Bloodwork shows elevated TPOAb (Hashimoto's disease)
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By the way, I just ran across this post:
@TexugoDoMel said in Thyroid Log:
Iodine is very important but remember that iodine displaces bromide and fluoride and can cause unpleasant symptoms precisely because of this. It's a good idea to adjust the amount of selenium too, as there's a good chance you'll feel unwell when supplementing with iodine if you're deficient in selenium.
Could this explain why I feel lots better with low iodine?
I don't think so, because:
Flouride
I have drunk primarily well water (which is also filtered through a berkey filter) - so this is not fluoridated water. I know there's some flouride exposure from stuff like orange juice when they add water to the concentrate in the factory, but other than that, I'm not getting much flouride. I've drunk almost exclusively water from that well for 4 years, and 50% of my daily water intake was from that well for 8 years before that. So I must be much lower in fluoride exposure than typical.Bromide
I eat almost exclusively homemade food, almost never any additives, and mostly organic. I hardly ever eat bread that isn't homemade. So I think my bromide exposure is extremely low compared to typical. That has been the case for a good 8 years.Selenium
Up until recently I've eaten plenty of eggs, meat, some seafood, and brazil nuts (though brazil nuts are probably not the selenium powerhouses people claim) - so my selenium intake has been consistently higher than what is probably typical.Is it really iodine?
By the way, I just recently tried an experiment where I increased the iodine back up to see what would happen and it made me feel awful, very low thyroid feeling. -
I Insr referenced this topic on
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I Insr referenced this topic on
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@Insr said in Bloodwork shows elevated TPOAb (Hashimoto's disease):
Thank you! I've switched to sea salt.
Hi,
Salt is not the right kind for iodine: quick evaporation (not stable and it contains Cl => halogen).
We need two kinds of iodine: I2 and KI. See Lynne Farrow if you want to understand why. -
@Insr said in Bloodwork shows elevated TPOAb (Hashimoto's disease):
By the way, I just ran across this post:
@TexugoDoMel said in Thyroid Log:
Iodine is very important but remember that iodine displaces bromide and fluoride and can cause unpleasant symptoms precisely because of this. It's a good idea to adjust the amount of selenium too, as there's a good chance you'll feel unwell when supplementing with iodine if you're deficient in selenium.
Could this explain why I feel lots better with low iodine?
I don't think so, because:
Flouride
I have drunk primarily well water (which is also filtered through a berkey filter) - so this is not fluoridated water. I know there's some flouride exposure from stuff like orange juice when they add water to the concentrate in the factory, but other than that, I'm not getting much flouride. I've drunk almost exclusively water from that well for 4 years, and 50% of my daily water intake was from that well for 8 years before that. So I must be much lower in fluoride exposure than typical.Bromide
I eat almost exclusively homemade food, almost never any additives, and mostly organic. I hardly ever eat bread that isn't homemade. So I think my bromide exposure is extremely low compared to typical. That has been the case for a good 8 years.Selenium
Up until recently I've eaten plenty of eggs, meat, some seafood, and brazil nuts (though brazil nuts are probably not the selenium powerhouses people claim) - so my selenium intake has been consistently higher than what is probably typical.Is it really iodine?
By the way, I just recently tried an experiment where I increased the iodine back up to see what would happen and it made me feel awful, very low thyroid feeling.Honestly I can't tell you if it's your case, I just mentioned the most common negative things attributed to iodine. I also don't know your exact routine but many people overestimate how much they avoid, depending on where you live even if you filter the water you drink you bathe in fluoridated/chloridated water every day if you don't use filters everywhere else in the house too.
The possibilities are varied. It could be those things I mentioned before, it could be iodine consumption increasing oxygenation (which isn't good if it's not accompanied by an antioxidant system in order because it increases ROS), or several other interactions. In general, I'm just skeptical when people attribute everything to iodine because I've never seen anyone who attributes their symptoms to iodine consume a lot of it, which makes me believe that the problem has another origin.
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@Insr said in Bloodwork shows elevated TPOAb (Hashimoto's disease):
Is it really iodine?
