Introduction to The Halogen Elements

The halogen elements make up group 17 on the periodic table. The elements in this group / family include the following in order from top to bottom:

• Fluorine (Fl)

• Chlorine (Cl)

• Bromine (Br)

• Iodine (I)

• Astatine (At)

Astatine is the rarest element with no stable isotopes. Only about 50 mg of Astatine exists in the earth’s crust at any given moment. Because all four of the isotopes of astatine have a half-life of less than one minute, we won’t include this element in the rest of our discussion of the halogen elements.

The other halogen elements, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine are all biochemically active, though only chlorine (in its reduced form as “chloride”) and iodine are known and widely recognized as truly useful in terms of human health. All of these elements form salts (thus the name “halo”-gen) and all can go into a negative oxidation state by taking on an extra electron which makes them attractive to elements that have lost one of their electrons to form positive ions. 

The biochemistry of the halogen elements is important in any discussion regarding iodine as a health-giving nutrient because all of the halogen elements share certain similarities. These similarities make them somewhat interchangeable inside the body in terms of their use in pharmaceuticals.  The body needs iodide and chloride, but it may mistake bromide or fluoride for iodide or sometimes chloride accidentally. 

In the pharmaceutical industry, for example, bromide could be used as a substitute for iodine / iodide in a drug that’s sold to treat colds, coughs, and flu because bromide fits into some of the receptor sites for iodide inside the body. Potassium iodide is a powerful natural expectorant that works to cure, not just treat coughs, colds, and flu. Though the salt “potassium iodide” is the actual cure for a cough and upper respiratory infection, bromide can treat symptoms of colds and flu such as the urge to cough but it does so while bioaccumulating in the body in the iodide receptor sites, hijacking the body’s natural ability to heal completely from respiratory infection. Over time, this bioaccumulation of bromide can lead to the development of a chronic cough or even asthma. 

For this reason, readers who are interested in the possible value of iodine / iodide in the treatment of disease, also need to know a bit about the other toxic halogen elements and how these “halides” hijack the nutrient halides that our bodies need in order to be healthy.

The halogen elements are so reactive that they are not often found in pure form, but rather as  “salts” wherein the halogen element has a negative charge and the other element with which it forms a pair has a positive charge. The positive and negative polarity of these halogen-based salts are indicative of the electrical nature of the halogens in the human body. Salts make solid medicines that are easy to manufacture as pills or solutions, so the fact that halogen elements combine easily with other substances to form salts is a compelling reason for pharmaceutical companies to use them. The halogen salts generally dissociate from the other substances that they’re bound to once inside the body to release halides that are biochemically active though not always “healthy”.

Reactivity and displacement of the halogen elements in a solution diminishes from top to bottom within the family of halogen elements on the periodic table. In other words, fluorine is the most reactive while iodine is the least reactive of the halogen elements in a solution. In fact, in terms of physical properties, the halogen elements are unique in the periodic table in that they demonstrate an almost perfect gradation of doubling in terms of atomic weights from top to bottom of the family along with a predictable increase in specific gravity, boiling point, and melting point. Solubility and chemical reactivity also decreases predictably from fluorine to iodine from top to bottom on the periodic table as well. Inside the body though, one of the halogens can be easily mistaken for another of the halogens. In other words, a nutrient halide like iodide or chloride might be mistaken for a toxic halide like bromide or fluoride. Once the body takes in bromide or fluoride, these chemical entities take up residence in receptor sites, blocking access to the receptors by iodide and chloride which can cause a diverse set of symptoms and disease states that are regularly misdiagnosed by doctors. Though the symptoms may point to a deficiency of iodide or chloride, doctors are not familiar with nutrient deficiencies. Thus, patients are given diagnoses of incurable diseases such as cancer, fibrocystic breast disease, polycystic ovarian syndrome, benign prostatic hyperplasia, hypothyroidism, autoimmune disease, diabetes, dementia and more. Though many of these diseases are nothing but a manifestation of a nutrient deficiency, many patients spend a life-time suffering through the side effects of taking drugs that cover up symptoms but that meanwhile make the patient sicker.

While both iodide and chloride are biochemically essential for human life, fluoride and bromide are regarded as toxic to the body. There has been some scientific research showing that bromide in trace amounts may be used by eosinophils (a type of leukocyte) along with hydrogen peroxide and eosinophil peroxidase to produce hypobromous acid that could theoretically play a role in host defense against parasite infection. But as one of the most abundant of the trace elements, bromide exposure is nearly impossible to avoid. Indeed, bromide has been introduced into the food supply, the water supply, in medicinal products, and into the air via bromide-containing insecticides in many parts of the world. Most people consume between 8.4 and 24 mg of bromide daily through food, a massive daily dose. So the idea that the body could use trace amounts of bromide to produce a reactive oxygen species, hypobromous acid, that could then oxidize and kill parasitic organisms such as schistosomes, trypanosomes, toxoplasmas, mast cells, and cancer cells is compelling, but it also goes against observations that have been made by halogen specialists like Dr. Brownstein and Dr. Abraham, who’ve noted, for example, that the sickest patients that they work with have the highest levels of bromide in the body. Also, the research trying to argue in favor of bromide as a trace mineral acknowledges that higher than trace mineral dosages of bromide negates any positive effects from bromide. High levels of bromide in the body are correlated strongly with cancer and autoimmune disease, for example. And cancer and autoimmune disease symptoms are strongly correlated with parasite infections. It seems logical to assume, therefore, given the long history of bromide-poisoning and bromism that bromide has no medicinal or healing function in the body, especially given that the nutrient halides also produce hypohalous acids that can kill parasites and microorganisms without negative side effects. But, it is also true to say that bromide does indeed have a biochemical effect on the body. This biochemical effect is frequently exploited by pharmaceutical companies in various ways to produce medicinal products that slowly poison patients over time. 

