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Re: [pct-l] Iodine and health

On Fri, 12 Dec 1997 12:24:50 -0800 Ben Schifrin <benschif@sonnet.com>
writes:
>PLEASE DO NOT DISSEMINATE THIS UNRESEARCHED MEDICAL HYSTERIA! [snip].
You are falling into a common trap, of generalizing your experience, and
your health problems, to other people.  [re b Jensen's reply to the guy
who wondered if using iodine to treat water long-term would "poison" him]

   Ben, I think you have completely mis-read my post about the possible
ill effects of excessive idodine on sensitive individuals. The
information I was passing on was _not_ based on either my experience or
"health problems", since I have never gone to the trouble of ingesting
large amounts of iodine, pre- or post-Grave's. I gave the anecdote about
an untreated hyperthyroid patient put at risk by extreme outdoor
conditions (me) as a point of interest; there's nothing in my post that
implies that Grave's disease is caused by treating backcountry water.
What an astonishing conclusion for you to draw!

>>   BTW,  thyroid overactivity just sucks calcium out of your bones,  so
>>any folks (especially fine-boned ladies) who are worried about
>>osteoporosis down the line  might reconsider using iodine to purify
>>water. bj
>What complete folly. The osteoporosis of aging caucasian females is
>multifactorial. If it is (rarely) due to thyroid disease, then you need
>thyroid therapy, NOT iodine, to change the osteoclysis. The
simple-minded
>thought that you can drive the thyroid with iodine in a normal-thyroid
>person to stop bone loss is naive, wishful, unphysiologic hooey.

  Dear, the notion that bone loss/ "brittle bones"/ clinical osteoporosis
is limited to "aging females" (caucasian or otherwise) is a dangerous
piece of mis-information.  There are a number of risk factors for
fractures due to osteoporosis, and excess thyroid hormone present over a
period of time, from either overmedication or hyperthyroid disease, ranks
high. I haven't the slightest idea where you got the idea of "driving the
thyroid with iodine" to "stop bone loss" (huh?!), but it makes no sense
to me, and I never said it.

>> stuff like chlorine (bleach) doesn't cut it, as you know.   bj
>Well, actually, when used in proper proportions, chlorine (like any 
>other halide) DOES "cut it".

  Sorry, not so. (BTW, I'm not sure what you mean by "proper" here - I
dearly hope you mean "safe from the effects of over-chlorination" as well
as safe from micro-organisms, etc..) Check out Brick's post "chlorine
post" , for starters...     
   Just read your post about giardia, and it's dead-on, which makes me
even more puzzled at your strange reaction to my suggestion that it's not
the greatest idea (medically) to use iodine to filter all the water
you'll drink for 5-6 months doing the PCT - especially since much of the
water will be quite cold (most people use larger amounts of iodine in
that situation). It's certainly accurate to state that hyperthyroid
hikers/others sensitive to iodine should avoid ingesting unecessary
amounts of it. And as you must know, many metabolic problems can be
undiagnosed, and therefore un"treated"; also "treatment" regimens need to
be flexible/ongoing - with metabolic disease (and many others) you don't
just get a "treatment", then pop back to lifetime normalcy.
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