Effective Natural Remedies for Managing PCOS

Hi Bill, I have decided that I am going to start the Lugol's Solution for my PCOS and have done some research and have read on other blogs and sites that supplements should be taken with the iodine. But when I listened to the 2 hour interview the Dr. Didn't say anything about his patients taking both and just want to know if Bill or anyone else has info. If so please post b/c I have been dealing with PCOS since 2007 and am ready to try anything to get rid of it or control it! So if anyone has any helpful info can you please email me or post it. Thanks in advance!!

Ashley, these are the recommended companion nutrients for the iodine protocol:

Vitamin C-2,000-5,000 mg/day
Magnesium-400 mg/day
Selenium-200 mcg/day
Unrefined sea salt-1/2 tsp/day (this salt is either grey or pink)

Hi Ashley... The reason that the videos you saw didn't mention companion nutrients for iodine is because iodine has such widespread and beneficial effects on the body and is therefore a highly complex biochemical subject in itself. Simply put, the lugols iodine companion nutrients like magnesium, selenium, zinc, B3 etc are all there in the protocol to remove other possible problems arising, which might also cause malabsorption of iodine/iodide in the body -- the much needed companion nutrients act effectively as essential body detoxifiers, immune boosters, powerful antioxidants and are also necessary for the production of body enzymes and coenzymes support involving the thyroid and whole-body iodine storage processes, which necessarily helps to prevent problems like auto-antibody reactions caused by excessive production of free-radicals when thyroid hormone production is suddenly increased in the thyroid gland.

Here are the companion nutrients which, at a minimum, should normally be taken along with lugol's iodine on a daily basis:

50 mg Iodoral or lugol's iodine minimum (may start with 12.5 mg).

Vitamin C - 3,000 mg per day (more may be necessary to detox bromide).

300-600 mg magnesium oxide (Iodine Investigation Project participants prefer magnesium glycinate or magnesium citrate.)

200 mcg selenium. The selenomethionine version is preferred by many.

500 mg niacin (B3) twice a day (NOT niacinamide). Start lower to avoid flush. *See update in left margin on the ATP Cofactors as an alternative.

100 mg Vitamin B2 three times a day. *See update in left margin on the ATP Cofactor as an alternative.

A comprehensive vitamin and nutrition program.

(Feb 2008) Dr. Guy Abraham cautions that "excess calcium supplementation (2,000- 3,000 md/day) has been the most common cause of poor response to iodine supplementation." Vitamin Research News Vol. 22. Number 2.

Source: http://www.breastcancerchoices.org/iprotocol.html

My own further advice and recommendations, which are optional, are as follows:

Avoid multivitamin tablets like the plague. For all the reasons, see the Vitamin C article that I wrote in a past EC Newsletter -- near the end of the article.

Use Magnesium Chloride or Magnesium Oil -- Mag Oil can easily be used transdermally and is the best magnesium form to take. For more info see Mark Sircus's book called Transdermal Magnesium Therapy.

Avoid Calcium in your diet - so avoid dairy. Excess calcium inhibits iodine absorption in the body.

Take L-Tyrosine -- 500 mgs per day. Tyrosine is needed to assist conversion of iodide to iodine for storage in the thyroid and other iodine storage sites in the body.

Take Chanca Piedra herb as a tea or as capsules(1000 mgs 3 times a day at meals). CP helps to protect and assist the liver and is also hypolipidemic, hypotensive, hypoglycemic and is a mild, cleansing diuretic for the blood. CP also acts as a calcium channel blocker.

Include zinc in you protocol.

Using Ted's alkalizing protocols will also beneifit you and help cure any malabsorption or pH issues.

Thanks Lisa and Bill for this great info! I will be on the hunt for these supplements so that when my Lugol's Solution arrive I will have everything needed to start my curing process for PCOS finally! When update soon for my earth clinic users to let you all know how things turn out!

