iodine absorption + low cortisol levels

so i've been a good Iodine soldier for a long time now. i started on a full-dropper for a few months (ninja trapper style) and then went back to around 4-6 drops. i even anted-up by switching to magnascent from Lugols and i started taking modifilan last week (mainly for b-vitamins though, not so much for the iodine content, figured i already had that going on).

two weeks ago, i did a random urine iodine test. this test has only become available in australia in the last year. my level was 11, classified as 'severe iodine deficiency'

[here's the WHO classification for this test:
not iodine deficient: > 100 ug/L urine
mild iodine deficiency: 50-100 ug/L urine
moderate iodine deficiency: 20-49 ug/L urine
severe iodine deficiency: < 20 ug/L urine]

i don't know if i should trust the test. i sure don't feel like i'm iodine sufficient yet, but i wasn't thinking i was severely iodine deficient either. i would've maybe bought 'mild' or 'moderate' but 'severe' - oooh. and usually i'm not so much into labs and pathologies and specialists but i've had my symptoms a long, long while now and i've tried scads and scads of different things. time to transcend.

so i was asking the specialist how come i could be so severely iodine deficient when, ya know, i've been doin' it and i've been doin' it large. she said that it was because i had low cortisol (24-hour urinary test was 70 nmol/d when range 150-430). okay, that isn't such a helpful test since it doesn't measure the diurnal pattern of secretion but low is low, i guess. unless, of course, it's not. i do have high reverse t3 levels and that is purportedly indicative of high cortisol levels. most perplexing. zzzz.

anyway, according to my specialist: low cortisol levels inhibits uptake of iodine in the body.

ummm, really??

thank you!
- lulu

Alert Webmaster & Moderators