Iodine (low Dose) Is Making Me Lethargic

[ebs]

I've noticed (now and in the past) when I take an iodine supplement of the lowest dose (150 mcg) it makes me sluggish and lethargic along with a hoarse voice. I take it because I get little iodine through diet. Apparantly in my country there is little of it in the ground and it's believed many people are deficient.

I've read here that iodine could make you hypothyroid but the way I understand it only with high doses. Ray Peat apparantly has stated 150mcg is safe and it's just 100% of the rdi.

I'm also taking 200mg selenomethionine and other high quality vitamin/mineral supplements but it's clearly the iodine that's causing this effect.

Why is this happening and how long should I give it a change?

 

[raypeatclips]

Stop taking it then?

 

[ddjd]

its a really good sign - reducing stress hormones. its great to take before bed, it reduces estrogen so effectively

 

[2thecloudsabove]

I'd ramp that dose up to the mg scale, 2mg is a good start. Been taking 6mg I/200mcg Se for a year, tsh went from 2.4 down to 1.1 and energy levels improved noticeably.

 

[ebs]

Stop taking it then?

If it continues to be that way then yes. My question was have others experienced this too and did this resolve after some time?

 

[ebs]

its a really good sign - reducing stress hormones. its great to take before bed, it reduces estrogen so effectively

Yeah that's what I was thinking, but then again the hoarse voice could be a sign of low thyroid/high cortisol no?

It does make me sleepy and I'm going to try taking it in the evening to see how that goes.

 

[ddjd]

Yeah that's what I was thinking, but then again the hoarse voice could be a sign of low thyroid/high cortisol no?

It does make me sleepy and I'm going to try taking it in the evening to see how that goes.

When you're deficient in something tiredness is completely ok and normal because finally the stress hormones reduce. Just take very small amounts every day. Slowly you'll see it won't make you as tired and then take less frequently. Good to take with Selenium as you are

 

[Waynish]

I experienced strange side effects from lugols... Supplementing selenium, thyroid, and iodine all pushed my physiology in the wrong direction it seems. They were more experiments anyway. I don't need to lose any weight, I have enough muscle, and I usually feel quite warm. They all seemed to make me feel colder and more restricted in the throat.

 

[TreasureVibe]

Get checked for thyroid antibodies in the blood. You might be suffering from Hashimoto's disease and not know it, it is more common than thought. If you take iodine while you have Hashimoto's you are literally destroying your thyroid beyond repair. It is an autoimmune disorder that makes your own body attack your thyroid. Symptoms arise when you take iodine.

Cease supplementation of iodine at once for now and get yourself checked for Hashimoto's.

 

[Waynish]

Get checked for thyroid antibodies in the blood. You might be suffering from Hashimoto's disease and not know it, it is more common than thought. If you take iodine while you have Hashimoto's you are literally destroying your thyroid beyond repair. It is an autoimmune disorder that makes your own body attack your thyroid. Symptoms arise when you take iodine.

Cease supplementation of iodine at once for now and get yourself checked for Hashimoto's.

But Peat doesn't believe in autoimmune :P
In all seriousness, I would like some of the proponents of the degenerative-mechanistic alternative to autoimmune to pipe in and hypothesize some mechanisms behind why, for example, iodine gives Hashimotos patients such an issue.

 

[ebs]

I'm now taking it in the evening which seems to do the trick. It does make me somewhat lethargic but in a more relaxed way, sort of mellows me down. I think when I take it earlier in the day it makes me feel weaker which is why I then experience increased stress when I need to do things or go outside, because the lethargy makes me feel uncomfortable when I want to feel strong and alert. I definitely need my adrenaline during the day.

My hypothesis is that it lowers stress hormones revealing the chronic fatigue I have as a result of years of bad sleep.

 

[ebs]

Get checked for thyroid antibodies in the blood. You might be suffering from Hashimoto's disease and not know it, it is more common than thought. If you take iodine while you have Hashimoto's you are literally destroying your thyroid beyond repair. It is an autoimmune disorder that makes your own body attack your thyroid. Symptoms arise when you take iodine.

Cease supplementation of iodine at once for now and get yourself checked for Hashimoto's.

Thanks for pointing this out to me. Always good to be aware of something like this. I'm a little hesistant to bring this up with my doctor because I've already asked for numerous blood tests in the past up to the point she probably thinks I'm a hypochondriac.

Also, I'm thinking that if this would be an interaction with antibodies I would get a more severe reaction than a little lethargy. If I take this in the evening I don't experience much negatives during the day...

 

[antoine79]

Thanks for pointing this out to me. Always good to be aware of something like this. I'm a little hesistant to bring this up with my doctor because I've already asked for numerous blood tests in the past up to the point she probably thinks I'm a hypochondriac.

Also, I'm thinking that if this would be an interaction with antibodies I would get a more severe reaction than a little lethargy. If I take this in the evening I don't experience much negatives during the day...

Hello ebs,
I exactly feel the same symptoms of sleepy/relaxing feeling, i only take 2 mg of nascent iodine a day and i started 5 days ago. Do you still take iodine ? How do you feel now ?
Thank you
Antoine from France.

 

[danishispsychic]

from my experience, pulse dosing works best- like a 2 steps forward, one back. you may be detoxing bromine- might want to take sea salt in orange juice during the day away from the iodine. for example- if you take 2 drops for 2 days, take a day off and then go up to 3 for 3 days and then take 2 days off, and see if that works.

 

[antoine79]

thanks Danishipsychic for your answer, i'm not sure that's bromine detox cause potassium bromate is forbidden in europe and i never go to the swimming pool...
I'm ok during the day, i just feel sleepy at 9.00 pm wich is weird because i used to go to bed at 00:30 am...

 

[danishispsychic]

welcome ! good- cause bromide detox is a b****. anyway- i think the pulse dosing is the way to go and making sure that you keep a sea salt/ vit c mixture going to help with detox, die off , etc, which is going to happen. Who's afraid of bromine?

 

[BigChad]

Get checked for thyroid antibodies in the blood. You might be suffering from Hashimoto's disease and not know it, it is more common than thought. If you take iodine while you have Hashimoto's you are literally destroying your thyroid beyond repair. It is an autoimmune disorder that makes your own body attack your thyroid. Symptoms arise when you take iodine.

Cease supplementation of iodine at once for now and get yourself checked for Hashimoto's.

What causes hashimotos disease? I heard high iodine intake itself can cause hashimotos, and restricting iodine can reverse hashimotos? also where do you go to get tested for it, cuz it seems like most doctors test tsh and if its normal, they refuse to test further for t4 or antibodies. isnt it possible to have hashimotos, yet still have a low range tsh of 0.5 or so?

 

[Kaur Singh]

@ebs Hi. I was wondering what your continued experiencing with the iodine - was it lowering stress hormones or was it lowering thyroid function?

Thank you =

 

[Jam]

The reason it makes you feel lethargic in the morning could be that iodine lowers histamine (by inhibiting the conversion of histidine to histamine)*

*L. Schutte and E. Havinga, "The Degradation Reaction of Histidine With Iodine," Recueil, vol. 86, pp. 385-392 (1967).

 

[Nomane Euger]

The reason it makes you feel lethargic in the morning could be that iodine lowers histamine (by inhibiting the conversion of histidine to histamine)*

*L. Schutte and E. Havinga, "The Degradation Reaction of Histidine With Iodine," Recueil, vol. 86, pp. 385-392 (1967).

thanks for this