I thought it might be a good idea to start a thread just for an overview about where everyone started, what protocol they followed, for how long and what's happened. It might be useful for people who are just starting out or in the middle of starting out(like me!)

I'll start.

1. Where did I start from?

When I began Iodine supplementation I wasn't in that bad health, but I did have problems with chronic anxiety/depression and I wanted to ween myself off the SSRIs I was on. I also had some trouble with fatigue, being injury prone, and excess weight. I also have had a near-lifelong battle with constipation which I can only keep under control by, basically, abusing herbal laxatives. Which frustrates me no end as I know I'm not supposed to do that but I started with a BM once a week, started the laxatives and got up to 1-2 a day, stop the laxatives and go back to once a week. What's worse?

I decided to go the iodine route mostly for potential weight loss. I can't stand the flab that's accumulated around my belly-- it's unsightly and it slows me down.

I'm also very active. Usually do 6-10 hours a week of hard exercise. And I needed to get my body to the point where it didn't crap out and get injured/sick from my demands on it.

2. The protocol I followed?

The protocol I followed, intially, was two drops of antiodine. No additional suplimentation. For one month. Then I found some lugols and started up on one drop of that. I kept increasing as I felt ready and now I'm up to 8-16 drops after about a month. I take Calcium, Magnesium, Selenium, and Ester C as well as doing a salt-load in the morning. 1/2 tsp in a half cup of warm water followed by 4 cups of warm water. I also take fish oils.

3. What's happened to me?

Initially when I started with antiodine I experienced anxiety and sleeplessness. That passed quickly. I felt increased energy and my husband said I looked less puffy. When I started on lugols I didn't get the same symptoms until I got to 4 drops. Then I found I was feeling disorientated and experiencing strange energy sensations. I decided to mix my lugols with the fish oil suppliment I was taking. That ended those sensations and allowed me to up my dose. At the 4 drop mark I started to experience headaches and brain fog. Got through that after a week and upped my dose again to eight. Then I strained my ankle during a training session and decided that, if I could handle it, maybe additional Iodine might help me heal faster. Upped the dose to 16.

So far my experience has been generally positive, I feel like my moods have improved. I'm not sure about the constipation as I do a coffee enema every day. (I'm really scared of just letting my body do it's own thing, I don't want to wait--nauseaus, bloated and sluggish--for a BM. (Bloody intestines!)) My energy level is good, I keep up better during training. I haven't gotten sick recently. I was getting a cold once a month and that ended. I've also noticed the little moons on my finger beds have slowly "risen". And that I'm getting pimples/boils? in strange and embarassing places. (Perhaps the connection is lymph-node areas?) I painted iodine on one of these blemishes and that made it bigger! Then I applied a hot compress of caster oil, under a hot water bottle, for about an hour and the next morning the darn thing ruptured. GROSS!

Finally, an interesting synchronicity experience. Before I started Iodine I went to the Houston museaum of natural science and I was looking at the element table they have there. I noticed the screws in the iodine chamber were corroded and I remember thinking, there must be something special about iodine. I couldn't believe that it could have an effect on the screws in its display box when it was in a sealed glass ampule! I figured it must have a strong subtle energy that can effect things at a distance and through other materials. And this was before I even heard about Iodine supplimentation. I guess the universe was priming me for the whole notion. :D