Looking into taking some iodine but not sure if you quite need it? Here are some helpful signs to check off and insight on how you can test to see if you're low!
If you haven't checked it out, here is a blog all on the importance of iodine. Many people believe that if they struggle with thyroid issues that it can be a sign of low iodine, but just what exactly are the symptoms that someone must look out for when assessing this?
- Brittle nails
- Hair loss
- Brain fog
- Poor memory
- Muscle cramps
- Flaky/dry skin
- Depression
- Cold extremities
- Low libido
- Anovulatory cycles/missing cycles (for women)
- Constipation
- Unexplained weight gain
This is the thing though, you can't test iodine very well through a blood panel. So this leaves you with two options:
- The Iodine Patch Test
- The Iodine Loading Test
The Iodine Patch Test is when you paint approximately 2-3 inches of tinted liquid iodine onto one's skin, whether it be the forearm, the stomach area or even inner thigh. The purpose of this test is to see how long it takes for the skin to absorb the iodine. If deficient, it should be absorbed within a few hours, when in fact it should take a few days to go away. Hence, if absorbed quickly, this could be a sign of iodine deficiency.
The Iodine Loading Test on the other hand is a little more precise. Always speak to your doctor before doing this. This method is when one takes a 50mg tablet of iodine before one starts collecting urine for the day after the FIRST urine after waking. 50mg of iodine is quite a lot, so what this will do is it will "load" the body with a certain amount that one would assume will get absorbed and provide insight to whether the iodine is grabbing onto iodine receptors or not. Once 24 hour urine is collected, one sends the urine to a lab to calculate the percentage that was excreted. If under 90% of iodine was excreted then one is considered deficient.
But what about HTMA testing?
Hair tests do not test for iodine, however there are some markers that can point to potential iodine deficiency.
- K level less than 4
- Ca greater than 70
- Cu greater than 2.5 or lower than 1.5
- Ca:K ratio greater than 10.1
- Se less than .08
- Hg higher than .02
If this sounds like you and you're sure you need iodine, click here to check out our Upgraded Iodine. If not, and you're looking to running an HTMA to investigate further, click here to purchase a test and consult!