The halogen elements challenge us to draw a line in a somewhat gray area between what’s a medicine and what’s a poison. All medicines are poisons if administered in the wrong dose or at the wrong time or for the wrong disease. And some medicines that are truly valuable are combined with toxic excipients that quietly cause far more harm than healing. Halogen elements, because they combine so easily and so well with so many other medicines, can be added to drugs as excipients (non-medicinal agents). Though the halogens have strong biochemical effects on the body, they’re often used in creative ways by the pharmaceutical industry. Sometimes they’re prescribed to produce certain so-called “medicinal effects”. For example, bromide has been used as anticonvulsant to treat epileptics. The use of bromide may at first seem like a miracle to a patient with epilepsy. Later, however, as bromide builds up in the body, the miracle turns into a nightmare, often without setting off any alarms to alert patients to the fact that the same thing that was once a medicinal agent (bromide) has now crossed a critical threshold to become a poison. Halogen-containing medicinal agents regularly make patients into repeat customers at doctor’s offices. Scientific research that demonstrates that bromide or fluoride has healing effects on the body might be used by a drug company to argue that said halide should be included in a drug formula for medicinal purposes, for example. Scientific research saying that these halides are mostly inert in the body supply the needed support for drug companies to include them as non-medicinal excipients in various drug formulations. A drug company can choose whatever body of research suits its needs in order to get a medicinal agent patented. As such, patients must be savvy and informed in order to make decisions for themselves in regard to halide-containing medicines. Unfortunately, many medicines that contain halides simply list “excipient” rather than the ingredients that make up the “excipient”. 

For years, scientists and doctors have tried to use bromide to treat health problems caused by iodide or chloride deficiency. Bromide was once used to treat opium addiction, but was proven over time to cause health issues that were more serious that opium addiction in patients. As a bioaccumulative agent, bromide has this trajectory in medicine: at first it seems to have medicinal effects, alleviating symptoms of iodine deficiency via its interaction with iodine receptors, alleviating seizure activity, or even sedative addiction. Later, as bromide builds up in the body, it begins to create symptoms of poisoning and toxicity. By this time though, patients have learned to trust the medicine and believe in it as a source of healing. This is the problem with toxic halides like bromide and fluoride. The line between medicine and poison is blurry at best.  

About 100 years ago, 10% of all psychiatric hospital admissions in the U.S. were once due to bromide addiction and the public was well aware of that fact. Today, scientists and spin doctors proclaim that bromide exposure through medicine is “a rare occurrence” yet some of the most common prescription and over-the-counter medicinal agents contain bromide. Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide and most other over-the-counter cough medicines are salient examples of this. Cough medicines that contain “excipients” are likely candidates for inclusion of bromide. Most patients have no idea that they’re consuming a poison that can cause chronic respiratory illness over the course of time.

The average reader might wonder why bromide would be the focus of research in medicine at all if it has such a negative history in terms of human health. Because bromide doesn’t have a natural health-related function in the human body, it can easily be made into a salt with substances that would naturally combine with iodide, but in contrast to a salt of iodide, an unnatural salt of bromide would be patentable and thus profitable for Big Pharma. This is why research into the biochemical function of bromide in the body continues while research into iodine and iodide is sorely lacking.

We see a similar problem with fluoride where research into the supposed health benefits of fluoride is well-funded and well-traversed. Organizations that fund research into the value of fluoride are those that make money off of either the health problems caused by fluoride or the commercial tax breaks that become possible by fluoridating drinking water. Thus, there is a lot of research and propaganda out there telling people about the virtues of fluoride exposure. Money and profits that can be gleaned from false information are what keep the “science” gears churning.

The problem of Big Corporations making big profits off the woe and tribulation experienced by the little guy is depressing and decidedly negative if not downright terrifying. People who are trying to solve serious health problems for themselves or their loved ones feel the crushing weight of it all acutely. But the fact is, though the executives at Big Pharma are almost always exclusively focused on making profits rather than on actually curing disease, they still sometimes find cures for diseases by accident. I like to focus on these greed-inspired caveats wherein a system of evil can eventually implode. Through the same kinds of twist of fate or serendipity, patients can accidentally stumble across a cure for their disease, particularly if the patient believes strongly that a cure exists. Medicine is meant to work at the fringes of hard-core magic and miracle (for example, the placebo effect). Despite the presence of toxins in the food, water, air, and land, and the lack of certain nutrients, etc., humans still have a way of persevering to overcome and adapt. The emergence of data about iodine and chloride as nutrients that can benefit human health is proof that hope is still alive and well. Anyone who is hoping to cure disease can focus their energy on looking for these seeds of hope and find that there are quite a lot of them even despite the general inclination of big corporations toward greed.

