What role cholesterol medication?

10. April 2006 William Davis (0)
A frequent conversation point among my patients, as well as participants in the www.cureality.com program, is "Are cholesterol medications really necessary?"

No, they are not. What IS necessary is to correct all manifest and hidden causes of coronary plaque. Among these causes, in my view, is LDL cholesterol of 60 mg/dl or greater. There are many other causes of coronary plaque--e.g., small LDL particles, unrecognized hypertension, Lp(a), hidden diabetic patterns, etc.--but reducing LDL to 60 mg is still an important part of a plaque-reversing effort.

Insofar as we wish to get LDL to this goal, the statin cholesterol drugs like Lipitor, Zocor, Crestor, etc. may play a role. However, they should only be considered after a full effort dietary program is pursued. Don't follow the American Heart Association's diet unless you want to fail. It's nonsense.

For a more detailed discussion of how to use nutrition and nutritional supplements to reduce LDL cholesterol, go to www.lef.org, the website for the Life Extension Foundation. I wrote an article for their magazine called "Cholesterol and Statin Drugs: Separating Hype from Reality". You'll find the article at http://search.lef.org/cgi-src-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=0&page_id=1295&query=davis%20cholesterol%20natural&hiword=CHOLESTEROLA%20CHOLESTEROLS%20DAVI%20DAVID%20DAVIE%20DAVIES%20DAVIN%20DAVIO%20DAVISON%20DAVISS%20DAVIT%20NATURALBASED%20NATURALES%20NATURALIZED%20NATURALLY%20NATURALS%20NATURE%20NATURES%20cholesterol%20davis%20natural%20.)

Can your plaque-reversal efforts succeed without statin drugs? It depends on your causes. For instance, someone with small LDL and Lp(a) only may do great on our basic program and then add niacin. Unfortunately, another person with a starting LDL cholesterol of 240 mg/dl--sky high--will have more success with these drugs.

Believe me, I am no blind supporter of drug companies and their flagrantly profit-seeking practices which, in my view, are cut-throat, shoving anyone and anything out of their way to increase profits and market share. I share many of Dr. Dave Warnarowski's views on how vicious their tactics can be; see his recent Blog post at http://www.drdavesbest.com/blog/ called "I smell a rat".

Nonetheless, the deep and well-funded research of the pharmaceutical industry does yield some useful tools. You don't have to love the insect exterminator, but if your house is being eaten by termites, his services can be useful. Same thing with these drugs. Useful--not the complete answer, not even close, but nonetheless useful in the right situations. Sometimes antibiotics are necessary, even life saving. That's how cholesterol drugs are, too.

Take it all in the proper perspective. Your goal is not cholesterol reduction, per se, but plaque control, preferably reversal.

Supplement Mania!

9. April 2006 William Davis (3)
Ever hear of "polypharmacy"? That's when someone takes too many medicines. People will have lists of 15-20 prescription medicines, for instance, with crazy interactions and oodles of side-effects.

Well, how about "poly-supplments"? That's when someone takes a large number of nutritional supplements.

Let me tell you about a 45 year old man I met.

In an effort to rid himself of risk for heart disease that he felt was likely shared with his family (brother and father diagnosed with heart attacks in their late 40s), Steve followed a program of nutritional supplementation. You name it, he took it: hawthorne, anti-oxidant mixtures, vitamins C, E, B-complex, saw palmetto, 7-keto DHEA, velvet deer antler, gingko biloba, policosanol, chronium picolinate, green tea, pine bark extract, St. John's Wort, CoEnzyme Q10, papain and other digestive enzymes...He became a distributor for a nutritional supplement company to allow him to afford his own extraordinary program.

To satisfy himself that he had indeed "cured" himself of heart disease, he got himself a CT heart scan. His score: 470, in th 99th percentile. Steve's heart attack risk based on this score was around 10% per year. High risk, no question.

For weeks after his scan, Steve admitted walking around in a daze, not knowing what to do. Years of telling himself that he had effectively dealt with his heart disease risk, now all down the drain.

When we met, I persuaded him that to think that this collection of supplements would reverse heart disease was magical thinking. We trimmed his list down to the essentials and got him on the right track.

