Iodine / Lodoral and Potassium levels?

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  • althea
    althea Member Posts: 1,595
    edited May 2010

    dmorgan, your question is not dumb at all.  There's a lot of conflicting information about iodine, and when I started my learning curve 2+ years ago on this topic, my head was spinning.  Some sources say iodine starts being toxic at 1100 mcg, but nowhere could I find where that information comes from nor did any of those sources say what the symptoms of toxicity would be.  Eventually, I realized that information is just a bunch of hooey and really needs to be buried and put to rest.  Japanese people consume 13 mg on a normal day and they have some of the lowest breast cancer rates in the world. 

    I second beth's recommendation of breastcancerchoices.org for a great place to get iodoral.  Their shopping cart interface is not the greatest, but orders are shipped very quickly and courteously.  Plus, their sales help fund the iodine research project.  As a bc survivor, you have the option of getting reimbursed for the test to get your iodine levels tested.  

    The best sources for reading I'd recommend is breastcancerchoices site and books by dr david brownstein.  Be sure to read the page explaining iodine protocol.  

    timothy, I'm glad Bev is doing better.  Honestly I've never heard of anyone having too much potassium.  I didn't know it was possible.  

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  • dmorgan2
    dmorgan2 Member Posts: 241
    edited May 2010

    Thanks so much for your help!!!!

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  • etk02038
    etk02038 Member Posts: 150
    edited May 2010

    Hello All...After doing research on ovarian cysts, I am thinking I may be lacking in iodine and potassium. I have some complex cysts that are being monitered. I did have low potassium levels years ago and have been eating lots of foods with potassium in it. I checked my box of salt and it does not have iodine added. I didn't realize this when I bought it months ago! 

    Is it ok to start taking a supplement or should I wait to get tested for a deficiancy?

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  • NativeMainer
    NativeMainer Member Posts: 10,462
    edited May 2010

    If the blood draw was difficult, and/or took a long time then the blood was probably "hemolyzed," meaning the red blood cells started breaking down and dying before the blood got into a controlled environment.  This causes elevated potassium levels.  Since the potassium level is just over the high end of normal, hemolysis is the most likely cause of the potassium elevation.  An incomplete blood draw means the ratio of blood to preservatives and other chemicals in the collection tubes is incorrect and this also causes incorrect readings of many elements.  Dehydration also causes slight elevations in potassium.  Putting all this together, that blood test result should be thrown out and a new test run.  As a nurse who draws blood regularly I could have predicted a high potassium level just knowing the draw took an hour and was incomplete--in fact, I would be required to mark the lab form with this information, and the lab would probably not even run the test since it would certainly be inaccurate.  I also would predict a high potassium when the person is dehydrated. 

    Yes, a potassium level above 6 can cause muscle problems, and above 6.5 it can start causing heart beat irregularities. Untreated, it can be fatal, but treatment is actually pretty easy, and usually just requires stopping any potassium supplments for a couple days and drinking some extra water or stopping certain classes of water pills for a couple days.  

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  • NaturalOne
    NaturalOne Member Posts: 1
    edited May 2012

    The only time that I am aware of high levels of potassium being a problem are with kidney dysfunction or kidney disease when the body stores it and it becomes toxic.  I doubt that the supplement would cause it to be elevated as much as food sources, especially potatoes.  If you are concercern about Lodoral, try using Lugol's 2% solution in dropper form.  We purchase ours through rising sun.  I hope that things have stabilized since April and that you have the answers you are looking for.

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  • cp418
    cp418 Member Posts: 7,079
    edited May 2012

    Sometimes during venipuncture procedure the blood sample may become hemolyzed.  This results in a damaged specimen sample and FALSE elevated potassium value.  When this happens it is best to have blood redrawn for new sample to verify.  This is not an uncommon incident and the lab ususally appends a note that the sample/value was hemolyzed.

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  • Husband11
    Husband11 Member Posts: 2,264
    edited May 2012

    The lab failed to note the problems drawing blood.  As the problem has not re-occured in the two years since, it seems quite likely it was the blood drawing procedure.

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