In closing this section, people should generally avoid exposure to high levels of fluoride and bromide, but both of these elements are hard to avoid entirely because they exist naturally in soil and ocean water. To be fair, as trace minerals, fluoride and bromide may, in fact, be useful to human health, but in high amounts, they are undoubtedly toxic and they definitely cause health problems. If you take daily doses of Lugol’s iodine or Iodoral, there’s no reason to live in fear of bromide and fluoride. Rather, make an effort to filter the water in your home (drinking and bathing water), and be aware of bromide and fluoride in medicines and in foods such that you can avoid these toxins as much as possible. Learn how to detoxify the body to remove these halides and do annual or biannual detoxes to keep your health intact.

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Bromine / Bromide Toxicity

Exposure to high levels of bromine / bromide causes symptoms of toxicity that vary from person to person. Bromism, which was once regarded as a problem that was caused by an addiction to bromide salts caused up to 5-10% of psychiatric hospital admissions. Today, Big Pharma hides bromide in many prescription and over-the-counter medications such as cough syrups and sleeping aids, meanwhile spreading the propaganda that bromism is no longer a health issue. In fact, bromism and bromide disruption of thyroid gland functioning is one of the major causes of obesity.

Many people today who take bromide on a regular basis are unaware of the fact that they’re addicted to bromide. Pharmaceuticals that should contain iodide as a curative agent, often contain bromide as a poison in place of iodide. While iodide heals the endocrine system, bromide is an endocrine disruptor that causes severe, ongoing health problems at toxic doses. 

Potassium iodide, for example, is an excellent expectorant for coughs, but it isn’t even possible to find potassium iodide at a pharmacy today. In contrast, a number of name-brand cough medications that line the shelves in Big Pharma pharmacies throughout the world contain bromide, an agent that bioaccumulates to cause health problems such as asthma. 

Fluorine / Fluoride Toxicity

Fluorine / fluoride also exists in nature, of course, so it isn’t possible to avoid it entirely. Skeletal reserves of fluoride have been estimated at about 2.6 grams in the body like it or not. In other words, most people have at least 2-3 grams of fluoride in their bones and teeth even if they make an effort to shun fluoride. The fluoridation of drinking water, of course, increases daily exposure to fluoride and thus skeletal reserves of fluoride which ultimately comprises bone and dental health.

Finding the truth about fluoride toxicity is a challenge these days because there’s so much propaganda out there extolling the benefits of fluoride in terms of dental health in particular. In reality, fluoride disrupts the natural crystalline structure of teeth to create brown spots and even blackened teeth depending on exposure levels. Dentists claim that the blackening of teeth or “fluorosis” is simply a cosmetic issue. Dental health itself and the number of dental caries are supposedly unaffected by fluorosis. This is the story on the street, but if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that fluoride exposure definitely keeps dentists in business by making dental enamel and teeth weaker overall. Fluoride disrupts the natural calcium-phosphate bonds in teeth, replacing the inorganic phosphate making a bond that’s weaker and less effective at protecting the teeth from caries. The real dental hero is vitamin K2 / Menaquinone-7, a nutrient substance that was effectively removed from the food supply with the advent of genetically modified staple food crops. 

Read more about vitamin K2 as a cure for osteoporosis and atherosclerosis here.

Read about how to use vitamin K2 to remineralize teeth here.

Click here to buy vitamin K2 / MK-7.

Patients who stop exposing themselves to high doses of fluoride by filtering drinking water, by getting rid of toothpaste products that contain fluoride, and by being mindful to avoid drugs that might contain fluoride, might find that their dental problems go away within 6 months to a year as well. Working with fluoride detoxifying agents that help speed the process along. That is, dental problems will clear up as long as the patient gets all mercury amalgam fillings removed and stops using toothpastes and eating snacks that contain vegetable glycerin. Mercury fillings cause progressive dental degradation. Vegetable glycerin clogs the pores in teeth through which natural remineralization of the teeth can normally occur if the patient takes daily doses of vitamin K2 / MK-7 to make up for the lack of this nutrient in the diet. The normally strong make-up of teeth and bones is disrupted by the presence of fluoride which causes fissures in the crystalline structure of the hydroxyapatite. Fluoride in bone tissue is an aberration and not the norm. Calcium is meant to pair with phosphate to create strong bones and teeth, not fluoride.

Read more about how calcium and phosphate pair up throughout the body and how fluoride can disrupt these pairings.

Essentially, fluoride keeps patients tethered to the dental industry. A person who is exposed to fluoride regularly from childhood onward may never discover this fact. There is, in fact, a great deal of misinformation out there to lead people away from it and to reinforce the idea that fluoride exposure is positive. Once a child goes to the dentist and begins receiving fluoride treatments along with mercury amalgam fillings, dental health spirals downward. The health of the whole body is, in turn, affected by poor dental health, so everybody in the healthcare syndicate wins. Patients, sadly, lose big unless they can remove the toxins that are making them sick and learn to avoid the toxic halides like fluoride and bromide.