By the way, I just recently tried an experiment where I increased the iodine back up to see what would happen and it made me feel awful, very low thyroid feeling.Iodine overload can cause transient hypothyroidism, due to a protective mechanism. This is the whole point of progressiveness...
For other readers:
Even if overload only occurs in 10% of people who started with a high dosage. The NIS symporters should have been acclimatized/re-educated before taking Lugol 1% 10 mg or Iodoral 12.5 mg.
Vocabulary: Na/I symport (NIS), or sodium/iodide symport, is a transmembrane glycoprotein catalyzing the active transport of circulating iodide and participating in the synthesis of thyroid hormones.Edit:
A high dosage of iodine will dislodge/drive away the halogens attached to the thyroid gland, causing an overload in blood circulation. The liver is then unable to process residual molecules derived from bromine, chlorine or fluorine. This makes people sick ... -
Thank you Texugo and @LucH for your replies, I appreciate any help. I certainly don't like having a food intolerance I have to watch out for, it would be much more convenient if I didn't have to worry about iodine!
@TexugoDoMel Because it's well water, my bathing water is also free of flouride and chlorine.
I asked you in the other iodine thread for more info about the antioxidant idea.
Thanks!
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@Jennifer hey Jennifer, have you noticed anything significant switching to Morton’s salt? I have always felt much better on Morton’s salt while sea salts tend to give me digestive issues.
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Hi @Aniciete, it’s good that you were able to determine that you’re sensitive to what is often promoted as the superior salt. At one point, I questioned if the sea salt I was using was the main culprit of my digestive issues at the time, but it turned out to be the one food I was salting that to this day, no matter how much thyroid I take and how good my metabolism is, causes a host of debilitating symptoms.
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My temperatures and symptoms have slowly declined to being almost as bad as they were when I started. I really only had 1 week with a waking temp averaging 98.
Dr. Alan Christianson, whose low iodine "thyroid reset diet" I am following, says it takes 3-12 months of low iodine to heal, so I currently plan to continue with it.
But the fact that my temps have been actually dropping is making me question things.
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I continued the low iodine diet until early April, about two months ago. After that I stopped restricting it (so I could drink milk again!) and now probably average 150 mcg iodine per day.
In the last month and a half or so I've been feeling improved, and my intermittent gum inflammation is mostly gone too. My morning temps are still low, but they now average just a bit higher, around 96.7. Around two months ago I greatly reduced the grain in my diet, stopped drinking store bought orange juice, stopped eating raw apples, and reduced raw vegetables. I don't know what exactly is responsible for my improvement.
And I just got bloodwork again. My liver enzymes have improved, my elevated TPO Ab is gone, and TSH is down a lot! However, cortisol (which I've never tested before) is high.
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As of mid September 2025, my thyroid antibodies are still gone. Hashimoto's cured!
I wonder if my gum inflammation (possible infection) was the real root cause of Hashimoto's. With the bacteria inflaming my thyroid, I couldn't handle iodine. So removing iodine temporarily was therapeutic and made the antibodies disappear and a lot of symptoms improve.
I still have the gum inflammation, low temperatures, bad memory, and not as much energy as I should have though.
I tried NDT in August. It never raised my temperature, not even right after taking it. It briefly made my mind sharper but after a little while this started to disappear and I even started to feel fatigued! And I didn't see clear evidence that NDT helped my memory. After a little I started to get mild throat irritation too (thyroid inflammation?), so I went off NDT.
My current theory is that curing the gum inflammation will fully heal me. I'm doing Dr. Ellie's dental protocol, which gave me a big boost in cognition for the first week, (a clue that this is the cause of my troubles!) but then settled back towards my typical situation again. And I have an appointment with a biological dentist in a few weeks too.
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@Insr how did you fix the gum inflamation?
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@heyman I didn't, I still have that problem. It's better than it was though.
I think it improved a bit as I cured Hashi's earlier this year.
It's also helped a lot to not irritate it directly, by avoiding certain things like vinegar, chewing raw apples, and for some reason ground beef.
And, in the last month, Dr. Ellie's teeth protocol is definitely improving it too.
