Update on "Iodized"

Hello, Friends,

During my first few days of taking iodine drops, my chemical sensitivity lessened vastly.  Let me mention here, before I forget, that there is an accompaniment to my iodine supplementation; namely, the grey-colored Celtic sea salt.  I've been using Celtic sea salt every single day since I began the iodine supplementation -- even on days when I've refrained from the iodine supplementation.  The Celtic sea salt contains trace minerals which are simply not available to the body from processed, iodized salt.  These trace minerals are necessary to balance out the body's levels of electrolytes, blood sugar, hormones, and nutrients.

While I was still fortified with the liquid iodine, I spent over an hour in a dentist's office in which scented paraffin candles are burned when I'm not there.  Later that day, I entered a public building where there were pervasive and strong VOC's in the air from a new industrial cleaning solution.  From there I went to two supermarkets, both of which had aerosol "cinnamon/nutmeg" fall scents in the air from the front entrance inward.  The scent in one of the supermarkets was so strong, I went in one door and out the other immediately.  

I waited for that headache to come.  In the meantime, my face grew red hot and rashy for an evening.  It was so red hot and rashy that I forgot about the fact that there was no headache.  Three days later, I realized that I had not had to take a single ibuprofen tablet after that considerable chemical onslaught.  This was so amazing as to be nearly unbelievable to me.

I then stopped taking the iodine, because I'm hesitant about plowing forward aggressively.  By the next afternoon -- four days after the big, multi-chemical onslaught, I did get a migraine from laundry fragrances on people's clothes that same morning and afternoon.  But I hadn't taken the iodine.  Worth mentioning, however, is that this migraine behaved rather nicely:  It permitted me to nip it in the bud with a single ibuprofen tablet.  (That's what I consider a "good" migraine.)  So, all things considered, I seemed to have been still cruising along on the benefits of my iodine "upswing."

Then, this past Sunday, still doing without the iodine because my energy level was quite reasonable (I also wanted to learn how far a bit of iodine could take me), I met up with a monster fragrance on an acquaintance.  This fragrance was so severe, it filled half the room.  I suspected, also, that there were other hidden chemical antagonists in that same room.  It felt, to me, as though it was an extremely "sick" room.  A "feverish" room.  I rarely encounter this type of interior "climate."

I'd already had a migraine brewing by the time I met up with the monster fragrance in the "feverish" room.  With the monster fragrance and the "feverish" room added to the picture, however, the migraine increased in intensity minute by minute.  I began to sweat and feel sick all over, and I thought I would just pass out or fall over from the pain in my head.

I didn't.  But that headache, all told, was over 24 hours long and required four separate doses of ibuprofen.  I've been "draggy" and mentally sluggish ever since.  Still, I wanted to be sure I didn't need the ibuprofen when I resumed the iodine.  (Just a precaution against instigating hives.)

Now, however, my energy level is slipping, I feel poorly without the iodine, and I'm going to begin taking it again.

Here's hoping my anecdotal reports on this topic will help clarify what supplemental iodine can do for a chemically sensitive person.

Cheers!

~ Carolyn