Iodine Supplements and Dosages
Published on November 15, 2009
After testing over 500 patients, I found that 94.7% of my patients are deficient in inorganic iodine.-
Dr. David Brownstein
There are several reference points we
can use to plot out iodine dosages for a variety of disorders that beg
for the use of iodine for successful treatment. In this essay I will
present different views and practices from present as well as from the
long past when iodine was vastly more popular as a medicine than it is
today. For whatever irrational reason, doctors and patients fear iodine
thus en mass do not use to its fullest potential.Dr. David Brownstein
Humans tolerate large doses of iodine but the ultra high doses that were used many decades ago are not required to get the most out of iodine therapy. Just a little goes a long way, as the governmental iodized salt programs showed but this dosage level was only affective for Goiter and its avoidance. It actually takes very little iodine to prevent this disease but no one ever said that was the only purpose and need for iodine in the body. Today people are more iodine deficient then ever before because our need for iodine has increased in direct proportion to our toxic burdens especially of other competing halogens.
So effective is iodine that aerosols can be effective in sterilizing a room at levels not even detectable by humans. But Dr. David Derry of Canada says that, “Dietary iodine found in iodized salt is below the amounts needed to fill mucus defense roles. To protect themselves, people wishing to boost their defense against infections should use Iodine supplement in their diets.”
Uses of Iodine – Treatment of Influenza and other Diseases
Why would people need the larger doses of iodine?Why have iodine levels fallen 50% in the last 30 years? As I pondered these questions, I came to the conclusion that the toxicity of modern life must be impacting iodine levels. It is well known that the toxic halides, fluoride and bromide, having a similar structure as iodine, can competitively inhibit iodine absorption and binding in the body. Because of the elevated levels of toxic halides in the environment and in the food supply, iodine levels have not only fallen but larger amounts of iodine are necessary to correct iodine deficiency as well as to promote a detoxifying effect of heavy metals.”“Extremely high doses of iodine can have serious side effects, but only a small fraction of such extreme doses are necessary to kill influenza viruses,” continues Derry who tells us, “In 1945, a breakthrough occurred when J.D. Stone and Sir McFarland Burnet (who later went on to win a Nobel Prize for his Clonal Selection Theory) exposed mice to lethal effects of influenza viral mists. The lethal disease was prevented by putting iodine solution on mice snouts just prior to placing them in chambers containing influenza viruses.”
Dr. Derry is one of several MDs that I refer to as the Iodine Doctors.
Dr.
David Brownstein said, “After testing individuals and finding low
iodine levels, I began to use smaller milligram amounts of
iodine/iodide (6.25mg/day). Upon retesting these individuals 1-2 months
later, little progress was made. I therefore began using higher
milligram doses (6.25-50mg) to increase the serum levels of iodine. It
was only with these higher doses that I began to see clinical
improvement as well as positive changes in the laboratory tests.I have suggested that people put iodine into a nebulizer for aerosol treatment for transdermal effect into the lung tissues in the case of lung cancer, emphysema, asthma and tuberculosis. I make the recommendation to do the same with magnesium chloride, sodium bicarbonate and glutathione. It seems obvious that iodine would make the ideal first line of defense in influenza prevention and without doubt in the treatment of both swine flu and regular influenza. Iodine, teamed up with these other primary and very necessary substances, offers an exceptionally strong defense and treatment against viral infection. It certainly is better than the antiviral Tamiflu, which only reduces symptoms by only one day. It is really not hard to beat that.
Some physicians I know are also using chlorine dioxide as an agent for treatment either transdermally or intravenously applied but I would never use it for the prevention of anything. Though I have heard some success stories about chlorine dioxide I do not use it myself nor for my children. I always will reach for the iodine first for all the things that chlorine dioxide proponents advocate, for the iodine is much safer for oral usage, especially when used in the right form. The body needs iodine anyway as a fundamental nutritional item but when even heavier guns are needed instead of reaching for a pharmaceutical one can think of chlorine dioxide.
A
function of iodine in the human body relates to clear thinking. The
mind simply works better when the body is supplied the iodine itneeds
and studies do show that iodine deficiency leads to decline in IQ.
Despite
its being critical to normal neurocognitive development, a new study
finds that only 51% of US prenatal multivitamin brands contain any
iodine, and in a number of randomly selected brands, the actual dose of
iodine contained in the supplements did not match values on the
labeling.[1]
It is easy to understand a synthetic pharmaceutical being phased out
but to have iodine, an essential nutritional element that doubles as a
super effective full spectrum anti-pathogen, ignored for what it can do
is not reasonable.Dr. Michael B. Schachter says, “The treatment dose when a person is iodine insufficient is generally between 12.5 mg and 50 mg daily. Preliminary research indicates that if a person is iodine insufficient,it takes about 3 months to become iodine sufficient while ingesting a dosage of 50 mg of iodine and a year to become iodine sufficient while ingesting a dosage of 12.5 mg of iodine daily. However, the patient needs to be monitored closely with awareness of possible side effects and detoxification reactions.” This is quite a bit of iodine and if his statements can be substantiated then most people are using dosages which are much too low.
In fact if we put our attention on the full iodine story, which collides with the fluoride, mercury and bromide story we conclude that we can only err on the side of too low of a dose. Patients should push their dosages higher and higher until they get the desired result but I recommend doing this slowly unless there is little time as is the case in emergency situations or very late stage cancer.
“When using the Nascent Iodine one can dose pulse every two hours orally taking each individual dose up to as many as 20 drops and even at this level we are no where near points of iodine toxicity and tolerance. I have given my own three year old up to fifteen drops in a dose when she was confronted with fever and infection.”