Heart disease is controllable and reversible, but not this way. Don't fool yourself into thinking that some collection of supplements will be enough to stamp out your heart disease risk. Just like taking an antibiotic when you don't have an infection achieves nothing, so does taking the wrong supplements.

What does heart scanning mean to you?

8. April 2006 William Davis (0)
CT heart scans can mean different things to different people.


What does a heart scan mean to you? There are several possibilities:

1) A way of reducing uncertainty in your future.

2) A tool to crystallize your commitment to health.

3) A device to help you track how successful your heart disease prevention program is.

4) A trick to get you in the hospital.

5) A moneymaking tool for unscrupulous physicians hoping to profit from "downstream" testing, particularly heart catheterizations.


Like anything, heart scans can be used for both good and evil. How can you be sure that your heart scan is put to proper use--for your benefit and not someone else's profit?

Simple: Get educated. Understand the issues, be armed with informed questions.

If, for instance, you're a 55-year old female with a heart scan score of 90, active without symptoms, and you're told to have a heart catheterization right off the bat---run the other way. This is bad advice. A heart procedure like catheterization at this score in an asymptomatic woman is very rarely necessary. That decision can only be made after a step-by-step series of decisions are made by a truly interested, unbiased party. (A stress test is almost always required in this situation before the decision can be made to proceed with a catheterization.)

Unfortunately, in 2006, getting unbiased advice from your doctor is still a struggle. That's why we started Track Your Plaque---unbiased information, uncolored by drug or device company support, with an interest in the truth.

Coronary disease is drying up!

7. April 2006 William Davis (1)
I had an interesting conversation with a device representative this morning. He was a sales representative for a major medical manufacturer of stents, defibrillators, and other such devices for heart disease.

Since I'm still involved with hospital heart care and cardiac catheterization laboratories, this representative asked me if I was interested in getting involved with some of the new cardiac devices making it to market over the next year or two. "The coronary market is drying up, what with coated stents and such. We've got to find new profit sources."

Well, doesn't that sum it up? If you haven't already had this epiphany, here it is:

HEART DISEASE IS A PROFITABLE BUSINESS!

Why else can hospitals afford billboards, $10 million dollar annual ad campaigns, etc.? They do it for PROFIT. Likewise, device and drug manufacturers see the tremendous profit in heart disease.

The representative's comments about the market "drying up" simply means that the use of coated stents has cut back on the need for repeat procedures. It does NOT mean that coronary disease is on the way out. On the contrary, for the people and institutions who stand to profit from heart care, there's lots of opportunity.

Track Your Plaque is trying to battle this trend. Heart disease should NOT be profitable. For the vast majority of us, it is a preventable process, much like house fires and dental cavities.

Mammogram for your heart

6. April 2006 William Davis (0)
With the booming popularity of "64-slice CT scans", there's a lot of mis-information about what these tests provide.

These tests are essentially heart scans with added x-ray dye injected to see the insides of the arteries. However, to accomplish this, a large quantity of radiation is required. In addition, the test is not quantitative, that is, it is not a precise measure that can be repeated year after year.

It is okay to have a 64-slice CT coronary angiogram. It is NOT okay to have one every year. That's too much radiation. However, a heart scan can be repeated every year, if necessary, to track progression or regression. Once stabilization (zero change) or reduction is achieved, then you're done (unless your life takes a major change, like a 20 lb weight gain).

The tried-and-true CT heart scan is the gold standard--easy, inexpensive, precise, and repeatable. Not true for 64-slice angiograms.

Is your doctor using "leeches"?

4. April 2006 William Davis (0)
What if you went to your doctor for a problem and he/she promptly placed leeches on your body?

Yeccchhhh! Would you go back? I'd bet that you'd run the other way as fast as your bleeding legs could take you. Outdated health practices like "bleeding" are outdated for good reason.

Then why would you allow your doctor to approach your heart disease prevention program by checking cholesterol and then waiting for symptoms to appear? That miserable approach leads to tragedy and death all too often--ask Bill Clinton! He might as well have had leeches!

