Bromide & Salt Loading

The iodine doctors have found in treating over 4000 patients that what is commonly thought to be a bad reaction to iodine is most likely bromide toxicity.  Iodine, Bromide, Fluoride and Chlorine are all halides.  When we are low in iodine and are exposed these other halides they will take a place on the iodine receptors.  If we have been exposed to many of these halides over a long time period we may be considered bromide toxic.  In the lab tests for iodine sufficiency the docs are seeing high levels of bromide excreted as the dose of iodine increases.  Moving bromide out of the body can cause symptoms (listed below) in people who are highly bromide toxic, as the iodine pushes the bromide off the iodine receptors.  There are several strategies for dealing with bromide symptoms if you get them.

Dr. Brownstein has said that less than 5% of his patients had any kind of detox symptoms from the  iodine protocol.

https://www.drbrownstein.com/homePage.php

When detoxing the most common solution is Salt Loading (see details below).

Many have had success stopping iodine for a couple days, then continuing.  Doing this on a regular basis is pulse dosing (days off and days on).  This is a common solution for any healing supplement that causes a detox or herxheimer reaction.  I have used this method for antifungal supplements as well when the die off detox gets overwhelming.

Sometimes just lowering the dose for a week or two, even a month or two depending on how long term you plan to use the supplement and allowing your body time to adjust before raising it up again is the easiest solution.  Some people use large amounts of Vitamin C.   The Vitamin C never worked for me though, it just added bowel irritability so if you have low bowel tolerance with Vitamin C keep that in mind.  I used all of the above methods.  At the bottom of the page I have included my iodine usage chart from 2009-2011 and you can see how I pulsed, took breaks and changed doses.  I didn’t keep track of my salt loading but I was taking a fair amount of salt daily and usually upped my salt when I attempted to raise my iodine dose.

Far less is known about the effect of Fluoride as it is pushed out of the body.  It often can take high doses of iodine over a period of time for the body to start to move the other halides out of the body.  Iodine used to be added to breads and baked good when that was stopped many manufactures started to use bromide instead.  Bromide is also a common fire retardant it is found in most new plastics, carpets, household goods, & new cars.  Bromated oil is in Mt.Dew and some Gatorade, although Gatorade has chosen to remove this as of sometime in 2013.  Bromide is commonly used in hot tubs and spas and of course chlorine is used in swimming pools and drinking water systems.  Fluoride is added to many water supplies and is in toothpaste and in many foods manufactured with fluorinated water.  Avoiding these halides is very difficult in our current culture.

Iodine is our only protection, After we have reached iodine sufficiency (which for some of us will take some time due to our currently high halide load) how much iodine we need to maintain that sufficiency in this toxic world is a matter of debate.  The iodine Doctors originally thought 25 mg and since have raised that and believe 50 mg is required.  We all have to take into account our body weight and exposure.  Some on the iodine list on yahoo who are in pools often take a high dose to counteract the chorine and bromide they are exposed to.

More and more doctors are becoming aware of the importance of iodine again but still it is too few.  Many if not most of us are using the iodine protocol on our own and taking responsibility for out own bodies.  As always nothing on this site is medical advice just a culmination of my experience and experiences of others on the protocol through observation of our own bodies.  Please seek out the assistance of an iodine knowledgeable physician.  I am accustomed to using myself as a guinea pig but that doesn’t mean I recommend it to those who have no experience in self treatment.

Bromide toxicity symptoms I had were:

Body: diarrhea or constipation, hormone changes, leg and hip ache,  frequent urination (mimicking  urinary infection) 

Mood: Anxiety, dream changes, irritability, lethargy

Head: brain fog, headache, sinus ache, runny nose, hair loss

Mouth: dry mouth, increased salivation, mouth and tongue sores,  odd swallowing sensation

Skin: Acne, skin rash (bromaderma) look in the archives for the pics of the rash I had on my chest

Twitching &  Jerking: eye lid twitching,  foot twitching,  tingling in hands or feet, leg jerking

Bromide Overdose

Many of these extreme symptoms of bromide toxicity are not likely to happen on a iodine protocol but it is interesting none the less.

Drowsiness, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, acne, skin rash, blurred vision, dizziness, mania, hallucinations, increased thirst, hunger and urination, pancreatitis, muscle weakness, hypothyroidism, poor memory, psychosis, coma, possible attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD) in children.

Salt Loading

1/4 teaspoon* unrefined salt dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water, then followed immediately with 12-16 oz pure water.

Repeat in 30-45 minutes if needed.  May repeat again until copious urination begins.

Observe subjective response (usually within several hours).

*Iodine Investigation Project participants have found 1/2 teaspoon salt dissolved in water works faster than the 1/4 teaspoon dosage.

http://www.drshevin.com/patient_education/nutrition_hygiene/salt/

http://www.drshevin.com/patient_education/nutrition_hygiene/iodine_deficiency/

Personally I could not tolerate drinking the salt water so I take my salt in OO caps that I fill with a cap-m-quick.  2 caps is a barely heaping 1/4 tsp.  Just drink lots of water with the caps.  Dr. Brownstein has said not to salt load for more than a week.  If the bromide detox symptoms do not subside in that time lower your iodine dose for a while then work back up again.  Make sure that you are getting at least 1/2 tsp plus generous use on food daily.  The salt loading is above and beyond that daily need

 

Below is my iodine usage in 2009-2011 you can see my pulse dosing and taking days off and lowering dose and rising again later all in response to how I felt detoxing bromides.  Getting up to 100 mg always pushed me over the edge quickly and I would have to back down.

 

Feb 25	March 4 2009	25 mg
March 5	April 1	50 mg
April 2	April 20	37.5 mg
April 21	April 30	25 mg
May 1	May 2	37.5 mg
May 3	May 15	25 mg
May 16	May 25	MTTSS 25 mg 37.5 mg W & F
May 26	May 27	NONE
May 28	—-	25 mg
May 29	June 5	12.5 mg
June 6	June 7	NONE
June 8	June 20	50 mg
June 21	July 11	75 mg
July 12	Aug 3	100 mg
Aug 4	—-	NONE
Aug 5	Aug 17	100 mg
Aug 18	—-	50 mg
Aug 19	Aug 23	100 mg
Aug 24	Aug 28	50 mg
Aug 29	—-	75 mg
Aug 30	Aug 31	NONE
Sept 1	Sept 4	12.5 mg
Sept 5	Sept 15	50 mg
Sept 16	Oct 3	75 mg
Oct 4	Oct 5	NONE
Oct 6	—-	100 mg
Oct 7	Oct 10	50 mg
Oct 11	—-	NONE
Oct 12	Oct 18	50 mg
Oct 18	Oct 25	NONE
Oct 26	Dec 3	M-F 25mg  S&S NONE
Dec 4	—-	50 mg
Dec 5	Dec 6	NONE
Dec 7	Dec 26	25 mg
Dec 27	Jan 26 2010	37.5 mg
Jan 27	Jan 28	50 mg 3 am 1 pm (not good with gentian violet)
Jan 29	Jan 30	37.5 mg
Jan 31	Aug 2	50 mg
Aug 3	Aug 6	62.5 mg
Aug 7	Aug 9	75 mg
Aug  10	Aug 31	62.5 mg
Sept 1	March 19 2011	75 mg
March 20	May 19	37.5 mg
May 20	August 1	50 mg
August 2	Nov 16	37.5 mg lugols
Nov 17		50 mg lugols

 

 

 

 

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