Re: Can Iodine cause Rheumatoid Arthritis flare ups?

I don't know much about rheumatoid arthritis in particular. What I'm responding to are some of the elements of your post. Can iodine be responsible for your current pain? In my opinion, yes, in a roundabout way. I think once you insert iodine into an unknown environment, you can soon find out where your weaknesses lie. It sounds like in your case, inflammation rules. I believe everything in Wombat's post bears consideration. Then I think simple, basic supplements need to be used, within the tolerance of your budget. Mostly the ones we talk about with regard to iodine -- vitamin C, B complex, water and salt, selenomethionine, zinc. Then calcium needs to be de-emphasized, and special attention needs to be given to magnesium and boron. When you mentioned shoulder pain at night, you didn't specify, but I could imagine tight shoulders needing the relief of magnesium. Ginagirl mentioned once that she'd been disappointed that boron didn't help much with the relief of pain in RA, but I think it's worth a shot. Magnesium - take as much as you can tolerate. Start low and keep adding slowly. We've talked about magnesium citrate and magnesium malate, but you may have to play with different kinds. In fact, I've had success using a combination of magnesium products. Boron - at a minimum take 3-9 mg of boron, or you could experiment with the 1/8-1/4 teaspoon of borax Ginagirl recommends.

More reading material - best wishes to feeling better!

http://www.arthritistrust.org/Articles/Boron%20and%20Arthritis.pdf

The Art of Getting Well: Boron and Arthritis 

http://www.curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1473187#i

Ginagirl's Borax-Boron consolidated info