Why Lugol's Iodine is Essential for Optimal Health

I bought Lugol's 5%, but the bottle has no dropper. Apparently there are different size droppers. What do I have to ask the pharmacist for? How big should the dropper be? Or how can I measure the Lugol's without a dropper? Can someone tell me how many teaspoons or 1/8 teaspoons or mL to use instead?

I got Lugol's by ordering through the Walmart Pharmacy here in Burlington, ON. Best to talk to the pharmacist in person.

How much iodine in how much water for your 3 pound dog? Thank you!

I was able to order through Shoppers Drug Mart. Don't know if this drug store is in B.C. Just be certain to ask for the kind that can be ingested. They ordered it in for me without any problem.

I believe Om (from Hope, BC) mentioned a little while ago the difficulty in getting Lugol's in British Columbia.

When I lived in Vancouver, BC, I would order it from the pharmacist at London Drugs. Since moving to Calgary, Alberta I do the same. You need to talk to the pharmacist directly - some of the pharmacy assistants aren't that interested in doing special orders.

I don't know if you have a London Drugs there, but I would imagine most pharmacies would oblige. It usually takes a few days or, at most, a week to receive it.

The bottle that I have comes from Xenex Labs in Coquitlam, BC. For 100 mL of 5% Lugol's Solution, it was about $10.50. The NPN is 00415197. London Drugs also ordered another brand of Lugol's for me from Medisca (same price $10.50 for 100 mL) but I prefer the Xenex one. Good luck! Bess

Sam, if you feel you need Lugol's Iodine, why don't you paint it on your skin (soles of feet, for example) instead of ingesting it?

I just bought lugol's 5% solution on Amazon. I used 2 drops in water. The next morning I had vaginal bleeding. I was so scared that I stopped using it. That was the only day I had the bleeding. Does anyone know why that would happen. I really wanted to take iodine because of the benefits people have experienced. I do not know if I should start using it again or not?

Re: Lugol Iodine for Celiac. I have a question for Lugol Iodine. I was reading really good reviews on earth clinic and I like to try it. I am gluten and dairy intolerance. I have low energy and feel dizzy sometimes. My hair is very dry and I also have eczema. Please advice that should I take it or not and if you have any link to buy lugol iodine, please post that too. Thank you so much

Hi John...You can buy lugol's iodine easily in Bangkok. Generally, in Thailand, you can also just go to any compounding pharmacy and get the LI made up to your own spec -- 2%, 5%, 7% strength etc.

If you prefer, next time you are in Bangkok take a taxi ride down Radjadamnearn Rd. Drive until you see the large, high winged monument or angel statue(Democracy Monument ?) then stop the taxi and get out. The royal palace grounds will be on one side, shops on the other side. Go to a chemical store called Vittyasom. Downstairs you can purchase all manner of chemicals including borax, potassium and sodium carbonate or whatever. Upstairs(one flight up) there is a doctor's surgery with compounding pharmacy which will make up the Lugol's Iodine to any strength you require while you wait. I live in the Philippines and get all my own stock of particular nutrient chemicals from this source and its quite cheap.

You should be able to take the potassium iodide á la vanilla without problems, though its not as good as LI. The vanilla would put me off though. What chef dreamed that one up?

Provided that your iodine tincture is NOT Povidine Iodine(plastic iodine) then, rather than waste it, I would take it like this:

Boil some water in a kettle

Pour out one glass of boiled water

Add the supplementary drops of Iodine tincture(with ethanol) carefully and slowly to the hot water so the iodine remains near the surface of the water.

Leave the glass of water to cool for an hour. During this time the alcohol in the tincture should evaporate away fairly quickly, leaving just the iodine in aqueous solution. Alcohol has a much higher evapration rate than water.

You now have Lugol's Iodine in a glass of water

Drink it down

This is just a cheap and sneaky way to make LI to supplement when all else fails. I've used this method in the past when I was desperate for LI. Iodine tincture -- the form that contains only potassium iodide and molecular iodine in ethanol and water --is easy to get in Asia and certain other parts of the world. Compounding pharmacies should also be able to make up this tincture. Worth remembering.

By the way, next time you go to Aussie and you want Lugol's Iodine, then try the vets. Just tell them that your favourite dog, Bandit, has an open wound and they'll sell it to you without problems. Same stuff. And you will probably be able to buy it in larger amounts and it will be cheaper too. Dogs have all the advantages don't they?

