Hi cmlyon, thanks for your post. I think I definitely have adrenal problems, because my immune system is under constant strain from infections. The book I have on adrenals, also states that often there can be underlying dental problems (toxicity, infections) that can actually be the cause of adrenal/thyroid problems. Interesting that!

My doctor of course is in doubts I have adrenal insufficiency because my cortisol levels were in her eyes "fine". On one test they were apparently rather high if anything....but we know that this fluctuates and she didn't seem interested in the saliva test.

So I'm kind of stuck figuring this out for myself. I have tried the iodine and that alone tends to cause palpitations and feeling hyped up (which is indicative of adrenal stress, unable to handle too much thyroid stimulation?). I also found that I did indeed get an increase in detox.

I agree with Andy in that iodine is definitely NOT a chelating agent, nor is selenium, or any of these other elements we all need (in the right amounts of course). BUT! They can and I know they definitely DO, displace toxins and metals (the accessible ones) because they compete for binding sites. mercury has a way of blocking, interferring and getting in where these other things should be and when you replace them, they can displace some mercury in the process, (again by competing). It's a bit like probiotics displacing yeast and causing some die off. They compete with yeast.

As do these essential elements. Because mercury blocks their function and often we require more to cope. So I do believe there is a certain amount of detox involved. No I don't believe they go after mercury directly, or grab onto it, but if you displace mercury by competing with it, it's bound to move around and create symptoms. Perhaps a certain amount of redistribution you could say. Perhaps it moves around and goes elsewhere instead, not always OUT. Unless a person excretes it well.

So in that area, I do believe iodine can precipitate a certain amount of detox symptoms from that alone. I've felt it, I know it definitely did this. Selenium can do similar as can zinc I think too...but they are necessary to replace with mercury most of the time.

My temps I am taking everyday. It does indeed show that my temps are a bit "lowish", so I think I do need iodine. Also my iodine urine test showed my body was not excreting most of it, but rather desperately hanging onto it, which means I need it. I believe that, but I also believe I should have been started off SLOWLY with only one drop of lugol's iodine, instead of flung into it in one go with 4 drops of iodine and thyroid pig hormone on top of it. To me this is going overboard. I think that can wind up having the opposite effect and causing more problems due to straining adrenals and then the temps wind up rising up and seemingly getting better and then because of overstimulation, they start to go down again from what I read. And this seems to be exactly what is happening.

Firstly I started off on just the supplements and things actually seemed to improve subtley from that alone. I must have given the right minerals that my body improved on and there was more iodine because one vitamin/mineral supplement had 100mcg of it already in there. That's not a major amount, but it's significant enough for someone who is very low in iodine and may have been depleted for sometime. So i noticed very faint improvement.

THen I went and put 4 drops of lugol's iodine to add to this regime and wham, I was stimulated and nervous all day long. Heart sped up, fearful, flushing, over talkative etc etc. I stopped it again and "think" there was a faint calming down but it's hard to say what is causing what because my symptoms are erratic anyway.

HOwever, it seems everytime I've tried the stuff, even at only 2 drops, a similar thing tends to occur.....so it seems that I should really have started with just a bit and increased perhaps a bit later if tolerated. I don't believe overdoing iodine is a good thing anyway. I think the body will do the right thing if given just enough.

As for adrenals? Well my supplements would help some of that, because my nutrient intake has improved from that, as well as my ongoing good diet. I have adrenal hormone tablets here my doc gave me "just in case", but unsure about them. They are synthetic too, so I'm somewhat nervous about taking those.... For now, I am just going to stop the lugol's and keep on with the supplements and take it easy and go from there. For me this is ongoing and trying to find a balance my body can deal with. I also have to remember I am unwell, I have an ongoing virus to deal with and this is probably the problem, rather than just trying to treat symptoms all the time.

So yeah Cara, I'm sure my reaction to iodine was probably due to it being too much, too soon and having strained adrenals as well. PLUS, displacing some toxins/metals in the process I'm sure. I've heard that someone who has had low thyroid for quite sometime, they can temporarily go into hyperthyroid mode and then apparently that settles down (e.g. palpitations etc). So it can be temporary and people should apparently adjust their dose to cope with that. I think the thyroid probably goes into overdrive trying to adjust itself to the extra iodine it's been without for so long and grabs as much as it can maybe in the process (loading), and then produces symptoms of overstimlulation....? I'm just taking guesses here.

Thanks again for your help.