Bill and Lisa I have one last question before I start with the Lugol's Solution and the supplements... Am I suppose to take everything together or should I take Iodine first then the supplements hours later? Not really sure but just want to be sure so that I don't having any reactions from everything being mixed together. And is it best to Lugol's in juice or water?

Hi Ashley... In answer to you questions:

Am I suppose to take everything together or should I take Iodine first then the supplements hours later?

Take the lugol's iodine drops alone in a glass of water outside mealtimes. Start small and go slow with the dosage.

5% Lugols Iodine contains 6.25 mgs per drop

2% Lugols Iodine contains 2.50 mgs per drop

So to reach a 50 mgs daily dose with 5% Lugols Iodine will take 8 drops (8 X 6.25) and will take 20 drops with a 2% lugols solution(20 X 2.5).

Split the lugols dosage into four smaller dosages per day -- early morning, late morning, early afternoon and late afternoon. Avoid taking the lugols in the evening -- it tends to energize the body so you might have difficulty sleeping if you take it at night.

Use the magnesium(Mag Oil) transdermally whenever you like. You can also use and supplement the Mag Oil in a glass of water -- ten drops a day.

Alkalize outside mealtimes.

Take Vitamin C as Sodium Ascorbate(avoid calcium ascorbate) on its own or at mealtimes.

Take the zinc, magnesium(as a pill supplement), selenium, niacin, B Vitamins and Chanca Piedra at mealtimes.

Thanks Bill for your response! Really appreciate all your info and advice! Now that I have the info needed I will start my journey to curing my PCOS or at least getting it under control finally so I can start having babies!

Bill: Reading your excellent response has me wondering if I am doing something wrong regarding my Lugol's. When I was initially taking it at 8 drops of 5% Lugol's I took the supplements you suggested for the 3 months I was using Lugol's at this higher dose. After that 3 months period I slowly reduced my Lugol's intake to just my present 2 drops per day as my maintenance dose.

I thought the supplements were only necessary during the heavier detox period when I was taking 8 drops daily. I never experienced any detox side effects so assumed I was one of the lucky ones during those months or perhaps the supplements were responsible for the easy 3 months I experienced.

Either way, once I was down to the 2 drops daily maintenance dose, I stopped all the supplements. Was I supposed to continue taking these supplements for the rest of my life while taking Lugol's 5% ?

If so, I will start but I need an answer to this first. Thank you.

Hi Linda... What you did in your iodine protocol was the correct thing to do. As regards needing to take the companion nutrients continuously, you should only continue taking the nutrients that you are lacking in your diet. So, if you are worried about this, then just get a hair analysis done to show you what minerals are lacking in your own body and you will find out what's missing in your diet or you can supplement accordingly.

So my view is that if you are sufficient in a nutrient like selenium in your body -- then there is no real reason to take it as a supplement.

Generally, it is also mostly true that nutrients like iodine, magnesium, selenium, Vit c, B vits etc are the biggest culprits missing from our diets. I thnk that many of the iodine companion nutrients are advised simply because most are actually the favourites missing from our western diets on a daily basis (thereby causing other problems). Of course this lack of food nutrients can vary from region to region because of differences in soil health too.

The main reason, when you start supplementing higher dose lugol's iodine, why you must take the iodine companion nutrients is to assure that there are no other reasons which contribute to iodine malabsorption or other problems in the body.

You are pretty lucky not to have had a Herx die-off or a detox effect while supplementing higher dose lugols iodine. In America, the food is grown on poor soils which are greatly lacking in essential nutrients and this problem is further compounded because of all the food additives -- heavy metals, bad halides, pesticides, fungicides and GMO that are eaten every day. 10, 000 years ago humans moved from being hunter-gatherers to having an agricultural diet existence. Then, from the 1800s onwards, with the birth of the Industrial Revolution were born the modern farming methods and drugs that we use today. Later, chemically processed foods were touted as the cheaper and healthier alternative for an overpopulated world. Trouble is that our bodies adjust very slowly to major diet changes -- and it is a fact that our bodies still haven't really adjusted yet to our original move to an agriculturally based diet 10,000 years ago. Meanwhile the FDA and USDA continues to tell Americans what is good for them to eat. And we just get sicker and sicker as a result, while the agricultural and drugs cartels get richer and richer. You don't really need a double blind placebo trial costing millions of dollars to know that this is so obviously true...

