Advice regarding Iodine for Atrial Fibrillation

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

This is my first post, so I'll briefly explain my interest in iodine

therapy. I've had Paroxysmal Lone Atrial Fibrillation (AF) for about

15 years with several episodes per year since my late twenties. During

the last year the frequency and severity of the episodes have

worsened. After a nightmarish AF-attack in July and subsequent

electro-shock cardioversion at the hospital, I've started to use a

systematic supplement protocol to better control my Afib. Currently

I'm taking chelated Magnesium, Taurine, high dose Vit C, Vit E,

B-Complex and Selenium, Zinc and Fish Oil among others, which has

greatly helped my to improve heart rhythm.

I found this group while researching the articles of Dr. West and

others on iodine4health

(http://www.iodine4health.com/overviews/clinicians/west_clinician.htm)

Dr. West says: " Iodine supplementation may be the missing link in a

good percentage of heart arrhythmia cases, especially atrial

fibrillation. The body needs adequate stores of iodine for the heart

to beat smoothly. "

I've not had any previous experience with high dose iodine therapy,

but I found out, that I had unknowingly been given huge amounts of

iodine during my frequent hospital stays. Almost every time I

was treated for atrial fibrillation, I was put on intravenous

amiodarone, a class III anti-arrhythmic drug. Amiodarone contains

37.3% of iodine and has a long half-life of about 60 days. When I was

given 600 mg amiodarone within two days, I received an equivalent of

224 mg of iodine! My heart rhythm responded moderately well to the

amiodarone. I suffered no apparent ill effects from those short

courses of treatment, and felt rather well upon release from the

hospital.

Dr. Abraham writes: " Amiodarone is a benzofuranic derivative

containing 75 mg of iodine per 200 mg tablet. It is widely

used for the long-term treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. "

Broekhuysen et al using balance studies of amiodarone

and the non-amiodarone iodine released from amiodarone,

reported the following: In 2 subjects treated with 300 mg of

amiodarone/day containing 112.5 mg iodine, the total amount

of iodine measured in urine and feces was very low during

the first 3 days, with a mean of 19% and 7% of the total

iodine ingested, suggesting that as much as 93% of the iodine

ingested was retained in the body, or 105 mg iodine per day

was retained by the patient. "

It is interesting to hypothesize, that some of the antiarrythmic

effect of amiodarone may be due to its large content of iodine. It

seems to function like a slow release form of iodine. A serious

drawback of amiodarone is, that it is rather toxic during long term

use and can cause severe organ damage. In contrast, pure Iodine in

doses of up to 100 mg per day appears to be completely non-toxic.

Dr. West's made a very sweeping claim: " After close to a year now of

using Iodine Fulfillment Therapy, I can attest to this fact. Most of

the stubborn cases of cardiac arrhythmias and atrial fibrillation that

we were unable to completely correct with our cardiac protocols have

now been resolved with adequate supplies of iodine added to the protocol. "

I would like to personally test this claim by Dr. West. -- We're all

'experiments of one', so this may or may not work for me.

I would welcome your advice regarding my planned high dose iodine

protocol. I would also like to inquire, if there are any others in

this group who have tried to use iodine for AF?

Christian