Re: Providone iodine?

Got long winded on the other post.  Suspect I will do similar here... brace yaself.

Yup, my sweetie has had a lot to deal with.  A lot lot. 

And yes, while the last thing I want to do is get someone focused on D as a singular problem and solution, it has been a significant factor in more than a few situations, read... people.  While I am totally for staying away from doctors at all costs, tho in our situation that is impossible tho we work really hard at alternative solutions that keep us away from them, D is one of those things that it is better if possible to know where one's levels reside.  If that is possible.  D is subtle and complex.  It is not so easily recognized or managed as some other things are, for starters.  I would really like it if some other, smarter people could ring in and speak to this.  I am only speaking in my limited sphere of experience and knowledge, which has seen some remarkable things turned around when D was tended to... I would be mindful of trying to dose up on D however because it can be toxic.  Your body will let you know.  But still... it is nice to know in this arena, where one is at that moment.   Follows is a little chart that I hope works. 

Until 2-ish years ago, 20-30 ng/mL was considered normal range.  That has been changed to as one sees, above 30, and I understand in women, a new baseline is 38 ng/mL which is a bit higher than previously thought.  When my wife's rheumatologist first ran labs on her, her ng/mL was 5.  That is downright over the cliff bad.  What blew me down was she was undergoing total joint replacements, and the surgeons, none of them, ever discussed much less ran this most basic lab.  Are you kidding me??!?  Now we know, and while there are a myriad of things we have to deal with given her prior history as liver transplant (prep for these things is like a military mission that has to be planned way out), making sure D among other things is assessed is a no brainer.   The best way I have found when dealing with the next new healthcare person in line is when they object or question, why, I have them sit down where I launch for 20 minutes on her prior history.  Like these loooooooooooong posts of mine, the docs prefer not to sit through another history lesson and just do it.  But is it beyond belief that bone docs that we have experienced do not test for this...

Her mother was 7 when she was tested 2 years ago.  This after my wife backed the doctor up and read him the riot act.  Two days later after they dosed her with medical grade 50,000 iu's, she literally WOKE UP.  I have a close friend whose recent labs indicated 68 and he has all kinds of toxic symptoms... and he had been dosing himself with over the counter D.  Too much.  This is why I suggest trying to learn.  The number of things that D deficiency can affect is a bit staggering.   And forgot if I mentioned, but there is a bit of a three ring circus taking place because one way to obtain D is via direct sunlight.  Acquiring D from food sources is not as easily done.  D fortified milk, fugetiaboutit.  A marketing joke.   If the thyroid is not working properly, then D production and/or absorption will not go well.  Once D levels are diminished, it can be very hard to get them back up.  And one then must determine if the body is capable of subcutaneous production of D, or does it need to be maintained via other sources.  And so on.  And this is of course, if one is D deficient.  As my wife's rheumatologist has said, he sees far more misdiagnosis of a slew of symptoms such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, fybromylagia, thyroid malfunction, not to mention brittle bones and disintegrating joints, than anything else in his practice.  We recently had a medical workup for my sweetie and the GP who we have had since her transplant (he assisted in saving her life), and he said that 17 years later, in the last year, he is always adding D levels to blood workups because he has found the majority of his patients in his general practice are D deficient and exhibit a lot of symptoms that otherwise would be misdiagnosed, and treated, when a simple attack of managing D is all it might take.

One aspect of prednisone is that it appears to leech D from the body.  This ought to be a big clue as to why this can lead to stuff like AVN, fibromylagia, etc...

We did not engage in this protocol at the time, tho in hindsight, it makes a great deal of sense.  And in one respect, you are doing what the protocol calls for.... your on again, off again staged and diminishing process is part of it.  Weaning yourself off of it, yes.  But as I understand, this nasty stuff stays in the body.  Like, REALLY stays in the body.  The homeopath recommended that my wife should engage in a tincture of prednisone that gradually tapered down to nothing.  Creating a tincture that was to begin with, 1 part in 2 (to water), then 1 to 5, 1 to 10, 1 to 15, and so on until it got to something like 1 part to 50, and beyond.  This over the course of a couple of months.  The homeopath indicated this would direct the body to eradicate the levels of prednisone in the body based on the changing and diminishing levels of the tincture.  As I recall, she may have recommende that she take this sublingually too.  We did not do this, as the damage was well under way by that time.  But in further study, I wish we had known this much sooner and didn't have the bazillion other things to deal with too.  I believe it would have helped curb the now dramatic results.  As my sweetie says to me... she did not come through a life saving, and I mean it was down to 12-24 hours of survival (last rites and all), but she did not come out of a dire last minute transplant only to become crippled.  After all she has been through, she is beautiful, someone recently said it doesn't hurt that she is drop-youknowwhat gorgeous, she loves to sell Mary Kay and Avon, and one would never know she has been ripped apart in more ways than one can describe.  She is as tough as they come.  Tougher. 

This &^%$)(#*)($#*@ prednisone tho was really a bummer....

Anyhoo, this graduated tincture made with prednisone I believe is very, very important, to usurp this nasty thing from one's body.  If prednisone does its worst in the body, it is really destructive.  Short term use has a medical upside.  But... long term use as we have seen can be devestating.  She was on 25 to 50 mg for 3 years.  Nowadays they keep transplant recipients dosed for two weeks.  Times have changed.  One of the very bad things about the medical community is that there are no rules or policies that regulate what doctors can prescribe.  THAT is NOT good.  I type a lot on this because I have deep empathy for someone who is enduring the things that you have described for yourself.  There are a lot of really smart people in this forum that have much more to say than me... but in the areas that we have had to deal with and endure, I cannot help but speak up.  Like prednisone.  Or D.  Or arthritis and AVN.  Or transplantation.  Etc etc etc.  I hope you are able to land on the right combinations of things that build you back up.  It can be an impossible undertaking, but hey, as we say here... time is gonna tick on by whether one does something or not... so we may as well do something instead of nothing.  

Blah blah blah.... all this typing is out of empathy.  You are in the right spot for engaging with really smart, aware people, in this Iodine forum.  I am in debt to this forum for it was a tipping point for me, and my missus.  So hopefully folks will chime in, and with a lot less text (grin), on stuff that will help you too.  This all started out with topical use of iodine for hair loss.  This is yet another area we are attacking too.  She has had THAT to deal with as well.   But we never ever cave on anything.  This is just one more thing to overcome.  I am hoping you will too and be able to write about your experience with this, so we can learn from you.

Hopefully a next post will be, muy shorter.   I can't help maself when it comes to this tho...

kind regards