Iodine / Iodide

Iodine and iodide in the form of molecular iodine and potassium-iodide salt, are essential nutrients in the body. The current Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for iodine is extremely low at microgram doses. The human body needs a lot more iodine than what the RDA calls for, but once again, a great deal of propaganda has been released into the public to scare people away from iodine. Big Pharma and Big Food make it hard for people to get iodine and iodide from the diet. This ensures that the Healthcare Machine will keep producing hefty profits. The Wolff-Chaikoff effect is one of the most salient pieces of propaganda that is regularly cited even by scientists who claim to be experts on the biochemistry of halogen elements. According to the Wolff-Chaikoff effect, a goiter can be caused by excess iodine. In reality, a goiter is caused by a deficiency of iodide, and there are various facts that can be cited to prove that the Wolff-Chaikoff effect is a total fabrication by Big Pharma to scare patients away from iodine in favor of taking drugs that will never cure disease. For example, in coastal regions of Japan, people regularly consume a large amount of seaweed that amounts to a dose of iodine at 50-80 mg per day. In this high-iodine-consumption area (and in other high-iodine areas) of the world, the incidence of goiter is extremely low. While Wolff claims that 2 mg of iodine per day is enough to provoke a goiter, experts who work hands-on with patients to permanently cure disease using iodine and iodide supplementation say that daily doses of anything less than 12.5 mg per day are unlikely to have a desirable healing effect. Indeed, the recommended daily dose of Lugol’s iodine for patients is 50-100 mg per day. A patient who works with only 2 mg of Lugol’s iodine per day is unlikely to see big gains in their health because of the presence of toxic halides like fluoride and bromide in the environment, in the food, water, and air. Higher doses of iodine / iodide (along with supportive nutrients) are essential in order to heal. 

Once you understand how many diseases can be cured using properly high levels of iodine supplementation, it isn’t hard to see why Big Pharma would guard this secret and try to steer patients away from this information. A patient who begins using iodine at the proper dose with the proper supportive nutrients is no longer dependent on the healthcare system to heal himself or herself. Iodine, as a natural substance, cannot be patented and thus, it can never yield the same unnaturally high profits as an unnatural, synthetically produced pharmaceutical. Iodine is an affordable medicine that can be used to cure a wide variety of diseases that originate primarily from severe endocrine disruption and immune system dysregulation.

Chlorine / Chloride

Chloride is the reduced form of chlorine. Chlorine can be toxic to the body, but it is also very useful in certain contexts as a water purification agent and as a disinfectant. Iodine is also useful as a disinfectant that’s used to clean water, surfaces, and skin. The disinfectant properties of these elements is useful both in the environment as well as inside the body where both chloride and iodide are used to produce hypohalous acids by neutrophils that work to kill infection.  

Chloride, on the other hand, is a mineral that the body requires in order to function properly. It is an electrolyte that makes up a substantial amount of biological fluids in the body, especially extracellular fluids. Chloride is, in fact, the most abundant anion found in the extracellular fluids that surround human cells. The transport of chloride from the outside of a cell to the inside of a cell plays a vital role in controlling all of the following processes in the human body:

• Absorption and secretion of fluids
• Osmotic pressure within cells
• Cell volume
• Fluid pH
• Electrolyte balance
• Body Fluid Volume
• Protein counterions
• Carbon dioxide transport via red blood cells
• Kidney function
• Gastric secretion of hydrochloric acid and digestions
• Enzyme regulation / activation of alpha-amylase pancreatic enzymes
• Neutrophil activation

Chloride and its disordered movement through cellular channels play an important role in the development of diseases such as cystic fibrosis.

In the kidneys, chloride is the most prolific anion present in plasma and other extracellular fluids, thus, it is the primary anion being filtered by the glomerulus and then reabsorbed by the renal tubules. About 70% of chloride in the glomerular filtrate is reabsorbed by renal tubules. So-called “loop diuretics” which act via the loop of Henle in the nephrons work by blocking the reabsorption of solutes like chloride which in turn prevents water from being absorbed to produce greater quantities of urine.

Chloride is similar to both potassium and sodium in that it creates channels in the membranes of human cells to control how much water is in the cell, the types of nutrients and compounds that move in and out of the cell, and it balances and regulates blood pressure and pH in the body. 

Chloride plays a regulatory role in neutrophil activation. Neutrophils play an important role in protecting the body from bacterial infection. Bacteria that are exposed to neutrophils lose their ability to multiply within minutes. This is a thought-provoking fact given the recent surge of interest in Chlorine Dioxide Solution, an agent that is used as an at-home cure for infection, cancer, and autoimmune disease. Neutrophils release myeloperoxidase into the phagocytic vacuole or into the extracellular fluids. The myeloperoxidase then facilitates a reaction between hydrogen peroxide and chloride or iodide. Fluoride and bromide cannot be a part of this reaction though, as we’ve discussed previously, research exploring bromide as a potential anti-parasitic agent that works through the production of hypobromous acid unfortunately does not address the problem of bromide toxicity and exposure to too much bromide that negates any possible positive effects of trace amounts of this halide.  But the other healthy halides (iodide and chloride) can be oxidized by hydrogen peroxide to produce a “hypohalous acid” with a strong microbial and anti-parasitic action in the body. The hypohalous acids produced by the combination of hydrogen peroxide and iodide or chloride appears to be one of the major ways in which white blood cells kill infecting microorganisms and parasites.