Iodine: A friend was returning from Australia and I asked him if he would buy Lugols iodine and bring back 2 x 100ml bottles. Don't ever go there. My friend is a good person and returned with ‘Iodine Drops' = Potassium Iodide equiv. to iodine, equiv. to potassium, with Vanilla

Natural Identical Flavour. I can actually taste the stupid stuff. Plus Ethanol but no color, and I also have Iodine Tincture which is a ‘Weak Iodine Solution' Contains Iodine 25 mg/mL, Ethanol, [yum! Eh?] and Potassium Iodide mg/mL. Says don't eat. Ethanol in the first one was OK to eat. Lugols may exist in Australia but it wasn't in Sydney and Toowoomba. I could buy food grade H202 40 years ago there, not anymore and as for putting it on a hairy plane – Ha!

So, are both I have eatable? Will they do good or not. Will the ethanol make my car go faster?

Thanks Mary from Saskatchewan - I'll check those sources out! Cheers, Bess

Hi Juliana...To obtain a lugol's iodine source in Canada just type "Lugol's Iodine Canada" in ebay.com search or type it into Google Search. The lists displayed will show some vendors from Canada.

An example, from ebay.com, is given here:

Lugols Iodine Source from Canada

Also, most vets and pet shops sell lugol's iodine(sometimes also called Aqueous Iodine) in Canada, another good source.

Bess from Calgary: why don't you get your Lugols from Script or from Cambrian? I recently bought the best ever Lugols from the herbalist Tony Pantelleresco. He was recently at my house where I hosted a seminar (was really helpful) Tony has a channel on u tube where he teaches people how to make many remedies including how to make Lugols. As well has a video on how to heal with turpentine. My lugols is sooooo concentrated it is 15%.

Really neat stuff.

Mary

Hi Juliana from Canada - I get my 5% Lugol's iodine from London Drugs or Shoppers Drug Mart (although you can try other pharmacies - including those in places like Safeway or Walmart, etc.). You need to ask the pharmacist to order it for you - for some reason, they don't keep it in stock. I believe it took about a week from the time I ordered it to the time I received it. I can't remember the price (the bottle lasts a very long time) but it was quite reasonable. Hope this helps! Best of health, Bess

I was sick with a bad cold last week. This was very surprising, as I have not been sick in four years, ever since I started eating a nutrient dense, WAPF diet based on Nourishing Traditions (by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig).

The only recent contributory change I made in my lifestyle was that I started finishing off with icy cold showers. These have been amazing for my skin, digestion, lipomas, stamina, muscles, hormones, libido and overall energy, but a few deleterious things happened along the way - I lost some weight I did not want to lose, I developed throbby wrists, I suddenly menopaused (or thought I did), and my sleep became disturbed. I would wake up at 3:00 am, and during the day felt tired as a result. If I cold showered in the evening, it had the effect of two cups of coffee on me. I'd be wired. I think cold showers affect you in strange ways. And finally, I got this cold. Probably after going out into the cold after one of my cold showers in the am.

Anyway, I started with a dropperful of 7% Lugols' in the middle of my cold. The effect has been nothing short of incredible. For the first time in several months, I've been sleeping like a baby. I un-menopaused. Was it really iodine my body needed to fix sleep problems I've never had in my life? When I sleep well, everything else sort of fixes itself. My skin has become wonderful. My cold melted away. Chest phlegm disappeared. Insomnia I suspect is at the root of many mental and physical ailments. Sleep repairs, restores. Iodine is now going to be a regular part of my life. Now, if I could get my partner to try some, the thyroid issues I suspect in his body might resolve themselves.

I should also add my sense of smell (which had gradually eroded over the last decade) is coming back.

Where can I buy lugols iodine/ Iodoral here in my country?

Virginia: Yes you can. I get sinus infections occasionally. I put 1 drop nascent iodine stabilized with alcohol in 1ml water and squirt that up in there. The pain goes away immediately.

I have a question to ask knowledgeable people. Can Lugol's Iodine 5% be used in the nostrils safely? I seem to have an infection high up in the nostrils? Your feedback would be highly appreciated.