Don't allow your doctor's ignorance or disinterest impede your prevention program. Get your coronary plaque measured, then attack it from all sides by knowing all causes, hidden and obvious. That's why Track Your Plaque is such an effective program.

I often wonder why more doctors aren't using this unbelievably powerful approach to deal with heart disease. But when I see colleagues implanting stents, defibrillators, and the like for many thousands of dollars per patient, the answers are obvious. Given a choice of a rational, effective program of prevention that pays the doctor a few hundred dollars for his time, versus $2000 to $10,000 for a procedure, you can see that the temptation is irresistible for many physicians.

All in the family--What to do if there's heart disease in your family

3. April 2006 William Davis (0)
What should you do if a close relative of yours is diagnosed with coronary disease?
This question came up recently with a patient of mine. The patient--a strapping, 47 year old businessman who looked the absolute picture of health--was undergoing bypass surgery. Although I'd met him for the purposes of plaque reversal, he was already having symptoms and his stress test was flagrantly abnormal, all discovered after a heart scan score of 765. On the day after the patient's bypass, the patient's brother came to me. Understandably concerned about his own health, he asked what he should do. The answer: get a heart scan.
Measure the disease with the easiest test available. If his heart scan score is zero, great--he's at exceptionally low (near zero) risk for heart attack. A modest program of long-term prevention is all that's necessary. What if his score is like his brother, should he get in line for his bypass? No, absolutely not! But he will need two things: 1) a stress test to ascertain whether or not he's safe (60% likelihood a stress test would be normal), and 2) an effort to determine how the heck he got so much plaque. (We favor lipoprotein testing, of course, for greatest diagnostic certainty.)
Message: Learn from the lessons your own family provides. Don't let this valuable information go to waste.
Goiter, goiter everywhere

Goiter, goiter everywhere

20. May 2009 William Davis (25)
The results of the recent Heart Scan Blog poll are in.

The question:

Do you used iodized salt?

The responses:

Yes, I use iodized salt every day
94 (28%)

Yes, I use iodized salt occasionally
56 (16%)

No, I do not use any iodized salt
41 (12%)

No, I use a non-iodized salt (sea salt, Kosher)
126 (37%)

No, I use a non- or low-sodium substitute
15 (4%)


Thanks for your responses.

If only 28% of people are regular users of iodized salt, that means that the remainder--72%--are at risk for iodine deficiency if they are not getting iodine from an alternative source, such as a multivitamin or multimineral.

Even the occasional users of salt can be at risk. The common perception is that occasional use is probably sufficient to provide iodine. This is probably not true and not just because of the lower quantity of ingestion. Occasional users of salt tend to have their salt canister on the shelf for extended periods. The iodine is then lost, since iodine is volatile. In fact, iodine is virtually undetectable four weeks after a package is opened.

In my office, now that I'm looking for them much more systematically and carefully, I am finding about 2 people with goiters every day. They are not the obvious grotesque goiters of the early 20th century (when quack therapies like the last post, the Golden Medical Discovery, were popular). The goiters I am detecting are small and spongy. Yesterday alone I found 5 people with goiters, one of them visible to the eye and very distressing to the patient.

It seems to me that iodine deficiency is more prevalent than I ever thought. It is also something that is so simple to remedy, though not by increasing salt intake. Kelp tablets--cheap, available--have been working quite well in the office population. My sense is that the Recommended Daily Allowance of 150 mcg per day for adults is low and that many benefit from greater quantities, e.g., 500 mcg. What is is the ideal dose? To my knowledge, nobody has yet generated that data.

Thyroid issues being relatively new to my thinking, I now find it incredible that endocrinologists and the American Thyroid Association are not broadcasting this problem at the top of their lungs. This issue needs to be brought to the top of everyone's attention, or else we'll have history repeating itself and have goiters and thyroid dysfunction galore.

