> a naturopath I hired

Naturopaths? Naturopaths are great... they tend to be better than MDs. However, please watch out because not every Naturopath is worth his or her weight in gold.

> In January of 2021, I started taking Iodine... to help with hypothyroid symptoms that had been getting worse for the past ten plus years.

>- cold fingers
>- low body temperature (94/96)
>- joint pain
>- insomnia (from joint pain)
>- fatigue/depression
>- male pattern balding
>- low libido
>- difficulty gaining weight
>- ADD / brain fog / short-term memory issues

You have many classic symptoms of hypothyroidism.

> When I began eating 3 grams of kelp per day, I felt AMAZING—like years of brain fog had just lifted in a matter of days.
> However, the insomnia and joint pain didn't improve, so we worked on diet (mostly vegan with some salmon, low-starch, etc). That also did nothing.

The amount of Iodine in fish and seafood is small.

> So she had me add two drops of 5% Iodine daily. No effect.

Two drops of 5% Iodine is very little or nothing.

Taken with food, or in between meals?

> At this point, I got "Covid." It was mild, just five days of a light fever, rashes, and some sores on my tongue. She claimed it was a detox, not Covid. After that, nothing was happening, so I increased the Lugol's to 20 drops (50 mg of iodine) and added the co-factors my naturopath recommended...
> 12.5 mg Iodoral
> 50 mg Lugol's 5%
> 3 g kelp
> 200 mcg Soloray selenium
> 1 tablet Pure Synergy B-Complex
> 1 tablet Pure Synergy D3 + K2
> 720 mg Pure Synergy Vitamin C
> 800 mg KAL magnesium glycinate

Your Naturopath was taking too long, and she was putting too much importance on Iodine.

> I've been on this high dose of Iodine for a month, and nothing has happened.My joint pain has continued to get gradually worse and I have some muscle cramping, but otherwise, there are no sigs of "detoxing" (headaches, rashes, etc).

Based on this, and despite your higher intake of Iodine, you still appear to be hypothyroid.

> There are so many conflicting studies and opinions on iodine out there that I don't know what to think.
> Am I doing something wrong?
> Am I not giving it enough time?
> Or is high-dose iodine just a bunch of BS?

It depends on what it is you want. The RDA of Iodine is for goiter prevention. If that's all what you want, then that's all you need. However, if you take Iodine/Iodide in the proper amounts, you will observe increased urinary excretion of heavy metals such as lead and mercury; it will have a detoxifying effect by increasing excretion of the toxic halides fluoride and bromide.

> If anyone can provide some clarity on this, thank you in advance!

Questions:
1) How old are you... are you male or female?
2) How long have you had these symptoms of hypothyroidism?
3) What is your recent basal heart rate and basal temperature?
4) Have you ever taken, or considered taking, any thyroid medication?
5) Have you ever been tested for thyroid antibodies?
6) Have you ever taken an iodine loading test that Dr.Brownstein wrote about?

> Am I doing something wrong?
> Am I not giving it enough time?

Yes. Stop worshipping iodine. Spending one year on nothing but Iodine is wrong and pretty foolish. Iodine is not the only piece in the puzzle. Take your (very likely) hypothyroidism seriously, or it will kill you through heart attacks, heart disease, and or cancer!

Hi, am I interpreting it right, that you are considering 12.5 mg per day, as being "high-dose" ? Also noticed you didn't mention dry skin, I get a sense maybe you have dental Amalgams ?