Hello, Friends,
It's been a very strange journey. This post is purely anecdotal thus far, as I have neither thought through nor researched the possible science behind my present "upswing" --
Having become inundated with fluid, I looked up a topic I dread: thyroid disorders. To my dismay, I saw that I had most, if not all, of the symptoms of a thyroid imbalance. I was advised about 10 years ago by a very effective alternative physician to take supplemental iodine for a subclinical thyroid disorder (deficiency state). I resisted experimenting with the iodine, at the time, because I'd recently had a bad bout of benign cardiac arrhythmia which had sent me to the emergency room for two scary injections of adenosine to reset the heart rhythm. I feared that the addition of iodine to my system might set off new arrhythmias if I got the dosage wrong.
But now, with all of this fluid to truck around in my body plus the debilitating weakness, mysterious breathlessness, and fatigue which have accompanied it, I've been getting arrhythmias, anyway! The arrhythmias can occur as a compensation mechanism to offset poor oxygenation. Obviously, for some reason, my oxygenation was poor. So, having tried all sorts of iron supplementation and having failed to improve . . .
I asked someone I knew who has benefited from iodine what kind of iodine she's been taking. The product is "Natural Factors" Liquid Kelp drops. I gathered up my courage and took my first drop (800 mcg of iodine). Almost one whole drop, that is. (I go slowly with supplementation, as I do, in fact, with many things . . .)
Now how do you take "almost" one drop? Where there's a will, there's a way: the spoon method. I put one drop on a spoon and took almost the whole thing. And there you have it! I'm now taking one drop per day. I'll see what happens with one drop per day for a while. If I find that I need more improvement, I'll inch my way toward taking two drops per day. I have read that women in Japan ingest more than 13 mg of iodine per day in seaweed, to the great benefit of their health:
I got one bout of hives, yesterday, after taking the iodine for two days. But I get so many hives now from so many things, I'm relieved that I don't have to attribute the hives to the iodine (a possible side effect) -- especially since they'd occurred over 12 hours after my last dose.
I read, in fact, that a thyroid disorder predisposes the body to allergies. Which has, indeed, happened with me over the past year or two. I'm not speaking here of my more "typical" chemically sensitive reactions, but of those more "allergic-like" bouts of hives from touching plastic and whatnot (bizarre -- yes!).
The good news is this: I've had much more energy over the past couple of days. The breathlessness has vanished. As is usually the case when a supplement begins to work for the better, my chores have been "getting done of their own accord." I don't have to think about getting up from the chair. Suddenly, I'm just up and moving. I'm up and down the stairs and I'm not mysteriously dying from the effort. I go up -- I go down. It's simple. But it wasn't so simple for many, many months! I'd been taking iron and iron and more iron -- to no avail.
Now, I'm moving again! But looking around at all I couldn't do before . . . now this takes courage. There is so much to do!
Here is the big anecdotal "perk": My chemical sensitivity has been noticeably better over the past several days. I don't know why. But this is truly the case.
Does this have something to do with the supplemental iodine, with "feeding" the thyroid what it seems to want, with balancing out the hormonal system? And will I last with the iodine without side effects?
I hope so. I really hope so. Because this is looking -- and feeling -- very good.
Please, if anyone has anything to contribute on the topic of toxic injury/chemical sensitivity, thyroid disorders, and iodine supplementation, I -- and perhaps others -- would very much appreciate your knowledge and ideas.
Cheers!
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