I'm not trying to start a debate. If this turns into one, just know that. I'm just presenting some information.

Several months ago, I posted about my baby having messed up T4 and TSH levels and being diagnosed "hypothyroid." I was extremely upset about this, as I'd been taking 1 Iodoral almost every day in pregnancy and after a week or two after he was born.

So far, I haven't gotten any responses from "the Iodine docs" on the subject. I tried contacting Flechas's office about pediatric issues, but all the lady who spoke to me could say was that he didn't work with babies or children. I didn't get around to contacting the other docs, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have research experience with babies either.

Well, my son (I'll refer to him as "T") has been taking the synthetic thyroid hormone for months. I don't think it's caused him any obvious harm. I still hate it, but at least things seem OK.

I was avoiding any Iodine supplements, as I am breastfeeding him (the likely source of exposure - I had some of my milk tested in the early weeks, and the Iodine content was super-high, of course). At least the research endo we're seeing is happy to consider that this is a transient problem and that he won't have it for years and years.

This endo said he was thinking about weaning him off at 1 year after discussing the issue with the other endo docs in his research hospital. I was relieved. And then the very next blood test (all the ones previous had been stable) showed out of whack levels again. I wrote him a sheepish e-mail explaining that I had just taken some supplements from a naturopath (when I wasn't even looking for a source of iodine!), and when I added it all up, I was getting well over 1 mg of iodine a day. As soon as I got the results of the blood test, I stopped taking them - had only been taking them about a week.

What I'll never know is, are the thyroid hormones being out of whack actually the sign of things that will go wrong in the body, or just an effect that doesn't mean the same thing in every baby? Can babies with high iodine exposure and wacky thyroid hormone levels develop just the way they would have without so much iodine, without hormone intervention? Is this truly the same situation as not enough iodine? Why is my baby not hyperthyroid? I'm not sure anyone has these answers.

Anyway, what I want to bring up is, there's iodine backlash out there. I don't think any of us knows the cause of the damage, but these are serious concerns, and I think there are certain people who shouldn't take large amounts of iodine (whatever that means). Babies, for one. And any adult who has a terrible reaction probably has something to work out first.

I know this has all been addressed before, and I haven't actually read many posts here in months. But in the past, I felt like some people's concerns were being blown off. Yes, there are people who can safely and happily take lots of iodine however they feel fit to push out the nasty halogens. But there are people who need to proceed very differently.

This is one of the websites I'm talking about.

http://drknews.com/


Now, I still get iodine from food. I don't use iodized salt, but I still take a teeny bit of the dulse supplement I bought here and there. I eat seafood. I eat a little seaweed in something I cook now and then. And I still don't think that larger doses of iodine ever hurt me while I was taking them.

Sorry if all of this is a repeat. I hope my post doesn't get deleted just because I'm ignorant of what's been going on here for months.