bromine simplified [edit] - or not

I did not see Sylvette's response when I started writing. It's perfect, of course. I use a lot of words. So, here's another version on the same topic:

Bromine is a fact of modern life. It is prevalent in fire retardants and pesticides, to name just two, and cannot be entirely avoided. Bromine is able to replace iodine in iodine-receptor sites in the body, and can also be stored in body fat. These days, with increased exposure to bromine and lessened dietary intake of iodine, your body's cells work with bromine as a crutch -- not quite right, but good enough to keep you alive. Start taking iodine, and slowly bromine gets booted out and replaced with iodine. Lose weight, and bromine stored in fat also gets released. Your metabolism works better, but your liver has to detoxify the freed-up bromine. Enter detox issues. It sounds as though you've never taken enough iodine for long enough to get past the startup phase. Then you go off it, what little bromine had been expelled gets re-established, and you're back to square one the next time you start taking iodine. I can attest to the depression that can come when your liver gets overwhelmed. Take a break from iodine, take liver support such as N-acetyl-cysteine, milk thistle, alpha lipoic acid, use salt and water to help move bromine through the kidneys, and keep your bowels moving. There are many recent posts talking about these schemes to get the bromine out. Cougar recently posted that Dr. Brownstein took 50 mg Iodoral for 4 years before his bromine levels started coming down. That's not meant to discourage you, but to tell you the scope of the problem. Best wishes!