While Chlorine Dioxide Solution purports to work by releasing a reactive oxygen species (the superoxide anion) that is relatively short lived and fragile, neutrophils can release much stronger and longer-acting reactive oxygen species (hypohalous acids) as long as the body is not deficient in iodide or chloride. Studies indicate that chloride may be more important than iodide in the production of hypohalous acids just because it is more prolific in the body, but this hasn’t been definitively proven. In any case, both iodide and chloride can be used by neutrophils along with hydrogen peroxide to kill infectious agents. 

Chloride plays a role in causing the heart to contract. It helps the nerves carry nerve impulses from the brain to the outer reaches of the body. As such, this halide is important in maintaining nervous system health. It helps red blood cells make the exchange from carbon dioxide to oxygen in the lungs and from oxygen to carbon dioxide in other parts of the body. Finally, chloride plays a vital role in digestion via its presence in hydrochloric acid in the stomach. A lack of chloride leads to impaired digestion and the development of an array of various digestive system issues.

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Identifying the Symptoms of Iodine Deficiency and Bromide / Fluoride Toxicity

Iodine deficiency is a problem by itself. This nutrient deficiency can lead to a variety of symptoms that can be misdiagnosed by doctors as incurable disease. Back in the early 1900s, doctors knew how to diagnose iodine deficiency. And the cure for iodine deficiency was iodine supplementation. But today, iodine deficiency is almost always paired with bromide and fluoride toxicity. In order to cure iodine deficiency combined with bromide / fluoride toxicity, the patient must remove bromide and fluoride and detoxify the body. While iodine deficiency by itself can produce some really uncomfortable symptoms, bromide and fluoride toxicity worsens the predicament. 

In today’s world, the ubiquitous presence of bromide and fluoride worsens an already serious problem of iodine / iodide deficiency. In an iodide-deficient patient, bromide and fluoride will masquerade as iodide in various organs and glands to wreak havoc on endocrine function, bone health, blood health, and immune system health. Most people who are iodine-deficient are also, as such, bromide and fluoride TOXIC and must go through detoxification of fluoride and bromide in order to restore health. 

Below are symptoms of iodine / iodide deficiency:

Iodide / Iodine Deficiency Symptoms

• Iodine deficiency can cause hypothyroidism (under active thyroid) by causing a deficiency of thyroid hormone production. 
• Iodine deficiency (which is compounded by bromine and fluorine exposure) can lead to cystitis or frequent urinary tract infections.
• Low adrenal function 
• Thyroid cancer
• Thyroid nodules
• Iodine deficiency can cause men’s health issues:
  • Prostate cancer
  • Prostate swelling
  • Low libido
  • Erectile dysfunction
  • Male factor infertility
• Frequent respiratory infections and respiratory problems:
  • Asthma
  • Sinus infection
  • Chronic post-nasal drip
  • Allergies
• Iodine deficiency can cause a variety of women’s health issues including:
  • Female factor infertility and pregnancy-related issues
  • Benign and malignant tumors in the reproductive organs:
    • breast, 
    • uterus, 
    • ovaries, 
    • cervix, etc.
  • Menstrual problems
  • Endometriosis
  • Menstrual irregularities
  • Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
  • Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) / Ovarian cysts
  • Uterine fibroids
  • Heavy menstruation
  • Low libido
  • Fibrocystic breast disease
  • Breast tenderness
  • Fibrocystic ovaries
• Goiter / Minor thyroid gland swelling
  • Difficulty swallowing
  • Throat or neck swelling
  • Throat or neck tenderness
  • Choking (in children)
• Skin problems:
  • Dry, coarse skin with a yellowish tinge
  • Flaky skin
  • Darkening of the eyelids
  • Brittle fingernails
  • Brittle hair
  • Hair loss / Thinning hair
  • Acne
• Mental Health Issues:
  • Depression / Anxiety
  • Mental fatigue
  • Apathy
  • Brain Fog / Foggy Thinking
  • Mood swings / Mood problems
  • Memory loss (Alzheimer’s, Lewy Body Dementia, Parkinson’s Disease, etc.)
  • Poor memory (not necessarily formal memory loss) and poor concentration
• Headaches
  • Migraines
  • Visual disturbances
  • Eye protrusion
• Cardiovascular effects:
  • Intolerance to heat and cold (cold hands and feet)
  • Poor circulation (which can lead to health problems such as Erectile Dysfunction or low libido, noted above)
  • Raynaud’s Syndrome
  • Heart Disease
  • Slowed or altered heart rate
• Digestive problems
  • Indigestion
  • Gas / flatulence
  • Constipation and irregular bowel movements
  • Colitis
• Obesity and difficulty losing weight
  • Swelling of the face (Myxoedema) / Puffy face
  • Fluid retention
  • High LDL cholesterol
  • Increased triglyceride levels
  • Unexplained weight gain that can’t be controlled with diet or exercise
• Shortness of breath on exertion and poor exercise tolerance which includes:
  • Fast pulse
  • Heart palpitations
  • Chest pain
  • Stiff joints (a diagnosis of arthritis is common)
  • Muscle cramps
  • Excessive perspiration regardless of heat or exertion
• Fatigue, low energy, lethargy, general weakness, exhaustion, especially in the morning. 
  • Low blood pressure
  • Sleep problems including the need for 12 or more hours of sleep
  • Extreme sleepiness
• Iodine deficiency can cause hyperthyroidism (over active thyroid). Many of these hyperthyroid conditions respond well to iodine supplementation without surgery or the use of radioactive iodine. These diseases include:
  • Hashimoto’s Disease
  • Grave’s Disease
  • Toxic Thyroid
• Iodine deficiency affects motor skills in a negative way
  • Iodine deficiency causes reaction time to get longer.
  • Iodine deficiency reduces manual dexterity, muscle strength, and overall coordination.
• Neurological problems
  • Peripheral neuropathy (non-specific nerve pain)
  • Muscle weakness
  • Muscle soreness
• Autoimmune conditions
• Large or swollen tongue
• Retarded physical development