For more on this topic, see the previous Heart Scan Blog post, "Help keep your family goiter free."
Tags :

Comments (25) -

  • kris

    5/20/2009 1:36:55 PM |

    Here is the list of over 20 publications about iodine consumption, trials, findings etc. the normal intake may be between 6 to 12.5 mg. it depends on the individual. when i started taking iodine, i took 50 mg a day for a week before i felt any uneasiness. now one drop of lugol's iodine every second day and i can feel it. according to these studies some vitamins along with iodine play major role in coping with iodine.  
    http://www.optimox.com/pics/Iodine/opt_Research_I.shtml

  • Andrew

    5/20/2009 1:46:23 PM |

    What's your opinion of potassium salt?  I've been using an iodized mixture of sodium and potassium chloride lately, and it seems to be working well.

  • Anna

    5/20/2009 3:20:08 PM |

    I use sea salt that contains iodine naturally.  I also eat a little seaweed a couple of times a week.  Is this sufficient?  Who knows, I guess.  I definitely do not have any trace of a goiter.  I eat fish, too, and live on the East Coast, so I assume I'm okay.

  • StephenB

    5/20/2009 4:25:04 PM |

    The full text of the article "Iodine: deficiency and therapeutic considerations" (Altern Med Rev 13 (2): 116–27. PMID 18590348) published last year can be found here.

    From that article: "The safety of therapeutic doses of iodine above the established safe upper limit of 1 mg is evident in the lack of toxicity in the Japanese population that consumes 25 times the median intake of iodine consumption in the United States. Japan’s population suffers no demonstrable increased incidence of autoimmune thyroiditis or hypothyroidism."

    StephenB

  • Anna

    5/20/2009 7:12:55 PM |

    This is the second time in a week the volatility of iodine has come to my attention.  I'm wondering now about the iodine content in the dried kelp and sea vegetable I have in my cupboards.  Anyone have any idea how stable that iodine is?

  • Lena

    5/20/2009 9:49:59 PM |

    What do you reckon about "Celtic" salt (unprocessed sea salt)? I know there's a lot of websites out there granting it near-magical health properties, about which I am extremely skeptical, however it does have a notable amount of minerals in it (about 8% I believe) whereas regular salt is refined to 99.99% purity. So it seems if you switched to using that kind of salt in your diet (including avoiding processed food which uses pure salt) it may have some benefit. It does contain iodine naturally, too.

    I'm taking Lugol's solution too, about 10 drops a day. My iodine was measured at "<1" by the lab four months ago.

    Australian readers should note that Australian soil has an extremely low iodine content (it's official), so our food is unlikely to be a source of pretty much any iodine at all. A case where being a "localvore" won't help your health.

  • David

    5/20/2009 10:46:21 PM |

    I take Iosol iodine, which I get from iherb.com for $12 a bottle (http://bit.ly/6qLtp). Each drop has 1,830 mcg of iodine, and there are over 600 drops per bottle. Great price, and seems to be working well for me. My feet aren't nearly as cold as they used to be, and my usually low morning temperature has started increasing a bit, too.

  • k1wuk

    5/20/2009 11:11:47 PM |

    My sense is that goiter is the least of the problems with iodine deficiency.  Kris has pointed to the optimox link.  Optimox manufactures Iodoral which is iodine in convenient tablet form.  The liquid form, Lugol's Solution is available here: http://www.jcrows.com/iodine.html

    My sister began taking iodine supplements last year at my suggestion.  She had experienced 5 years of bad mammograms so she was delighted to have a flawless mammogram three months after starting iodine.  It seems that iodine is so important to the baby that breasts concentrate iodine as well as thyroid glands.  Fibrocystic breast disease seems to be the equivalent of goiter in breast tissue.

    She also reports better sleep, fresh moist skin, quicker reactions, more energy and most recently, iodine applied to poison ivy stopped the itch.  

    Dr Flechas reports here, http://iodine4health.com/disease/diabetes/flechas_diabetes.htm, that half of his diabetic patients are no longer diabetic when they get enough iodine.  The other half improve, needing less medication.  It seems to me that iodine should be the first step in treating diabetes of either form.

    Iodine deficiency is reported to be the number one preventable cause of mental retardation in the world.  Looking around, goiter is not the most visible evidence of iodine deficiency.

    Having read the papers at Optimox and others, iodine looks to be under appreciated and quite valuable.