Thank you Bill for putting my mind at rest. I was beginning to think I was in error when I stopped the additional supplements once my maintaence dose of 5% Lugols began. I was only taking a multivitamin along with some Vitamin C (1000 mg) and Vitamin D (4000 IU) each day. I have just recently read your thoughts about multivitamins so am currently reevaluating my options. There is so much info here on Earth Clinic it can get a bit overwhelming at time. The suggestion for a hair analysis is an excellant one. Now I just need to find a good lab!

Were you using the raw or gelantized maca? I am so confused on which to take?

They will both work but gelatinized maca is much easier on the GI tract and is what the Peruvians actually use for these types of issues.

Hello my name is Tanica I have been struggling with pcos since I was 18 yrs old I have been on many diet that have not work maybe a pound here and there but nothing to be too happy about. I have been really hard hard about becoming a vegetarian I heard that is a good way to health with pcos.. What I would like to know is how do you add protein into this lifestyle change it I only do veggies? So one help me with this please.

A lot of kale, broccoli, basically veggies from the Brassica family can interfere with thyroid hormone production, so be wary of that, everything in moderation :)

Hi, just wanted to know if women are allowed to take SAW PALMETTO. Don't know too much but I read it was to help men.

I can confirm the same as Latinavaquerita from La Grande, Or.

Saw palmetto has worked for me also, pcos symptoms gone and period cycle has returned to normal.

Hi, I am really interested in trying white peony tea. I would like to know how much I should take, how soon will I see results, and how you are doing with it. Please let me know if you are still having success with it and if you did anything in addition to the tea. I would appreciate your prompt response. Sincerely, Shanon Parker

I bought a box on the internet of about 100 tea packets. I was drinking about 1 cup of tea per day. I started noticing a change after about a week or two, but i am not sure how it would work with others.

I am currently taking a break from it. After taking the tea, and regulating my periods, I discovered I had Endometriosis (through surgery as well)--so I am on treatment for that as well--trying the doctors way first before my own. But i still recommend the TEA!

Is white tea and white peony tea the same? I am interested in trying this.Thanks for any feedback.

Thank you for replying. I bought the white peony tea but as of now have not tried it. I went to a naturopath and he gave me a mixture of three teas: dong quai, chaste tree berry and prickley pear root, and told me to take three caps daily of evening primerose oil, garlic, and vitamin E. This I took for four months then didn't take anything else. I simply changed my eating habits and exercised more. All you have to do is avoid all forms of sugars especially those found in milk and alcohol. Avoid gluten and dairy as well. Exercise daily, even it it's just for 10 minutes as long as its CONSISTENT! I have always taken fish oil tablets and multivitamins as supplements, and I started sleeping before 10 pm and this decreased my stress levels immediately!!! For some reason, stress and pcos go hand-in-hand. Well, I hope that this advice helps. My period has been regular for about a year now and my last two ultrasounds taken six months apart have been normal and without visible cysts. When I was diagnosed my ovaries were twice their size and full of cysts. My doctor was amazed on how well my condition has been controlled. I told him I was just happy I didn't take the clomid and glucophage he had originally prescribed! I am almost certain that anyone with this condition can overcome it if the follow the above advice. I know I did! There is hope out there ladies!

Never heard of peony tea! Had no periods for 2 years and very fat now also! What surprised me is the going to bed at 10pm! I must say I stay up too long - and am always stressed; which cant have helped! Will try this thks!