• Swollen glottis
• Leg swelling

Iodine Deficiency Symptoms and Health Consequences in Children

Children develop symptoms that are different than symptoms of iodine deficiency in adults. Below are common symptoms observed by caregivers of children with iodine deficiency:

• Developmental delays in children
• Educational difficulties in children and teens
• Lowering of IQ levels in children
• Fertility issues
• Miscarriages
• Stillbirths
• Congenital abnormalities
• Increased perinatal mortality
• Increased infant mortality
• Iodine deficiency during pregnancy can cause ADD, ADHD, or developmental delays known as cretinism.
• Mental deficiency
• Deaf-mutism
• Spastic diplegia
• Squint
• Myxedematous cretinism
• Mental deficiency
• Dwarfism
• Psychomotor defects
• Delayed tooth development in children
• Dental problems in adults
• Delayed puberty in children
• Poor growth in children

Bromide / Fluoride Toxicity Symptoms

After a person is exposed to bromide from any source, the body requires at least 9-12 days to get rid of it under ideal conditions. However, the kidneys often reabsorb a proportion of bromide before it can be excreted from the body so bromide bioaccumulation can be difficult to resolve without salt loading or salt flushing. Long term exposure, even at low doses of only 0.5 mg/day, can lead to bromine accumulation and bromine toxicity (otherwise known as bromism) especially in individuals who are deficient in iodine / iodide. Most people in the developed world are exposed to 8-24 mg per day of bromide, a rather high dose of this toxin.  High levels of bromine can, for example, cause damage to neuron membranes which can progressively impair neuron transmission, leading to a disease called “bromism”. 

Below is a list of the symptoms of bromide toxicity (note that many of these closely resemble a variety of different serious health conditions, including autoimmune diseases, mental health problems, and more):

• Neurological and Psychiatric Symptoms
  • Headache
  • Restlessness
  • Irritability
  • Confusion
  • Hallucinations (auditory and visual)
  • Disorientation
  • Psychosis (mimicking schizophrenia or dementia)
  • General weakness
  • Stupor
  • Coma
  • Lack of muscle coordination (mimicking Parkinson’s Disease)
  • Loss of control of body movements / Strange Facial Expressions
  • Leg and hip ache that resembles arthritis
  • Seizures
  • Somnolence
  • Delirium
  • Brain Fog / Foggy Thinking
  • Short-term memory loss
  • Memory loss resembling dementia
  • Drooping eyelids (ptosis)
  • Eyelid twitching
  • Neurological impairment
  • Disturbance of color perception
  • Vision Changes / Blurry Vision / Double Vision
  • Foot twitching
  • Tingling in the extremities
  • Paralysis
  • Dream changes
  • Impaired memory/concentration
  • Tremor
  • Slurred speech
  • Muscle cramps / Muscle twitching
  • Muscle weakness
  • Sedation / Lethargy
  • Fatigue
• Dermatological Symptoms
  • Cherry angiomas
  • Severe acne
  • Pustular or erythematous rashes
  • Body odor
  • Bromide acne, which is coniform (the use of zinc can help counteract bromide acne)
  • Skin “cuts”
  • Hair loss / Thinning hair
  • Urticaria / Rash (bromoderma)
  • Acneiform Dermatitis
  • Sweating
• Gastrointestinal Symptoms / Digestive Problems
  • Lack of appetite / anorexia
  • Constipation
  • Diarrhea
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting
  • Gastrointestinal impairment
  • No appetite or poor appetite
  • Stomach pain
• Nephrological Symptoms / Urinary Tract Problems
  • Urethral Spasm and Frequent Urination (may be mistaken for a urinary tract infection)
  • Unusual urine odor or color
  • Kidney pain
  • Cystitis / Bladder Irritation
• Oral and Respiratory Symptoms / Mouth-Related and Respiratory Problems
  • Mouth and tongue sores and cuts, a sore mouth
  • Dry mouth
  • Metallic taste in the mouth
  • Odd swallowing sensations - also known as “swollen glottis” in the old medical literature, but this “odd sensation” may also involve the inflammation of the thymus gland located behind the sternum and in front of the heart.
  • Increased salivation
  • Cough with mucus
  • Sinus pain
  • Runny nose
  • Respiratory depression
  • Asthma
• Reproductive and Thyroid Hormone Changes / Problems
  • Hormone changes
  • Breast tenderness (this transient symptom typically resolves quickly with iodine treatment)
  • Menstruation issues
  • Breast Pain / Fibrocystic Breast Disease / Breast Lumps
• Mood Problems
  • Anxiety
  • Mood swings
  • Dark thoughts (e.g. “there is no reason to live”)
  • Depression (e.g. “there is no reason to get out of bed”)