Lugol’s Iodine Supplement
The usual dose for treatment was 300 mgs (46 drops of full strength Lugol’s) to 1 gm (1000 mg, 154 drops). It is very important to realize that today’s Lugol’s is not universally the same as it was because of new federal legal requirements about concentration levels. The best company offers Lugol’s at varying concentration levels. (2.2, 3 and 7 percent) Nascent is a 2 percent solution.
Preoperative
before thyroidectomy: Lugol solution 5-10 gttthree times daily, or 2-6
gtt twice or three times dailygiven 10-21 days prior to surgery has
been used.- MedlinePlus
Dr. Schachter wrote,” Dr. Abraham
started this Iodine Project around 1998 when he became aware of the many
benefits of treating patients with iodine using doses far beyond the 2
mg a day, which most physicians consider to be potentially toxic. He
noted that starting in the 1820s, the French physician Jean Lugol used
these higher doses to treat a wide variety of conditions. Dr. Lugol
combined elemental iodine (5 %) and potassium iodide (10%) with 85 %
water. Since iodine kills infectious agents, Dr. Lugol successfully
treated many infectious conditions with this solution, which became
known as Lugol’s solution, and which is still available today. Prior to
World War II, many American and European physicians used Lugol’s
solution to treat thyroid conditions, using doses higher than 2 mg
daily without apparent significant adverse effects.”When you look at mainstream recommendations all the above information seems strange but this is because dosage and RDA are set obscenely low. Note instead of talking in milligrams (mg) the RDA is in micrograms (mcg) which is a scale exactly 1000 times less. Meaning it takes 1000 mcg to equal 1 mg and it takes 1000 mg to equal a gram.
Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA):
50mcg daily for infants 0-12 months;
90mcg daily for 1-8 years;
120mcg daily for 9-13 years;
150mcg daily for 14-18 years.
Adequate Intake (AI) for infants:
110mcg daily for ages 0-6 months;
130mcg daily for 7-12 months.
Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (UL):
200mcg/day for ages 1-3 years;
300mcg/day for 4-8 years;
600mcg/day for 9-13 years;
900mcg/day for 14-18 years (including pregnancy and lactation).
Radiation emergencies: Potassium iodide (KI) should be taken just prior to, or as soon as possible after exposure. For infants, babies, and children, KI is administered for exposure of 5 centigrays (cGy) or more. For birth through 1 month, 16mg can be administered; for 1 month through 3 years, 32mg can be administered; for 3-12 years, 65mg can be administered; for adolescents ages 12-18 years, 65mg can be administered (or up to 120mg if the adolescent is approaching adult size).
The highest dosage I have heard any doctor using today is 100 mg and that is quite a bit when you take iodine in a form where you can taste and appreciate what you are taking into your body. My favorite iodine (Nascent) is ideal for oral and aerosol applications into both nebulizers and vaporizers though I believe Lugol’s, which is harsher on the stomach and has a very bitter taste, is better for transdermal application to the skin not only because it is less expensive but because you can get it at higher concentration.
Nascent Iodine Supplement
For alcohol-sensitive people there is Nanocollidal iodine:
http://www.cedarbear.com/CBNLabsIodineProducts.html. Recovered alcoholics are extremely sensitive withthe tiniest amount of any alcohol a problem.
Dr. Abrahams recommends taking 50 mg of Iodine/Iodide as Lugol’s solution (8 drops) daily for 3 months as a loading dose. Lugol’s solution is available online at varying concentrations. Then his recommendation is that dose should be gradually reduced to the 12.5 mg (2 drops) maintenance dosage under the supervision of a knowledgeable health care professional. Dr Abrahams feels that 14 to 15 mg. of iodine/iodide daily is the upper maximum of safety for long term use. This is close to Dr. James Howenstine’s (another prominent iodine advocate) recommended dose of 12.5 mg daily.
In 1953 Dr. Orian Truss discovered the devastating effects of antibiotics in an Alabama (USA) hospital. During a hospital round Truss was intrigued by a gaunt, apparently elderly man who was obviously dying. However, he was only in his forties and in hospital for four months. No specialist had been able to make a diagnosis. Out of curiosity Truss asked the patient when be was last completely well. The man answered that he was well until six months before when he had cut his finger He had received antibiotics for this. Shortly afterwards he developed diarrhea and his health deteriorated. Truss had seen before how antibiotics cause diarrhea. It was known that Candida was opportunistic and thrived in debilitated patients, but now Truss wondered if it might not be the other way round, that Candida actually caused the debilitated condition.
Truss had read that potassium iodide solution could be used to treat Candida infestation of the blood. So he put the patient on six to eight drops of Lugol’s solution four times a day and soon the patient was again completely well. Soon afterwards he had a female patient with a stuffy nose, a throbbing headache, vaginitis and severe depression. To his amazement all her problems immediately cleared with Candida treatment.
“When I was coming to closure on this essay happened to talk to Dr. Brownstein. We were in total agreement about dosages. Our consensus extended to the proposition that the sicker the patient the more iodine they would need with most average patients needing 25 to 50 mgs with 12 mg being a good maintenance dose though of course this varies with the quality of ones diet and with ones location. Living near the beach has its health advantages but in no case should one depend on iodized salt for their needs.”
Dr. Brownstein said he was using 200 to 300 mg with his prostate and breast cancer patients with those who have metastases needing the highest dosages. He also uses both Lugol’s and Nascent reserving the Nascent for his more sensitive patients. The there are the tablet form of varying dosage, which are used by more than several of the iodine doctors I know.
Iodine is needed in microgram amounts for the thyroid,mg amounts for breast and other tissues, and can be used therapeutically in gram amounts.[2]– Dr. David Miller
But the book will give you a general idea of what you need to do and how to start using Iodine for whatever you are treating. It generally gives a range of doses and what to watch out for to tell you when a problem might happen.
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