Iodoral and Corn

I just figured out my problem with Iodoral!  It contains corn in some form– and I have just learned that I am allergic to corn. Two weeks ago I tested positive to corn in a food allergy test. I am fairly allergic to it. The way they test it is they inject a dilution of corn into your skin. If it reacts by swelling and growing red (I think sometimes there are other stronger reactions too), then they inject you with a further diluted amount until they find the level you can tolerate. It wasn’t until the third injection that I didn’t react. And then I swear the marks on my arm stayed red and swollen for almost two weeks.

I stopped eating corn after I discovered this, but yesterday by accident I ate a couple of cheese puffs. When I realized that I was eating corn, I decided to eat more :). It’s like that crazy kind of diet logic where when you go off your diet a little, you decide to just give up the day and eat whatever you want. We had these really delicious looking Late July organic corn tortilla chips my husband bought, and I really wanted some. So after the cheese puffs, I helped myself to the tortilla chips. Then… I woke up at 4 a.m. feeling super hot, just like what happened to me all spring when I was taking Iodoral.

I had a vague memory of reading about someone being allergic to corn and not being able to take Iodoral, and so I looked it up this morning when I got up, and there is some form of corn in Iodoral. I am so excited to have discovered this. It clarifies so many things. It explains why my symptoms  got worse when I began taking the recommended supplements with Iodoral. They must also contain corn. I looked up corn allergens on the web and found this page which lists ingredients which are derived from corn. Vitamin C can be derived from corn!  My symptoms were so much worse when I began taking Vitamin C.

It’s so crazy. You know I am pretty sure that the allergic reaction threw my hormones out of balance. I am going to search around on the web a little. But my reactions started with waking up hot in the middle of the night and then moved on to screwing up my period (making it very close together) and then giving me crazy hyper-emotional PMS days. Since I stopped taking Iodoral in any amount, this has all normalized.

 

 

 

An alternative doctor and supplementing with iodine again

All that said about wanting to heal through the mind, I am quite happy because I have found an alternative doctor who I think supports iodine therapy, and I have an appointment to see him in two weeks. He specializes in environmental medicine, which I need to read more about. But this includes allergies, which are a major issue for me in the spring and late summer.

I spent a good deal of time (way too much time) this week reading more about iodine and how to implement it. Yahoo groups are great, but I would search the Yahoo Iodine Group for a specific thing like, which type of selenium to take, and I would get over 1000 results. How long do you spend looking?

One thing I downloaded and read was a .pdf file called The Guide to Supplementing with Iodine. You can download it for free from that link. I am going to try iodine again, but this time use all of the supplements that are recommended.  The first time I tried iodine, a couple months ago, I took it with a very high dose of Vitamin C (which upset my stomach) and Celtic sea salt. This time I am going to add in selenium, magnesium, ATP Cofactors, and an adrenal health supporting herb. I got all of these at iherb, which is a good site. I got a buffered version of Vitamin C, which should help with my stomach problems, and I got a version of magnesium that is supposed to be easy on your stomach also.

Here are screenshots of my order in case you want to see exactly what I decided on. I did afterall spend 2000 hours researching the types before I ordered:)

I am excited to start them because a lot of the reviews on iHerb had people talking about what a big difference some of them had made. I’m starting with all the supplements except Iodoral. I will add that in after I talk to the doctor in two weeks.  A lot of the information says it’s best to do tests and monitor things when you’re taking Iodoral.

Just to review my main symptoms now are: low sex drive, more frequent periods, occasional low energy, and occasional unexplained weight gain. I have had low sex drive since the birth of my second daughter 7 years ago. The problems with my period seem to have developed in the last 6 months; the unexplained weight gain has been happening for the last two years– but in spurts, not all of the time; and the low energy seems very related to allergies and has been consistently happening in the spring and late summer. Overall, however, my health seems very good. I run and do sports and function normally most of the time.

I will post again after my doctor’s visit.

Iodoral and Vitamin C

I had a tough week last week. It turns out that a lot of it was self-inflicted. My lower right back was  bothering me for a good week– a lot of dull, aching pain that kind of wore me down. And then on top of that my stomach was really bothering me. It was a stomach ache that wouldn’t really go away. It seemed to come on after lunch and last most of the rest of the day.

I find it very difficult to stay positive and believing in my healing when I am in pain. It’s just really hard. It’s one thing to have energy and feel good and then to look at the tumor and think, “This is not real.” To be so uncomfortable for so long pulls me down.

But on Sunday I realized that the stomach aches are all due to the excessive Vitamin C that I have been taking as recommended in Dr. Brownstein’s book on Iodine. I have been taking Iodoral along with Vitamin C and Celtic sea salt. I started with a low dose– half of a 12.5 mg pill. Then I ramped this up to a whole 12.5 mg pill and added in the Vitamin C and salt. It took a while for the stomach aches to kick in, which is why I didn’t figure it out sooner. On the web, they say there are very few side effects of excessive Vitamin C. One is diarrhea, but this wasn’t my problem. Mine was more of a straight stomach ache.

It looks like now that the dust is settling I will be taking either 6.25 mg of Iodoral every other day or every two days, salt, and maybe trying a little Vitamin C– more like 500 or 1000 mg as opposed to the 2000 mg I was taking. Dr. Brownstein actually recommends 3000-5000 mg, so I was taking it easy.

I have been figuring out my dosage the hard way. It’s tricky I think because the effects didn’t kick in until the second week I was taking it. What I have found is that when I take too much Iodoral (which is a combination of iodine and iodide), I wake up very early, as early as 3:30 or 4. And when I wake up I’m feeling uncomfortably warm in bed, I don’t feel like I got enough sleep, and my mind is very restless.

On the positive side I think the Iodoral has helped my period. My periods have been averaging every 25 days for the last year or more. They used to be much more like every 28 or more days. Normally they are pretty short– 2 days of heavy flow and maybe a day or two at the end petering out. But this fall they had begun to stretch out. I was having up to 3 days of spotting before it started in earnest and then it would take a little while to end– so it was twice as long and then every 25 days or so. But this month for the first time in a very long time, my period came 29 days after the last one, it started quickly and ended quickly.

Still no effects on my sex drive which is nearly non existent and has been low for years. But I am hopeful.

Also my back is much better after seeing the chiropractor.