Symptoms of Bromide Detoxification

While bromide and fluoride TOXICITY can cause symptoms of disease, the removal of these halides from the body via the bloodstream can cause additional new symptoms of disease. This can be disorienting for patients who are used to taking Big Pharma drugs that relieve symptoms immediately, but that cause long-term damage to the body. This problem of toxicity and detoxification is why halogens and iodine supplementation is such a complex topic. As bromide takes up residence in iodine receptor sites, it causes a set of symptoms that seem incurable on the surface. Then, as a patient begins taking iodine and using salt loading and salt flushing to promote detoxification of bromide from the body, new symptoms emerge. Most symptoms can be dealt with and resolved using salt loading and salt flushing until the initial bromide detoxification is completed, however, it’s vital that patients understand the process and commit to doing iodine therapy long-term. Keeping a daily journal of detox symptoms can help patients watch their own progress through the detoxification process to prevent disillusionment about  what’s going on in the body. Symptoms of disease get less and less and they change over time during the detoxification period. Detoxification from bromide, once the main source of bromide exposure is identified usually takes 6-8 weeks with regular salt loading and salt flushing to hurry the process along.

Read more about how to do salt loading and salt flushing here.

Below are the Bromide DETOXIFICATION Symptoms that you can expect to experience whenever you accidentally consume iodine-containing foods or supplements. Note that when you begin taking Lugol’s iodine, you will likely experience these symptoms until the iodine removes all of the bromide from your body. Salt loading and salt flushing can help prevent and treat these symptoms by making bromide inert and less toxic as it moves out of the body: 

• Neurological and Psychiatric Symptoms
  • Fatigue
  • Blepharospasm / Eye Twitching
  • Drooping eyelids (ptosis)
  • Insomnia
  • Confusion
  • Disorientation
  • Hallucinations (auditory and visual)
  • Loss of control of body movements / Lack of coordination
  • Foot twitching
  • Tingling in the extremities
  • Neurological impairment
  • Psychosis
  • Seizures
  • Somnolence
  • Delirium
  • Disturbance of color perception
  • Brain Fog / Foggy Thinking
  • Vision changes
  • Irritability
  • Dream changes
  • Impaired memory/concentration
  • Short-term memory loss
  • Tremor
  • Headache
  • Sedation / Lethargy
  • Sleepiness
  • Excessive fatigue
• Dermatological / Skin-Related Symptoms
  • Rash (bromoderma) - Many people get this rash when they are in the initial stages of iodine supplementation and their doctors tell them that they have an “allergy to iodine”. But this isn’t the case. The rash happens when bromine gets pulled out of the glands and into the blood supply to be flushed out of the body. This rash typically stops happening after about a month of high-dose iodine treatment.
  • Body odor
  • Bromide acne, which is coniform (the use of zinc can help counteract bromide acne)
  • Nodular or coniform acne
  • Skin “cuts”
  • Hair loss
  • Cherry angiomas
  • Dry, itchy skin
• Gastrointestinal Symptoms / Digestive Problems
  • Diarrhea
  • Constipation
  • Indigestion
  • Gastrointestinal impairment
  • Abdominal cramping
  • Bloating / Gastrointestinal swelling
• Nephrological Symptoms / Urinary Tract Problems
  • Urethral Spasm and Frequent Urination (may be mistaken for a urinary tract infection)
  • Unusual urine odor or color
  • Kidney pain
  • Cystitis / Bladder Irritation
• Oral and Respiratory Symptoms / Mouth-Related and Respiratory Problems
  • Mouth and tongue sores and cuts, a sore mouth
  • Dry mouth
  • Metallic taste in the mouth
  • Odd swallowing sensations - also known as “swollen glottis” in the old medical literature, but this “odd sensation” may also involve the inflammation of the thymus gland located behind the sternum and in front of the heart.
  • Increased salivation
  • Sinus pain
  • Runny nose
  • Asthma
  • Difficulty breathing
• Reproductive and Thyroid Hormone Changes / Problems
  • Hormone changes
  • Breast tenderness (this transient symptom typically resolves quickly with iodine treatment)
  • Menstruation issues
  • Breast Pain / Fibrocystic Breast Disease / Breast Lumps
• Mood Problems
  • Anxiety
  • Mood swings
  • Dark thoughts (e.g. “there is no reason to live”)
  • Depression (e.g. “there is no reason to get out of bed”)
• Joint pain
• Leg and hip aches that resemble arthritis
• Cardiac arrhythmias
• General ill-feeling / Feeling of dis-ease

Fluoride Toxicity Symptoms

Fluoride toxicity is a reversible condition that was first identified and quantified in the 1930’s. Like bromide toxicity, fluoride toxicity symptoms vary from person to person. Not all of the symptoms of fluoride toxicity are present at any given time. The symptoms that manifest in a given individual will depend on age, gender, nutritional status and other factors. Many of the symptoms listed below were first identified in aluminum workers as aluminum and fluoride combine easily to form a salt that is extremely toxic to the body. For this reason, in cooking, the combination of fluoridated salt with aluminum cookware is particularly toxic (for example, in Mexico, aluminum cookware is cheap and widely used and table salt is fluoridated). 

Detoxification from fluoride takes about 2 weeks if you use the proper medicinal agents. Click here to read more about fluoride detoxification protocols.