  • Anonymous

    5/20/2009 11:20:12 PM |

    I cut out all salt from my 'nutritarian'-style diet a few weeks ago.  But as a result of reading this blog, I started taking 4 kelp tablets a day at about the same time. I'm thinking of taking even more tablets to try to help increase my low (according to the endocrinologists and this blog, not my doctor) thyroid numbers.

  • mongander

    5/21/2009 2:59:31 AM |

    I rarely use salt except when I make popcorn.  I do occasionally take an Iodoral and sometimes add a drop of aquarium Lugols iodine in my 7 gallon water jugs of thermal spring water.

    When I run in 90°+ weather I do take salt.  So far, at age 70, no goiter.

  • Anonymous

    5/21/2009 3:41:24 AM |

    You might want to let Michael Bloomberg know that cutting back on salt will increase iodine deficiency.  His health commissioner, Thomas Frieden, was picked to head the CDC.

  • Anonymous

    5/21/2009 1:07:58 PM |

    Remember to reduce bromine exposure which competes with iodine.

  • maxthedog

    5/21/2009 7:36:42 PM |

    Thanks for conducting the poll - very interesting.
    We use kosher and sea salt at home - about a year ago, this late realization (regarding iodine) led me to a bit of a panic, as my pregnant wife was nearing full term...  I was especially worried because I had been all along encouraging heavy broccoli consumption as well, and brassica vegetables are known to have goitrogenic properties (as do many other types of plants).  I then learned she was taking a multi-supplement that contained a fair amount of iodine. Whew.  Our 10 month old is doing great now, fortunately. Smile  
    We consume a fair amount of garlic and seafood as well, though I don't really know what the variance is when it comes to garlic's iodine content - presumably it depends quite a bit on the soil and water supply (Apparently, California garlic and broccoli assimilate a fair amount of selenium from the water used for irrigation, for instance).

  • Anna

    5/22/2009 12:28:23 AM |

    k1wuk,

    I'd love ot know if you have any more info on iodine and breast health.

  • Trinkwasser

    5/22/2009 1:23:41 PM |

    I checked the Lo-Salt I've been using since I decided I might not be getting enough potassium (a good guess as electrolytes came back spot on) and realise it is NOT iodised.

    Not a problem personally I suspect as I eat plenty of fish and shellfish but I'm now trialling various seaweeds, sea vegetables etc. Even without a deficiency these are tasty!

    Goiter is not common in the UK AFAIK, nowhere near as common as hypothyroid. However when young my father was hyperthyroid, which damaged his heart before being treated. Didn't stop the tough old goat from living into his eighties, but in retrospect I believe he may well have become hypothyroid in later life as a result of the operation (not diagnosed), and probably also became Type 2 (not diagnosed)in his last years.

    Probably wouldn't have lengthened his life but diagnosis and treatment would certainly have improved the quality a lot. All power to you for continuing your posts on these issues. They will suffice until Endocrine System SP1 is released.

  • kris

    5/22/2009 6:10:49 PM |

    Anna

    Here are few links to dr. david derry's answer to patients(in case you haven't found it your self). My wife had painted lugol's iodine externally for breast lumps, with unbelievable results only after applying it twice. she was having hard time sleeping on one side. her mother passed away few years ago with Breast cancer. just being extra careful now.
    http://thyroid.about.com/library/derry/bl1a.htm

    http://thyroid.about.com/library/derry/bl2a.htm

  • Leslie

    5/22/2009 9:54:39 PM |

    My endo told me to avoid iodine because it exacerbates goiter in hypothyroid.  Also, those of you who know nursing mothers, PLEASE be aware of this risk:

    from pubmed:
    1: Hypothyroidism in a breast-fed preterm infant resulting from maternal topical iodine exposure.
    Smith VC, Svoren BM, Wolfsdorf JI.
    Pediatr. 2006 Oct;149(4):566-7.
    PMID: 17011335 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

    2: Transient hypothyroidism in a breastfed infant after maternal use of iodoform gauze.
    L'Italien A, Starceski PJ, Dixit NM.
    J Pediatr Endocrinol Metab. 2004 Apr;17(4):665-7.
    PMID: 15198299 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

