@aquariusgirl and anyone else hitting problems with iodine. You are likely to be experiencing the detoxification of bromide and fluoride, both if which push iodine out of the way and compete for the same receptors.
You need to start at the lowest dose you can get in the Lugol's solution - I found the Heiltropfen 2%, which is 2.5mg per drop, a good starting point.
It is recommended to take the following companion nutrients:
100mg B2 twice a day
500mg B3 twice a day
C.600mg magnesium citrate/glycinate (just avoid mag oxide) a day, in divided doses
200mcg selenium or selenomethionine a day
As much Vit C as you can tolerate, in divided doses and at least an hour away from iodine.
Also, everyone taking iodine (and therefore dislodging bromide) needs to do the salt protocol, too.
This is the use of sea-salt/pink Himalayan salt/ any unrefined salt in water and on food. You take 1/4 tsp in 8oz water first thing, and drink lots of water immediately after taking the salt water. This reduces any potential stress on the kidneys because you will have reduced the concentration of salt.
You can use 1/2 tsp if detox symptoms, which look and feel very similar to hypo-t, hypo-adrenals, chemical sensitivities, etc, are particularly bad.
Repeat throughout the day as necessary, try to stay under a total of 1.5 teaspoons a day,mwhich is approx 2.3g.
The salt thing really, really helps.
For those in the UK, you can get a huge 450g grinder of pink Himalayan salt from £stretcher for £1.99. I grind mine into a lidded pot, keep my 1/4 tsp measure in a beaker, also lidded, and spoon in whatever I need whenever I need it.
Once you get over the initial shifting of bromide (it's used in a great many household products, foods and drinks, the latter more prevalent in the States, where bread and Mountain Dew are two prime offenders, and as a fire retardant in soft furnishings like sofas and mattresses), you'll find you can titrate up quite rapidly.
If you hit really big problems, stop the iodine for two days (pulsing), but keep taking the salt water and the companion nutrients. Resume at the same dose after those 2 days, and if it's still too bad, back off for another 2 days and resume at a lower dose.
The initial impact of even one drop of Lugol's can be profound, so take it slowly and build up gradually.
My first couple of weeks were a bit of a struggle, but the salt helped enormously, and once that bit was over, I went from 2.5mg to a current dose of 52.5mg.
You'll know when the bromide is being excreted because your sweat will smell different and your pee will stink
This is a good thing.
Some people take longer than others to detox bromide and get iodine levels up to normal in all tissues, but Brownstein reckons 6 months at 50mg a day should do it. After repletion, you only need a maintenance dose.
If you're dealing with a specific illness, like cancer, or "any chronic or severe illness", then 100mg or even higher is recommended. It's especially recommended for prostate and breast cancer.
If you look online for a free PDF of Lynne Farrow's "The Iodine Crisis", there's a lot of info about iodine repletion and repletion in there, and it gives a good explanation of why iodine went from being the Universal Medicine to being deemed toxic, courtesy the Wolff-Chaikoff paper and the advent of Big Pharma's new antibiotics in the late 40's/early 50's.
