Iodine
Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2022 8:51 pm
I'm afraid I'll have to go a bit off topic before I return to RLS.
For years I have wondered about the state of my thyroid. My T3/T4 are normal, no Hashimoto antibodies, TSH was at the low end of the spectrum very close to hyperthyroidism (TSH in the range from 0.5 to 0.7). However, all my symptoms are consistent with hypothyroidism (the opposite): I'm always cold, have trouble losing weight, pretty low body temperature (95f in the morning, up to 96f in the afternoon), constipation and more. No doctor could explain this, my private theory is/was that my TSH production is hampered in some way, and with normal function my TSH would be on the high side. But this is a just a conjecture that I can't base on any facts.
Now, about 4 months ago I read Sarah Myhills excellent books ("The Infection Game" and "Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Myalgic Encephalitis", as I have ME/CFS). She sees medicine very much as I do: Try to find and treat the root cause, don't be afraid to use drugs but use them only if they have a clear benefit. Also she recommends a few things that have helped me in the past (ketogenic diet, vitamin D). So when she recommended iodine, I gave it a try. She gives a glowing recommendation in her wiki and writes more in her book. Her basic reasoning is that we used to consume a lot more iodine earlier (when we ate more fish that is high in iodine), iodine is used up for certain detox mechanisms (including heavy metals) and is suppressed by other halogens that are commonplace in our modern world (fluroide, chloride, bromide). As a result, she says most of us are iodine deficient, and the tiny amounts in salt are barely enough to prevent goiter but this is not a good measure for iodine state. (Feels familiar, a lot of doctors claim that anemia is the only criteria for iron deficiency, totally ignoring RLS.)
So I started on 25mg iodine a day in December. (The daily dose of iodine from salt is something like 1/100th of that.) And I noticed some very positive effects: My body temperature went up (1f on average), less constipation, a bit more energy. My TSH, measured after 3 months, went up to 1.65, quite a jump. I had an ultrasound of my thyroid, and the volume went from very small a year ago (just in normal range but small) to normal volume, almost twice the volume if I recall correctly. So it appears the iodine treatment was very positive for me.
But now comes the snag. My RLS seems to get a lot worse if I take iodine. I had to up my Oxycodone from 20mg to 30mg, by reducing the iodine a bit I'm back on 25mg but get a lot of breakthrough symptoms, especially in the morning after ~6h sleep. (No trouble at all in the evening, thankfully.) Again a wild theory: Perhaps my body is clearing the oxycodone a lot faster than it used to, so it's losing efficiency in the morning. And whatever positive the iodine does, it doesn't seem to help my RLS.
So I'm a bit bummed. My ME/CFS is by far the bigger problem now (basically making me disabled), so I'm tempted to continue with iodine and even increase it. OTOH I know that I'm completely unable to function if I can't sleep somewhat reliably... And I would definitely prefer to reduce my oxycodone, so I'm moving in the wrong direction.
Any ideas? Comments? Ideas? Theories why the iodine exacarbates my RLS?
For years I have wondered about the state of my thyroid. My T3/T4 are normal, no Hashimoto antibodies, TSH was at the low end of the spectrum very close to hyperthyroidism (TSH in the range from 0.5 to 0.7). However, all my symptoms are consistent with hypothyroidism (the opposite): I'm always cold, have trouble losing weight, pretty low body temperature (95f in the morning, up to 96f in the afternoon), constipation and more. No doctor could explain this, my private theory is/was that my TSH production is hampered in some way, and with normal function my TSH would be on the high side. But this is a just a conjecture that I can't base on any facts.
Now, about 4 months ago I read Sarah Myhills excellent books ("The Infection Game" and "Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Myalgic Encephalitis", as I have ME/CFS). She sees medicine very much as I do: Try to find and treat the root cause, don't be afraid to use drugs but use them only if they have a clear benefit. Also she recommends a few things that have helped me in the past (ketogenic diet, vitamin D). So when she recommended iodine, I gave it a try. She gives a glowing recommendation in her wiki and writes more in her book. Her basic reasoning is that we used to consume a lot more iodine earlier (when we ate more fish that is high in iodine), iodine is used up for certain detox mechanisms (including heavy metals) and is suppressed by other halogens that are commonplace in our modern world (fluroide, chloride, bromide). As a result, she says most of us are iodine deficient, and the tiny amounts in salt are barely enough to prevent goiter but this is not a good measure for iodine state. (Feels familiar, a lot of doctors claim that anemia is the only criteria for iron deficiency, totally ignoring RLS.)
So I started on 25mg iodine a day in December. (The daily dose of iodine from salt is something like 1/100th of that.) And I noticed some very positive effects: My body temperature went up (1f on average), less constipation, a bit more energy. My TSH, measured after 3 months, went up to 1.65, quite a jump. I had an ultrasound of my thyroid, and the volume went from very small a year ago (just in normal range but small) to normal volume, almost twice the volume if I recall correctly. So it appears the iodine treatment was very positive for me.
But now comes the snag. My RLS seems to get a lot worse if I take iodine. I had to up my Oxycodone from 20mg to 30mg, by reducing the iodine a bit I'm back on 25mg but get a lot of breakthrough symptoms, especially in the morning after ~6h sleep. (No trouble at all in the evening, thankfully.) Again a wild theory: Perhaps my body is clearing the oxycodone a lot faster than it used to, so it's losing efficiency in the morning. And whatever positive the iodine does, it doesn't seem to help my RLS.
So I'm a bit bummed. My ME/CFS is by far the bigger problem now (basically making me disabled), so I'm tempted to continue with iodine and even increase it. OTOH I know that I'm completely unable to function if I can't sleep somewhat reliably... And I would definitely prefer to reduce my oxycodone, so I'm moving in the wrong direction.
Any ideas? Comments? Ideas? Theories why the iodine exacarbates my RLS?