Iodine

I−, I2 and I3−

I− an iodine atom with one electron added. It is called iodide. It is colourless. It dissolves in water really well.
I2 is two iodine atoms. It is called iodine. It is purplish brown. Vapour is purple. It dissolves in water poorly, but dissolves in water with potassium iodide really well.
I3− is I− and I2 combined. This happens in Lugols’ iodine. It is purplish brown. It dissolves in water well.

SSKI

SSKI is Super Saturated Potassium (K) Iodide. It is pure water in which is dissolved as much potassium iodide that will. Since the amount of potassium iodide that dissolves in water is dependant on the temperature of that water, cooling SSKI leads to a residu of potassium iodide on the bottom of the container. Here’s a recipe.

Lugols 15%

Dr. Lugol used the characteristics of I3− to make a watery solution that contains both iodide and iodine. I2 in itself will dissolve only very poorly in water and also will escape as gas readily. Dissolving I2 in a solution of potassium iodide though, results in a stable solution.

The original Lugols solution was a 15% solution. I always make it in this strength, because I can always water it down as needed. Having a high concentrated solution on hand is practical when you want to add it to cream and such: it doesn’t water the product down so much as a low concentration would do.

There is confusion about the way the “%” is used on the net: a 1 liter solution containing 100 gram I− and 50 grams I2 can be named

  • 5% solution: only taking into account the I2
  • 15% solution: counting both the I− and I2
  • .. % solution: counting the KI and the I2
Here’s a recipe of the original Lugols. It consists of 5 gram I2 and 10 gram of I− added to water, making 100 ml of solution.

Lugols can be irritating to skin and mucous membranes when used in too high amounts. You can put Lugols, which is a 15% solution, directly on the skin in a thin layer once. Then the skin will take about two days before you can put some more on. If you put too much on, it will kill the skin cells that it touches. Just dilute the Lugols until it’s 5% (one part Lugols to two parts water). The skin tolerates this concentration just fine.

The remarkable thing is though, that skin that is damaged by Lugols simply repairs itself without any scar tissue forming. You can use this to get rid of moles or other blemishes you want to see the back of.

Whenever you put too much on by mistake, put some vitamin C powder on it asap (I mean within the minute). The vitamin C powder will turn iodine into iodide, which is not abrasive at all.

My experience

Now, this is a controversial mineral. When you’re researching this one, you encounter fierce differences of opinions. Iodine is loved, feared and revered.

When my health deteriorated to the point where I was tired and in pain all the time, I was finally allowed a thyroid blood test by my GP. It showed an elevated level of TSH. In allopatic medicine, this means hypothyroidism. So they started me on synthetic T4 and warned me to never take iodine.

So I, good girl as I was, steered clear of iodine. During the years, my T4 was upped and my health went down. I believed them right up to the stage where my health was so bad that I could not think anymore, I was ill every month, in pain all the time, …

I had already read a lot before I finally stumbled on this forum. I started iodine and companions. My health is now restoring in leaps and bounds. I suffered severe detox at times. The first thing that healed was my brain: I could think again, understand my students again. My thyroid took longer to mend. Other health benefits followed.

Benefits I have personally experienced:

  • No more depression
  • Thinking is clear now
  • Thyroid is getting better (I was on 137 mcg synthetix T4 + 19 mcg T3, now (2014-05-01) I am on one grain of Thiroyd), hypothyroidism is resolving. Associated symptoms are evaporating.
  • I tan. I used to burn horribly from 15 minutes of sunshine. Yesterday (2014-05-01) we cycled for an hour in the bright sunshine and added to that, I sat reading in the sun for one hour. In the evening the skin was a bit warmer then the covered skin, so I put some of Wombat’s high iodine cream with some added Lugols on to it. This morning the skin is perfectly fine. I have a great tan this year!

    There is an added benefit to this: I can now get my vitamin D this way.

  • I used to have pain all over my body. When I get tired I’m reminded of how that was. But when I’m well rested there is no more pain.
  • No more anxiety
  • I’m less shy, less fearful of people
  • I can now oversee a situation, where as before, I would often be baffled and did not know what was going on
  • My body temperature went up from 36.5 to 37.4 degree Celcius
  • Nails are stronger
  • Fungus nail on my big toe is repaired, there’s only one fungus nail left  now
  • Skin is softer
  • Allergies are much much better. I used to be on anti-histamine year round and in spring I took extra. Now I’m off them. When I get a bit of allergy returning, I take some borax and Lugols.
  • Muscle strength has returned and is more stable. I used to have very little muscle strength. I got sore muscles very easily, from lifting a heavy grocery bag for instance. I used to train with weights every day to keep the little muscle strength that I had. Now, my strength remains even without exercise.
  • Inflammation is going down. Whenever I did anything, my ligaments would get inflamed. Lifting a bag for instance would cause inflammation in the shoulder. But I had inflammation going on in my body a lot anyway: part of my jaw would be inflamed regularly, my joints would hurt, etc.
  • I used to get sick every month: nose tonsils, throat tonsils and then my lungs. Every month. It exhausted me. Three weeks out of the month something was inflamed in my respiratory tract. This is gone now.
  • Cols sores. I got them on my lower lip, down to my chin, I’m not exaggerating, I got them often. I still get them, but only say every three months a teeny one that is gone in three days. People don’t even notice them any more.
  • …

Only the Thyroid?

The first thing you think about when discussing iodine would the thyroid, right? The thyroid needs 150 mcg daily to prevent goiter.

http://www.hacres.com/pdf/documents/research-Advances_in_Iodine_Nutrition.pdf: The thyroid gland is the main iodine-concentrating gland of the body. It is widely stated that the body contains between 15 and 20 mg of iodine and that two-thirds of this iodine is found in the thyroid gland. Under microgram intakes this is true, but under high intakes of iodine much of the rest of the body also contains iodine, up to 1,500 mg or so. This is one area of ignorance. Where does all of this iodine go?

Body

The rest of the body needs iodine too!

http://www.hacres.com/pdf/documents/research-Advances_in_Iodine_Nutrition.pdf: Other organs are also able to take up iodine, too, by the same transport protein as the thyroid. Research has shown that the receptor for iodine uptake is in the thyroid gland, salivary gland, parotid gland, submandibular gland, pituitary gland, pancreas, testis, mammary gland, gastric mucosa, prostate, ovary, adrenal gland, heart, thymus, lung, bladder, kidney, endometrium, and also breast, ovary and colon and the lacrimal gland. The ovaries hold the second highest concentration of iodine, after the thyroid. The breasts also have a high concentration of iodine. Most secretions in the body, whether gastric, nasal, tears, sweat, etc., have iodine in them if sufficient iodine is present in the body. The skin also contains quite a bit of iodine.

Iodine people

Sites

Buy

Leave a Reply