Hi- I'm interested in using Lugol's iodine to diminish the appearance of several hypertrophic scars. I've tried other procedures with little to no effect. I'd like some feedback not only on the effectiveness of using Lugol's iodine, but also what I might expect throughout the healing process. Thanks for your help!

I would be more concerned about your proximity to Japan and Fukushima and inhaling the particulates from the power plants blowing up, being on the west coast, then your Lugols solution going radioactive. This is why I am considering taking it.

Iodine Painting:

Hello, I am 59 year old female and just ordered some Lugols iodine and then I used it for a day and then looked up on webMD and lifescript and even here on EC that you cannot use Iodine if you are on certain high blood pressure medications which I am for now.. Been using natural things as complimentary .. going to find the balance ... Is this true? Can't use iodine at all? Thank You.

Hi again Jolole from Beaconsfield, Tasmania, Australia - Sorry I misunderstood your question (I'll blame it on the heat! ).

Your bottle is a 5% solution [5% solution consists of 5% (wt/v) iodine and 10% (wt/v) potassium iodide mixed in distilled water]. I use a 5% solution also and that's what's on my label. Since I'm hypothyroid, I take 2 drops every morning in water which works out to be 12. 5 mg daily. Cheers, Bess

Hi again Jolole from Beaconsfield, Tasmania, Australia - Sorry I misunderstood your question (I'll blame it on the heat! ).

Your bottle is a 5% solution [5% solution consists of 5% (wt/v) iodine and 10% (wt/v) potassium iodide mixed in distilled water]. I use a 5% solution also and that's what's on my label. Since I'm hypothyroid, I take 2 drops every morning in water which works out to be 12. 5 mg daily. Cheers, Bess

Hi Bess, I had seen this table but not certain if the product I bought was 15% or 5% iodine. It was advertised as a 15%, but I now assume that the % only relate to the iodine part. This would mean that I have a 5% solution. Is that correct? Thanks and blessings.

Hi Jolole from Beaconsfield, Tasmania, Australia - Here is what Bill (very knowledgeable in these things) posted awhile ago:

02/13/2012: Bill from San Fernando, The Philippines replies: "There seems to be some confusion over the use of Lugol's Iodine. What people tend to always forget is that the drop dosage of say 50 mgs of 5% Lugol's Iodine per day is completely different from the same 50 mg drop dosage from say a 2% Lugol's Iodine solution. A single drop of 5% strength, Lugol's Iodine -- where one drop contains 6. 25 mgs iodine -- would be about 8 drops. A single drop of 2% Lugol's Iodine would therefore contain only 2. 50 mgs of Iodine. So to get a 50 mgs dose from a 5% LI solution would be only 8 drops, whereas a 50 mgs doasage from a 2% LI solution would require 20 drops(2. 5 times more).

To help clarify this, here is a table that shows total Iodine content per drop for different % strengths of Lugol's Iodine:

Hope that helps! Cheers, Bess

I have researched for hours the information re iodine benefits and also checked the contributions on earthclinic site where I found the conversion table for the various strength of Lugols iodine in mgs. I bought online a bottle of Lugols and the label states as contents: purified water, 10% Iodide, 5% Iodine. The conversion table mentions both 15% and 5% of Lugols, which one do I take to converse to mgs ?? I have started with 1 drop in glas of water daily, but also read that this might take a year to really improve my health. I have used it now for 4 days, have no problems digesting it and wonder how many drops or mgs I can take with this product. Can anyone help out here. Blessings and good health to all.

@ Asktodaboutrealestate: Your weight gain could be the displaced toxins being stored in your body until it has time to process them. It sounds like you increased your Iodine dose too quickly but more importantly, you were probably not taking the companion supplements that aid the body with this detox (Selenium, Magnesium, Unrefined Celtic salt, Vitamin C, Vitamin B2/3. Since your kidneys and other organs could not keep up with the toxins being displaced by the Iodine, it stored those in body fat hence the weight gain from the bloat. This is just a theory I have heard about and feel is potentially true. For anyone who wants to try Iodine supplements, I suggest you research thoroughly before you begin.

I am happy to say that I have had fantastic results with using The Lugol's Iodine for my acid reflux. I have suffered for years with this ailment and I have had so many prescriptions and special diet restrictions. I can't believe all this time I have been iodine deficient and that was the cause. I took a few drops a day and slowly built up my dose, taking a few days off here and there. After a couple of weeks I realized I was doing better and about a month later I haven't had any problems with my stomach at all. I have had problems with stomach aches since I was a child. This is revolutionary for me. I am telling absolutely everyone about it!

