vitamins for graves disease

[Lizzygraves]

can anyone recommend a group of vitamins that should be taken by those of us with GD?  i just realized that my  vitamin pack that i've be taking for that last 1.5 years has 150 mcg of iodine!  i'm also looking for advice on what to eat.  i've read no salt (the obvious), no seafood (my favorite) and no diary ( a hard boiled egg and yogurt have been my staples!)  any he\lp is so apprecaited!

[Lizzygraves]

Thanks for the response.  I did end up finding some iodine free vitamin packs that i am picking up today.  I was under the impression that i should avoid iodine but based on your answer it sounds like that is not necessarily true.  So i'm a little confused...iodine or no iodine or iodine in moderation?  have you eliminated seafood, dairy, eggs,etc from your diet?  if you have, have you noticed a difference in your labs or even a better overall feeling of health?

[Red_Star]

The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for iodine is 150mcg daily. The RDA is not for optimal health but to prevent obvious disease states such as rickets, scurvy, or a goiter for instance.  

The Tolerable Upper Limit (TUL) of iodine intake is 1100 mcg. Most people can tolerate at least 1000 mcg of iodine daily without adverse effects but those with autoimmune thyroid disease may tolerate less than this.  Too much iodine produces a condition called iodine induced hyperthyroidism.

So based on all this, you can experiment with how much iodine you can tolerate. If you want to eat more foods containing iodine, the look at reducing iodine in other ways.

With only a few isolated exceptions, salt (sodium chloride) does not naturally contain iodine. Salt companies started to add iodine to salt back in the 1920's to eliminate goiter and thyroid problems. There are non iodized salts available however. I have read Kosher salt is iodine free but check the label.  There are also iodine free multivitamins on the market. A quick search online brings up quite a few brands.

So you can still enjoy your favourite foods containing iodine even with autoimmune thyroid disease. A few examples: one large 50 gram egg contains 13 - 26 mcg of iodine; 150g of yoghurt contains 95 mcg of iodine; 3 ounces of cod contains 99 mcg iodine.