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Tom's avatar

I started taking iodine drops thinking that it would be beneficial. I am health conscious and exercise and eat healthy. I was not aware of what too much iodine would do and was taking too much. I started feeling very strange and couldn't really explain it. We were on vacation last June and I started feeling light headed my legs started swelling l was very short of breath and I told my wife that I had to go to the emergency room. Long story short and after blood tests I was told I have iodine poisoning which was the start of my hyperthyroidism. My levels were more than 2x normal.

Dr. Eric Osansky's avatar

Tom, I'm so sorry about what you went through. Every year I work with at least a few people whose hyperthyroidism seemed to have started after supplementing with larger amounts of iodine. So it's definitely something to be cautious about, and is why I usually stick with food sources and what's in a multivitamin.