My Iodine Experience so far....help?

Hello Iodiners! (er, Iodinees?) :)

Firstly I want to express my appreciation and gratitude for this amazing forum and all of the great insight, input, knowledge here, as well as the willingness to help the "newbies". Over the past 4+ months I have spent countless hours reading on this site, all of the recommended posts, etc. and am learning a lot. It has been so helpful!

I'm more of a "reader", and didn't plan to post. My situation however has come to the point that I felt I needed to post, in hopes of finding some insight, encouragement and suggestions. I'm really struggling with my Iodine therapy. I realize that in order to better share your input, you need some details, so I've done my best to outline the situation, as briefly as I can, yet I'm afraid it has turned ridiculously long regardless! I thank you in advance if you choose to read this entire thing!

I'm about 34, I've had health challenges since I was young, over the years was diagnosed by doctors with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Mitral Valve Prolapse, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, hypothyroidism, and then by other practitioners: candida, adrenal fatigue, gluten-intolerance, various allergies and imbalances, etc. Anyways, I pretty much quit Western treatment after nothing really helped, and over the years went more naturopathic/holistic. I was always instinctively drawn to a more natural, drug-free, approach to wellness. I've done lots of herbs, supplements, you name it. I also began to learn about the mind/body connection, and that was a huge benefit.

I'm happy to say that many of those issues improved dramatically and I've made incredible progress with the holistic approach and following my own intuition about what my body needs. However, I still haven't reached full recovery or the amount of energy I want yet - so when I heard about Iodine, I got very excited. The main things still bothering me are symptoms of hypothyroidism, PCOS and Mitral Valve prolapse syndrome/dysautonomia, and I felt like Iodine might be the missing link in finally resolving these things. So, I read the Brownstein book, listened to the various interviews recommended on this site, etc. The more I learned, the more hopeful I became!

I began taking Iodoral at the end of September 2011, so a bit less than 4 months ago. (I realize that I should have taken the uptake test first, but didn't, since funds are tight....) I started slowly at 12.5 mg and gradually increasing. I began having detox symptoms which included horribly stinky Body Odor , gas, skin eruptions, drainage, sore teeth, itching, runny nose at times, increased vivid dreams, insomnia, racing mind, yet foggy head, and the worst things: weight gain and depression. I am a cheerful person, with a normally positive mindset - and it was like my entire mood changed, worse than PMS, and I've never had Depression like this. I felt like a completely different person. So....that honestly freaked me out, but after reading on the forum, it seems some people experience Depression temporarily with detox, so I stayed with it. Eventually, I decided I had to take 3-5 day breaks off the iodoral, when the Depression became too unbearable. It would be such a relief to feel like ME again, so I've been doing that at least once a month.

The weight gain was an upsetting surprise and has been very discouraging, because I am already overweight due to the PCOS/hypothyroid stuff, and find it incredibly hard to loose. My clothes are all tight and some I can't even wear - this happened just in the 4 months of taking Iodoral. My body temperature (I have extremely cold hands and feet) also seemed to get worse - seems like I am more hypothyroid than ever now!?

I really believe in the benefit of Iodine however, so I stuck with it, and continued, gradually increasing. Most of the other detox symptoms weren't too bad or dissipated, but the general depression, low energy, icky mood, coldness, trouble sleeping, and foggy head continued. I could feel stuff happening though, like pains and stuff in my ovaries and feeling like cysts were breaking up. So I decided that I would keep going with it, and made sure to take the supplements, vitamins, drinking lots of water, and tried the salt pushes. The salt pushes didn't seem to change anything, but maybe I didn't do them enough. I've also done the "Adrenal Miracle Mix" drink that I read about from one of the posters here. At times it seemed to possibly help a bit, but not really sure.

Anyways, about a month ago, I got up to 75mg of Iodoral and within a day of that, had a major flare up of heart palpitations and the Mitral Valve prolapse/dysautonomia symptoms got horrible. I could not sleep, and nearly went to the emergency room because at times the heart pounding became so severe, I thought I might pass out. It eventually calmed down to a lesser degree, but I had 2 weeks last month that were quite bad. I stopped Iodoral (but continued supplements) for 5 days after that happened. The heart pounding stuff didn't feel much better even when off it, so I started taking the Iodoral again, but at a lower dose. I'm also taking Capsicum/Cayenne as I've heard that should help the heart.