    3: Early childhood caries: an overview with reference to our experience in California.
    DenBesten P, Berkowitz R.
    J Calif Dent Assoc. 2003 Feb;31(2):139-43. Review.
    PMID: 12636318 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

    4: Transient neonatal hypothyroidism during breastfeeding after post-natal maternal topical iodine treatment.
    Casteels K, Pünt S, Brämswig J.
    Eur J Pediatr. 2000 Sep;159(9):716-7. No abstract available.
    PMID: 11014479 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

    5: [Iodine antiseptics are not harmless]
    Arena Ansotegui J, Emparanza Knörr JI.
    An Esp Pediatr. 2000 Jul;53(1):25-9. Review. Spanish.
    PMID: 10998400 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

    6: The newborn should be protected from dangerous transient induced hypothyroidism.
    López-Sastre JB, Rivas-Crespo MF.
    Acta Paediatr. 1995 Oct;84(10):1211. No abstract available.
    PMID: 8563243 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

    7: [Thyroid function disturbances in an infant following maternal topical use of polydine]
    Rakover Y, Adar H.
    Harefuah. 1989 May 10; 116(10):527-9. Hebrew.
    PMID: 2792927 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

    8: Topical iodine, breastfeeding, and neonatal hypothyroidism.
    Delange F, Chanoine JP, Abrassart C, Bourdoux P.
    Arch Dis Child. 1988 Jan;63(1):106-7. No abstract available.
    PMID: 3348642 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

  • kris

    5/23/2009 2:32:32 AM |

    Leslie.
    here is another study from the same site search. i just copied the whole paragraph.

    1: Public Health Nutr. 2007 Dec;10(12A):1600-1.Click here to read Links
        Iodine nutrition of pregnant and lactating women in Hong Kong, where intake is of borderline sufficiency.
        Kung AW.

        Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong SAR, China.

        OBJECTIVE: To describe the iodine nutrition of pregnant and lactating women in Hong Kong, where intake is of borderline sufficiency.DESIGN: Review of cross-sectional and prospective studies.SETTING: China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).SUBJECTS: Pregnant and lactating women.RESULTS: Studies of pregnant women in Hong Kong SAR have revealed an increase in the urinary iodine (UI) concentration as pregnancy advances. A significant percentage of women had a sub-normal serum thyroid hormone concentration at full term. Although iodine is concentrated by the mammary gland, 19% of all mothers had low iodine concentrations in their breast milk. The moderate correlation between the concentrations of iodine in breast milk and urine suggests that an adequate maternal urinary iodine concentration cannot reliably indicate that an infant is getting enough iodine in breast milk. Therefore, some breast-fed infants may still be at risk of low iodine intake, and additional iodine supplements, other than salt iodisation, would be warranted in this population.CONCLUSIONS: The currently recommended intake of iodine through universal salt iodisation may not be adequate for pregnant and lactating women, and supplementation during pregnancy and lactation should be further considered in light of the latest recommendations.

    here is another one.

    1: J Am Coll Nutr. 2004 Apr;23(2):97-101.Click here to read Links
        Maternal thiocyanate and thyroid status during breast-feeding.
        Dorea JG.

        Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil.

        Cyanogenic glucosides are naturally present in plant foods especially in staple foods (cassava) consumed by millions of people in tropical countries. Most traditional processing methods are effective in detoxifying such goitrogens to safe levels of consumption. Nevertheless, residual cyanide (CN) is rapidly metabolized to thiocyanate (SCN) by existing metabolic pathways. There are concerns that goitrogens may reach the nursing infants through breast feeding or cow's milk based formulas. SCN adverse effects are commonly observed in relation to cigarette smoking. Breast-feeding is effective in protecting infants from anti-thyroid effects of eventual or habitual maternal exposure to CN exposure in food (cassava) or recreation habits (cigarette smoking). SCN goitrogenic effects occur secondary to iodine deficiency in special circumstances of high consumption of incomplete detoxified cassava and insufficient protein intake. Only during inadequate protein nutrition can SCN aggravate endemic iodine-deficient disorders (IDD).

