An interlude: My story, a new chapter
January 15, 2010
I’m having a conversation via Twitter direct messaging with a woman whose symptoms and supplement regimen closely mirror mine. She is now having success.
I am happy for her.
I am painfully jealous.
Later that day, perhaps in sympathy, perhaps in envy, perhaps simply coincidentally as the iodine and vitamin D reach some sort of loading threshold in my veins, my body responds.
Warning: Possible TMI re: “Female Things”
I find the faintest pink spotting on my pants.
It has been 16 months and 17 days since this last happened to me.
The next day, my feminine hygiene products – purchased over a year ago – are no longer mocking me and have been called into proper service.
I don’t want to admit it, because I am afraid that the truth, when looked at straight-on, will bolt, will simply cease to be.
But I need to be honest about this. For what is science if not the pursuit of absolute truth?
Wow! What have you done differently regarding food and supplments?
The list of supplements I personally take is long, varied, and confounding (a joke by which I mean I’m not sure which is truly having an effect or if there’s any synergy going on). Obviously, I’m in no position to make any recommendations, but here is what I’ve been taking lately:
- Iodine/iodide, 50 mg a day
- vitamin D, 5000 IU a day (after 3 days of taking 100,000 IU a day back in December, on the advice of my naturopath)
- L-tyrosine, 1 g in the morning (two 500 mg capsules)
- YES (http://www.yes-supplements.com/) EFAs, 1 tsp or 4 capsules a day (split 3 in the morning, 1 in the early afternoon)
- YES chelated minerals, 2 capsules a day
- YES herbal supplements, 1 capsule at bedtime
- L-tryptophan, 1 g at bedtime (two 500 mg capsules)
Meeses,
I saw this comment on Richards problem blog.
I have found taking a few teaspoons (two to three) daily of Evening Primrose Oil makes my menstrual cycle regular (like clockwork!). Evening Primrose Oil (and Borage Seed Oil) are high in GLA-6. Borage Seed Oil is higher (and more expensive) in GLA-6 than Evening Primrose. Also, EPO helped clear up my eczema.
I’ve just run out of EPO, so I’m going to try BSO this time. Mountain Rose Herbs [dot] com in Oregon sells a high-quality, cold-pressed EPO for a decent price.
Dexter
Thanks Dexter! Your experience dovetails with mine – a few weeks ago, I started taking an organic blend of evening primrose oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, flax oil, pumpkin oil, and coconut oil. Just a few days after I started taking it, I started to go through bromide detox. It may be just a freakish coincidence, but I feel like the EFAs had a synergistic effect with the iodine supplementation. Either way, they certainly help with energy levels!
Good job…I guess.
I think I’m gonna get into the iodine business as well. There’s just no way I can order Iodoral from Germany. I found some Lugol’s solution, but most of it is to be used for the aquarium. Not sure about that. I’ll have to do some more research.
Oh, and another thing? Did you experience any detox reaction? When I went to spain two years ago, I had some red spots on my face, after swimming in the sea, and now I’m wondering whether this might have actually been a detox reaction from the iodine I absorbed through my skin.
Matthias – Sometimes exposure to seawater can cause a reaction (to iodine or not – I think seawater is complex stuff). This happens to an ex-roommate of mine pretty consistently whenever she goes swimming in an ocean far from where she lives. I’m not entirely sure, but I think she might be entirely fine when she goes swimming in the ocean near her home or when she’s had a few weeks to build up her tolerance.
As for my own personal detox reaction, YES. After a few weeks of taking 50 mg of iodine a day, I developed a painless swelling under the right side of my jaw. A naturopath diagnosed it as “detoxification of bromides” causing swelling of the salivary gland. He advised decreasing my dose to 15 g a day for a week, and then increasing by 15 g a day until I was back at 50 g. I did, the swelling disappeared, and here I am now.
I am rooting for you as hard as I can – Best of luck…!