That brings me to what's going on now - I've been off Iodoral for the last 4 days and debating where to go from here....contemplating taking a longer period of time off or pulse dosing. I want to take iodine, yet, it's really a struggle to keep going after 4 months of feeling so rotten, and I can't keep going this way. Since last month, my heart is still pounding, so I am running on very little sleep, as it gets worse primarily when I move or lie down. The palpitations are not as extreme as last month thankfully, but I feel very run down from it. I can't exercise because it gets too unbearable. Also been having pressure in the bladder area for the last week or two, kind of feel like I need to pee all the time, and AM peeing very frequently - which is keeping me from sleeping very long at night, even when I am careful not to drink before bed. (I'm taking some herbs for this in case it's a bladder infection.) Most days, it seems that even thinking and writing seems challenging (although you wouldn't know that from the length of this missive, right? LOL!). As a result, I've not been able to work much (I'm a self-employed artist) over the last few months - so I've come to a point now where I've GOT to have something change....

Below I've listed all of the supplements and things I am taking, along with anything else I could think of. I do not have amalgams. I have been gluten-free, dairy-free, and eat a healthy Diet with almost no processed food, no soda, etc. I drink reverse osmosis water, and have a filter on my shower to take out chlorine. I do oil pulling daily. I am dedicated to my health and getting better.

So - input? Suggestions? Advice? I'm wondering if I am totally missing something.

Tips on pulse dosing?

If I quit Iodoral for a month, I should probably keep taking the co-factors and companions, right?

Should I try taking SSKI instead of Iodoral? It seems like a lot of people here are finding that works well for them?

Thanks so much for taking the time to read all this! :)
~ ParrotGirl

CURRENTLY TAKING:

- Methyl-B12 (Jarrow) - 1000mcg Methylcobalamin - 2 to 4 a day
- Optivite PMT (http://www.optimox.com/pics/Optivite.html) 6 a day which includes 1,500 mg vit C and 100mg Selenium
- Selenium - 200mcg L-Selenomethionine
- ATP Cofactors - Riboflavin 100 mg & Niacin (as inositol hexanicotinate) 500 mg - 1 a day
- Ester-C Vitamin C - 1,000mg - 2 to 4 a day (1 hour from food and other sups)
- Vitamin D/ Calcium Soft Chew (Nature's Sunshine) - 2 a day (http://www.naturessunshine.com/us/products/product/stocknumber3343-sunshine-h...
- Lactobacillus acidophilus (http://www.naturessunshine.com/us/products/product/stocknumber1666-acidophilu... )- 6 a day
- Cellfood Silica Liquid - (http://www.cellfood.com/silica.htm) 15 drops a day - sometimes 2 times a day
- Capsicum - (http://www.naturessunshine.com/us/product/capsicum-100-caps/sku-160.aspx) 490mg - 2 to 3 a day
- Adrenal Support - (http://www.naturessunshine.com/us/product/adrenal-support-60-caps/sku-1507.aspx) - 2 a day
- Natural Omega 369 - (http://www.healthyforlifeusa.com/images/omega-label.jpg ) 4 a day
- Potassium Gluconate - (http://www.amazon.com/Spring-Valley-Potassium-Gluconate-Caplets/dp/B001RBDL5W ) 2 every few days if I'm not having coconut water
- Food Enzymes - (http://www.naturessunshine.com/us/product/food-enzymes-120-caps/sku-1836.aspx ) 1 with every meal
- Clear Sinus & Ear (http://www.clearproductsinc.com/products/Clear-Sinus-and-Ear.html ) 2 a day
- Hawthorne Berries (http://www.naturessunshine.com/us/product/hawthorn-berries-100-caps/sku-370.aspx ) 2-4 a day when heart is acting up
- Other herbs when needed
- Magnesium Complex - (Magnesium as citrate and malate) 200mg a day or more if my bowels can handle it
- Magnesium Oil Liquid Spray Topically (5-10 sprays every other day)

ALSO:
Eat/drink 1 young coconut and water every other day or so
Use Coconut Oil on food - and daily oil pulling
Use Celtic Sea Salt , Himalayan salt (pink stuff)
Drink a small amount of Apple Cider Vinegar in a glass of water once a day, and use on salads
Drink "Adrenal Miracle Mix" drink (ascorbic acid, potassium chloride and pink salt), once a week or so
Salt flushes when feeling very bad
Gluten-free, dairy-free, clean diet - very little processed food. 95% Organic.

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