James (Seattle, Washington) on 06/26/2007
Also selenium and zinc deficiencies can cause heart palpitations. So if you can't take iodine because of the heart quivers you might have a deficiency you need to correct first.
Replied By Kristy (Lansing, Michigan Usa) on 04/21/2011
After trying to educate myself about hypothyroidism, I decided that I'd help things along and get some iodine supplements. Not impressed with the fact that iodine can worsen thyroid problems, I bought a low dose supplement and decided I'd only take it twice a week.
Tonight was the third time, following a supper with more salt that I usually have in three days. Apparently the combination was too much and I experienced the palpitations James, from Seattle, mentioned. And they lasted for several hours. Definitely NOT the good kind.
B vitamins or not, I don't think I'll be taking anymore kelp. The experience scared me so much that my blood pressure shot way up and I'm still trying to relax enough to get it back down to it's normal 'slightly high' range.
Believe the warnings, people. Check with your doctor before trying kelp. Even the manager of the health food store suggested I talk with mine before trying it, but I sometimes think I know more than anyone else.
Believe me, you don't want to experience this. In between considering a trip to the emergency room, I really worried about the possibility of dying. That's how scary it was. Check with your doctor first... or you might have an 'exciting' night, too.
Replied By Bill (San Fernando, San Fernando, Philippines) on 04/22/2011
Your reaction might also have been due to the fact that iodine was removing fluorine/bromine from your body. This can give some strange detox reactions.
When I had tachycardia(racing heart) there were two supplements that stopped this problem completely. One was magnesium chloride and the other was lugols iodine. Now, every day, I take about 12.5 mgs iodine. This is 100 times more than the RDA. I even experimented and increased my lugols iodine dose for two weeks to between 50 mgs and 100 mgs a day to see what would happen. No racing heart. I was taking 400 to 800 times more iodine than the RDA. If you have healthy kidneys then you should have no problems with this dose. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi -- the Nobel Prize winner and discoverer of Vitamin C -- took 1000 mgs of potassium iodide every day. That's 8000 times the current RDA for iodine. He lived to the ripe old age of 93.
Unfortunately, regarding the benefits from iodine intake, I would completely agree with you that kelp tablets are useless in ths respect. And it's not the fault of the kelp but is because of the restrictions imposed on dosage by the RDA via the FDA. If you read the dose on the kelp bottle it will probably say that each tablet contains 125 MICROgrams of iodine. As I've said before, this just might satisfy the iodine needs of a mouse but will do very little for a human who is hypothyroid.
Taking selenium, tyrosine, magnesium and large dose vitamin C(1000 - 2000 mgs/day) as well will aid and assist the conversion of iodide to iodine for storage in the thyroid gland. Vitamin C removes any of the transport and cell absorption problems associated with iodine and selenium, amongst all its other wonderful benefits, also works to convert the T4(throxine) into the more active and useful T3(triiodothyronine) thyroid hormone. These supplements should also help your hypothyroid problem.
Replied By Madeline (Santiago, Chile) on 07/07/2011
Replied By Kc (Charlotte, Nc, Usa) on 07/19/2011
I did some internet research and started taking a B-complex vitamin and the palpitations stopped the very same day! This was exciting enough that I continued my research to try to solve other chronic issues I have such as acne, difficulty losing weight, and ongoing neuropathy (from my damaged spinal nerves) with a lot of success! I plan to post my success stories in other sections on earth clinic soon.
Among the more interesting things I learned while doing research was how long-term use of prescription drugs can deplete your body of certain vitamins. This is not something my doctors ever told me. With the smoking (I'm working on that) and a poor diet (I've since made some major changes), I think I was running on fumes, so to speak.
Since starting a good B-complex vitamin, I haven't had any heart palpitations at all.
Replied By Citygirl27 (Richardson, Tx, Usa) on 12/25/2012
Replied By Timh (Louisville, Ky, Usa) on 12/27/2012
Replied By Nick (Sofia, US) on 10/05/2014
On the other hand, Dr Hoffer has also many cases when he had returned pationts back to normal with mega doses of Niacine (vit B3) of 2-4 mg per day (regular, not a flash free) plus mega dose of Follic assid (two to 3 doses per day of 15 mg (yes, mg, not mcg). You can read about his exeriences here: http://weeksmd.com/2009/01/dr-hoffer-on-cholesterol-and-niacin/
Best, Nick