Re: Iodine and the Thyroid

[Guest guest]

"In my mid to late 20's I had a tumor on my thyroid removed and have been on synthroid ever since, could taking iodine be good or bad for this?" -- Gail

Excellent question, Gail. How much of your thyroid was removed when they did the surgery?

I, too, would really like to understand exactly how iodine affects the thyroid. At the moment, I don't even understand the really simple stuff. Like, how much iodine is good for the thyroid? Does it depend whether the person is hypothyroid, hyperthyroid, or euthyroid? What if the person already has goiter, or thyroid cancer, or has had thyroid surgery. Abraham suggests that taking 1 - 50 mg of iodine a day can be good for the thyroid. He also suggests that the condition of the iodine symporters is important. Others disagree about how much iodine intake is good. What's true? I suspect it is different for different people.

I recently saw a reference to an animal study in which the thyroids had been removed, and they were still able to convert iodine to T4. (Unfortunately, I can't remember where I read it....)

If you are taking Synthroid, you need to monitor your thyroid if you are supplementing with Iodine because there can be changed in the amount of meds necessary. I'm curious why you are on Synthroid and not Armour (or one of the other natural ones).

Since I myself have had hypothyroid issues for the past 20 years, I have decided to take iodine-thyroid issues as one of the things I am going to focus on learning about in this group. I just ordered what I have heard is the classic textbook on the thyroid for endocrinologists: The Thyroid, by Braverman. I found a used copy of the 8th edition (2000) on Amazon yesterday for $20. (The new 9th edition (2004) is over $200, which is beyond my budget....) Wish me luck in being able to understand it!

Zoe

[Guest guest]

This too is my interest in iodine. I want to avoid hormones as a

means of correcting my hypothyroidism. Please keep us informed on

what you find. Unfortunately, most of the books I've picked up on

hypothyroidism immediately jump to the hormone replacement solution.

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>

>

> Since I myself have had hypothyroid issues for the past 20 years,

I have decided to take iodine-thyroid issues as one of the things I

am going to focus on learning about in this group. I just ordered

what I have heard is the classic textbook on the thyroid for

endocrinologists: The Thyroid, by Braverman. I found a used copy

of the 8th edition (2000) on Amazon yesterday for $20. (The new 9th

edition (2004) is over $200, which is beyond my budget....) Wish me

luck in being able to understand it!

>

> Zoe

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Bonnie,

Iodine does not shut down the thyroid. Best, Kathleen

Iodine and the Thyroid

I sent in an article I found that someone on the Graves List had written in 2009 that Iodine shuts down the Thyroid. I think I sent the first paragraph of the article to Steph but never heard back.

Does anyone know about this?

Bonnie