Bill, I too get that "metallic" taste in my mouth when I take iodine. To me, it tastes similar to a chlorine taste. I just figured that that's what the halide elements tasted like. I tried looking it up, but couldn't find anything. I do make sure that I put my iodine in distilled water to rule out the fluoride/chlorine interaction and just chug it down. I also avoid bread products unless I know that the flour does not have bromine in it and have avoided sodas with brominated vegetable oil, like orange. I do take the companion nutrient protocol as advised, as well, including the salt water. I don't have any other symptoms of brominism, though. I'm just offering my experience!

Hi Jr... It is certainly possible to get excess iodine symptoms as a metallic taste in the mouth, although my own suspicions are that this problem, when supplementing iodine, may well be caused by the excess bromine in your body being displaced from cells into the blood by the iodine. Excess bromine from the tissues is difficult to remove from the body and this can also cause a metallic taste in the mouth. See this article here on Bromism.

I myself have taken 16 drops a day of 5% lugol's iodine iodine for an extended period and have never had any metallic taste or any other symptoms arise. But I come from a country where bromine is not added to the bread -- but in America, bromine is always added to bread during baking. And whenever you supplement lugol's iodine, you must always ensure that you take the full Iodine Protocol shown here to avoid problems caused by a poor diet (low anti-oxidant, low mineral processed food diet).

If the metallic taste arises from excess bromine in the blood (from supplementing lugols iodine) then you should simply use the simple Sea Salt Protocol as shown in this link to get rid of the excess bromine problem.

Theory of Bromide Dominance.

After taking the 5% solution of lugols iodine, I get a strange metalic taste in my mouth. I wondered if this was normal and if anyone else experiences this?

Just received a Lugol's solution in the mail, through Amazon. I don't know if it traveled via airplane at some point, but it just struck me that there's lots of radiation up in the atmosphere now. Not to mention that many things do get irradiated through the mail as a standard procedure anyways.

Does anyone know whether the iodine particles in the solution can turn into a radionuclide form because of this? Can the irradiation make it harmful rather than medicinal?

I know that at least Iodine 131 has a relatively short half-life. So if this were the case, that the tincture may have become radioactive, maybe just wait so many days before using it?

Sorry if this topic was already covered - I don't have time to search the whole site. Take care

Hi, I read that many people are iodine deficient. I am in need of more energy, so I thought perhaps it was due to an Iodine deficiency. So I tried Lugols 2%. I took 5 drops in water per day for the first 3 weeks, didn't notice any changes, took 7 drops per day in water for about 10 days, still no changes. Then I stepped back and noticed I had gained 10 lbs in the last month which is a lot for me (I am 5'7" 170lbs normally-should be 160lbs), so there was a change but I don't know if it was caused by the Iodine and wanted to get some feedback on my Iodine use. I stopped using it in the last few days to see if any of the weight comes off, no change yet. Did I use it long enough, or did I not need it to begin with?

I just saw your question so maybe it is too late to respond, but I also had this problem a few months after I reached the full dosage of iodine (taking Iodorl and slowly increasing my dose to 50mg). Nevertheless, I continued and that symptom went away and my breast tissue has never been better, one year later.

I work in a lab & use grams iodine when making slides, the iodine fumes make my eyes water & sting.

Please, do not consume first aid Iodine tincture thinking it is the same as Lugol's. First aid Iodine tincture contains a high amount of methyl alcohol and or ammonia which indeed are dangerous. EC - would it be a good idea to put an alert or 'Important! ' message at the top of the Iodine section to not confuse the two and to not take Iodine tincture internally?

I have Lugol's and just need to learn how to appropriately use it. To answer my prev. post about how much is needed, I am finding out it is dependent on a lot of things including gender, past medication history, and prior exposure to flouride and bromine. I found from watching the YouTube videos that we need almost 100 times more than is put in a single "serving" of iodine (USA)! Wow...

Elizabeth, it could be that your basal or overall metabolism is boosted by the Iodine, but a Chromium deficiency is causing a lag in sugar metabolism via ineffective Insulin uptake. Take 200 - 400 mcg Chromium Picolinate at least twice a day. Some Cinnamon caps would also help.