouth
Sinus infections.
General infections easier than a normal person

And my Iodine test shows very low iodine as mentioned on the top.
How are your cholesterol levels?
 

Jigsaw

Senior Member
Messages
420
Location
UK
Hi,
My tests came back and my Thyroid Panel(TSH, T4, T3, Reverse T3) were all fine (mid range)
However, Urine Iodine was on the lower side 45.1 (Range 28 - 544)
Dr. Suggested I take Iodine and I did , but gave me severe headaches.

My questions are :
1. Can Iodine deficiency alone cause symptoms of fatigue and low energy?
2. Is there a transdermal form of Iodine that works well for Iodine deficiency? Reason I ask is I am very susceptible to headaches when I take supplements by mouth, but injections and sometime creams and sprays bother me less.

Thanks so much.

Hi @Peyt

What was your T4 number? The ratio of T4:T3 will show if you are convetimg T4 efficiently. Reverse T3 shows how much T3 your system is unable to pick up and use. What isn't used is chucked out as RT3.

Unfortunately, the old T3 Uptake test was discontinued here in the UK back in the 1990's. It was a useful test to help see if there was any receptor resistance.

Can Iodine deficiency alone cause symptoms of fatigue and low energy?

Absolutely.

Iodine is important in thyroid hormone production because T4, (manufactured in the thyroid gland, and controlled by TSH via a feedback loop), is one molecule of the amino acid tyrosine with four molecules of iodine attached to it, hence the name T4.

If you don't have enough iodine to attach four bits of it to each piece of tyrosine to make T4, your thyroid function is impaired straight off. (One of the old traditional remedies for low thyroid function was to take kelp tablets. Kelp tablets stimulate T4 production and have the side-effect of greatly increasing the rate of hair and nail growth because of this.)

Selenium is important because the enzyme that converts T4 to T3, 5' deiodinase, is selenium-based. As "de-iodinase" suggests, it removes one molecule of iodine from T4, leaving three behind, hence T3.

5' deiodinase is produced in the liver. Conversion of T4»T3 takes place in the liver, and also in peripheral tissues. The amino acid Carnitine has been shown to block the production of T4 in peripheral tissues, and is used as a treatment for hyperthyroidism. (There is no mention in the study I saw about this of carnitine impacting on liver conversion of T3»T3, or of any impact on T3 itself, only peripheral T4.)

I also get a bad reaction to iodine (headaches, nausea, etc) if I take more than c.225mcg/day.

I figure this is because I have to take T3 due to having a conversion block for T4»T3. I don't convert much T4 to T3. Consequently, I don't make very much T4 anymore because production is automatically suppressed by the end-point, active hormone T3 being supplied exogenously.

(I always thought that my need for iodine with my particular form of hypothyroidism was less than others, because my system has no need to pick it up and attach it in groups of four to tyrosine.)

I'm not sure I've explained that very well! :-/

Jigsaw
 
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Jigsaw

Senior Member
Messages
420
Location
UK
I have no intention to try iodine as a supplement because my estrogen is already too low

Hi again, @Gondwanaland

Interesting info, again :)

What is the relationship between not wanting to use supplemental iodine because of low oestrogen?

- I'm curious because I got thrown headlong into an early menopause by oestrogen-based breast cancer treatments in 2007/8/9, and I think I was probably more tolerant of iodine before that. Obv, my oestrogen is now next to zero :(

Thanks :)

Jigsaw
 

Jigsaw

Senior Member
Messages
420
Location
UK
Hi @Wayne,

I recently started supplementing with iodine, and it has given my system a much greater sense of resiliency.

Are there other mechanisms of action (aside from its importance in thyroid hormone production) that you have discovered in this book which could account for that?

Just to mention, I've been reading that most of the iodine from iodized salt evaporates.
[/QUOTE]
Interesting. How does that work?

by an author who struggled with breast cancer for years, intensely researching it during this time.

Very interesting, again :)

Does she cite how iodine is involved in breast cancer? Was hers oestrogen-based?

I ask because because free oestrogen has to be collected and attached to Sex Hormone Binding Globulin, which then transports it round the body and drops it off at "job sites", as it were. That way, the oestrogen is used up doing the various different jobs it is required to do. That way, it is useful and not harmful.

The thing that picks up oestrogen and sticks it on the SHBG "bus" is thyroid hormone.

It is documented in one of my breast cancer books, co-written by (from memory) Bronwen Meredith, that without sufficient thyroid hormone (which needs enough iodine), free oestrogen doesn't get attached to SHBG and ends up being dumped by default in the breast tissue. Eventually, this leads to oestrogen breast cancer.

Just wondering if iodine plays a different role from this one in preventing breast cancer. :)

Thanks!

Jigsaw
 

Gondwanaland

Senior Member
Messages
5,092
Hi @Gondwanaland

That's interesting. Do you know the mechanism of action behind this?

Jigsaw
It is a hormonal cascade of which I don't really master the details... It involves thyroid and vit B6 and vit D depletion I guess...
What is the relationship between not wanting to use supplemental iodine because of low oestrogen?
Thyroid hormones and progesterone gang up and kill estrogen (accelerate its breakdown).