    More and more one reads about these, more and more it becomes a muddy and confusing subject.
    despite the fact that we have all sorts of studies and experts to educate people, all it takes is few drug profit driven experts studies to confuse the less money spending route.
    Please read this
    "The Wolff-Chaikoff Effect"
    "crying wolf".
    http://www.optimox.com/pics/Iodine/IOD-04/IOD_04.html
    Please don't take me wrong. i am not trying to contradict the studies that you have posted here. i am merely trying to show as to what else is available out there.

  • TedHutchinson

    5/23/2009 9:10:04 AM |

    The Safe and Effective Implementation of Orthoiodosupplementation In Medical Practice

    This section had me laughing out loud. Much the same applies to the use of effective amounts of D3.
    Medicoiodophobes suffer from: A) a split personality which results in iodophobia within the orthoiodosupplementation range previously used safely and successfully in medical practice and iodophylia for megadoses of iodide (up to 12 gm/day); B) double standards, which render those physicians intolerant to the minor side effects of the inorganic forms and extremely tolerant to the severe side effects of the radioactive and organic forms; C) amnesia pertaining to the inorganic, non-radioactive forms when making therapeutic decisions; D) confusion, attributing the severe side effects of organic iodine-containing drugs to inorganic iodine/iodide; and E) an altered state of consciousness, allowing doublethink, doublespeak, and contradictory logic to become acceptable. Although the factors involved in medical iodophobia are still unknown, decreased cognition seems involved. Since low iodine intake is associated with intellectual impairment, deficiency of this essential element cannot be ruled out, and if present, would create a self-perpetuating phenomenon. Needless to say, medical iodophobia is contagious and can be transmitted to patients and other physicians (iatrogenic iodophobia). Medical iodophobia will remain a syndrome until the causes are discovered and effective therapy implemented. It is very likely however, that medical iodophobia will eventually be classified as an iodine-deficiency disease.

  • Anne

    5/23/2009 11:33:53 AM |

    My endo told me not to take iodine because he said living in the UK, it being an island, people here get enough iodine from their diets.

    He also said that because I eat a lot of fish (once or twice per day) that gives me additional iodine.

    He said some of his German patients take iodine against his wishes (must be a popular supplement among Germans), and if they are pregnant it's really bad for the fetus.

    Anne

  • kris

    5/23/2009 7:37:08 PM |

    Fish.
    according to Dr. david derry,"Fish of the great lakes still shows Goiter formation".
    http://books.google.ca/books?id=PVWOyP68OMsC&pg=PP1&dq=dr+david+derry&client=firefox-a#PPA6,M1
    So even fish's origin is important. apart from fluoride in the tooth paste and fluoride added municipal water which depletes us from iodine. never mind chlorine in the water and bromine in the food and many other goods around us, helps to deplete iodine.

  • Anna

    5/24/2009 7:10:45 PM |

    I wonder about the huge amount of food that is imported into the UK from distant locations One can't assume enough iodine universally throughout the UK based on UK soil content.

  • Anne

    5/25/2009 8:12:10 AM |

    Kris - you should eat sea fish and shell fish.

  • kris

    5/25/2009 7:03:50 PM |

    Anne,
    Thank you for your advise.
    now i am eating sea fish twice a week. but iodine is must for me. my mother's right side elbow and knee was in bad shape for 35 years. The knee joint was so bad that the joint would come off of it's position. we had to learn our to self to place it back. as usual, she went to many doctors but no help. she is vegetarian all her life. about six months ago she started applying lugol's iodine externally on the knee. she was applying religiously 3 times a day for 2 weeks on and one week off. at the end of the two weeks application, the knee would look like war zone. after about month and half, the knee starting to look like normal knee. now she is able to walk about mile and a half every day on the tread mill. she also been taking 3 drops a day internally too. i personally believe in more iodine than we can find in our the food.

  • Anonymous

    7/31/2009 2:43:32 AM |

    Anna:
    "Breast Cancer and Iodine" by Dr David M. Derry, Canada

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