• Skeletal fluorosis
• Dental fluorosis
• Chronic or acute flu-like symptoms
• Chronic fatigue (that’s not relieved by sleep or rest)
• Depression
• Anxiety 
• Nervousness / jumpiness
• Headaches
• Cancer
• Bone Fractures
• Osteoporosis
• Hypothyroidism 
• Thyroid Disease
• Throat dryness
• Excessive thirst
• Urinary Tract Disturbances
  • Frequent need to urinate 
  • Bladder irritation 
  • Urinary tract irritation
• Mobility and Joint Issues
  • Arthritis / Arthritis symptoms
  • Achiness / muscle pain
  • Bone pain
  • Joint inflammation or stiffness
  • Muscular weakness
  • Involuntary twitching of the muscles / muscle spasms
• Pain in the jaw
• Pain in the neck
• Pain in the shoulders, arms or legs
• Pain in the lower back
• Tingling sensation in the legs or feet
• Round or oval pinkish-red or bluish-red spots that look a bit like bruises that clear up within 7-10 days
• Skin rash (especially after a shower or bathing)
• Diabetes
• Reproductive Organ Disease
• Enzyme inhibition
• Metabolic Issues
• Visual Disturbances
  • Temporary blind spots in the field of vision 
  • Retinal damage
  • Inability to focus
• Mouth sores
• Gastrointestinal Diseases and Disorders
  • Abdominal pain
  • Diarrhea
  • Constipation
  • Blood in the stools
  • Bloating
  • Flatulence / Gas
  • Tenderness in the stomach area
  • Nausea
• Central Nervous System Disease
  • Dementia
  • Dizziness
  • Tendency to fall over (may mimic symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease)
  • Autism
  • Pineal Gland Calcification
  • Circadian Rhythm Issues
  • ADHD
  • Inability to concentrate
  • Loss of mental acuity
  • Brain Fog
  • Fluoride deposition in brain tissue
  • Abnormal increase in the following neurotransmitters:
    • Epinephrine / Adrenaline
    • Histamine
    • Serotonin
    • Glutamate
  • Abnormal decrease in the following neurotransmitters:
    • Norepinephrine / Noradrenaline
    • Acetylcholine
    • Dopamine

Chloride Deficiency Symptoms

When we did a Google search to find symptoms of chloride deficiency, each Big Pharma-sponsored web site that we visited provided a list of symptoms that were unlike the symptoms listed on the other web sites. All of the sites listed just 4-5 symptoms of chloride deficiency but chloride deficiency has an impact on the entire body because chloride is one of the most prolific electrolytes that our bodies need to function properly. 

Severe chloride deficiency can cause an extremely high blood pH or “metabolic alkalosis” that leads to many of symptoms below. A deficiency of chloride could cause any of the following symptoms:

• Metabolic alkalosis / high blood pH
• High blood sodium levels
• Fluid loss / dehydration
• Weakness
• Extreme fatigue
• Apathy
• Depression
• Diarrhea
• Vomiting
• Difficulty breathing / slow breathing
• Fever
• Confusion
• Inflammation in the body
• Irregular heart beat / arrhythmia
• Muscle cramps
• Nerve pain
• Loose or oily stools
• Difficulty breathing
• Wheezing
• Frequent lung infection (bronchitis / pneumonia)
• Nagging cough
• Recurrent sinus infections / chronic sinusitis
• Anorexia
• Unintended weight loss
• Nasal polyps
• Pancreatitis
• Fertility problems
• Heat stroke / dehydration

Chloride Deficiency Symptoms in Infants

Metabolic alkalosis can be caused by poor salt intake, excessive salt loss, or intestinal chloride wasting. This condition can lead to acid-base imbalances. In the 1970’s, there were recommendations made to diminish the salt content of food to reduce hypertension. The baby food industry removed all added salt from formula milk in response. Several weeks later, about 200 infants that were being fed only formula milk with a very low chloride content between 2-4mmol/L, were admitted to hospitals with the following symptoms:

• Failure to thrive
• Refusal of food
• Muscular weakness
• Constipation
• Delayed psychomotor development
• Cystic fibrosis symptoms
  • Loose or oily stools
  • Difficulty breathing
  • Wheezing
  • Frequent lung infection (bronchitis / pneumonia)
  • Nagging cough
  • Slow growth
  • Recurring sinus infections
  • Failure to thrive

When the babies were fed formula milk containing the normal content of chloride, the infants healed within about 7 days.

The AlivenHealthy Iodine Bible - Everything you need to know to get started taking iodine and more!

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Lydian and I collect scientific and anecdotal information about cures for diseases and disorders. We've been doing this work for over a decade and recently, with the rise of Artificial Intelligence / AI, we've noticed that it has become harder and harder for average people and even educated, well-connected people to gain information online about how to cure disease. We have many friends who are healers as well as doctor-friends who work in alternative or integrative medicine who used to be able to do a Google search to find cures for disease or natural treatments that they could recommend to their patients, but AI has made it easy for Big Pharma to produce copious quantities of content to obscure actual information about cures for disease. For this reason, Lydi and I decided to make our Living Database available by subscription to make easier for people to search for a disease and find real data about how to treat and cure that disease. Click here to subscribe to the AlivenHealthy Living Database to have all of our data as a searchable tool at your fingertips when you need it.

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