Daniel, is this you speaking or from Dr. Mercola's site? I have visited Dr. M's site and have found some helpful information there.

So you and your wife eat seaweed? How much do you consume a day and how do you prepare it?

I have read that the Japanese, b/c of their seaweed intake, rarely suffer from thyroid disorders. I have taken Icelandic kelp for years but I recently learned that it is high in bromine, which is an antagonist to iodine. A friend who is in the health food biz, owns his own shops, recommended Lugol's solution a few months ago. It's inorganic but when taken properly, can benefit the thyroid gland. Some people take a drop or two a day; I only take two drops a week. It's not expensive,either.

> Dr Lee lived in the next town. Up here in N
> Calif I'm innundated with ideas and theories
> from Mr and Ms Natural. Between me and my
> wife we've tried most of them.
> Underactive thyroid can cause a lot of
> physical problems sometimes interpreted as
> depression "But for specific
> recommendations for hypothyroidism, I feel
> the best supplement that one could possibly
> take for proactive thyroid health on a
> regular basis would be some form of organic
> iodine. A simple way to determine if one
> requires this is to paint a patch of
> tincture of iodine on your skin the size of
> a half dollar. The iodine brown coloration
> should last at least 24 hours. The faster it
> is absorbed the greater the body's iodine
> deficiency.

> The best source of organically bound iodine
> that I know of is non-commercially harvested
> seaweeds. The dose is about 5 grams a day or
> about one ounce per week. So a pound would
> last about two months. Radioactive iodine is
> another factor that can damage the thyroid
> so one needs to flood the gland with healthy
> iodine from organic sources like seaweed. As
> you know this is particularly important for
> pregnant women as if they have untreated
> hypothyroidism their, a New England Journal
> of Medicine study showed that their children
> may have lower IQ scores.

> The better seaweeds are hand picked and
> dried and not typically available in health
> food stores. They are the absolute best
> forms of minerals that I am aware of.
> Unfortunately the people who produce this
> usually run small operations, and do not
> make their products widely known. Kelp from
> the health food store may work, but it
> really depends on how it was harvested and
> there is no way to know that reliably, so I
> rely on seaweed harvesters who hand pick the
> seaweed and reliably dry them free from
> contaminants.

> If one already has a thyroid problem the
> issue is far more complicated. It is
> difficult to make general recommendations
> without identifying the underlying cause of
> the individual's hypothyroidism. One of the
> most common is psycho-emotional stress that
> impairs the adrenal glands from working
> properly. Once the adrenals are compromised
> the thyroid gland attempts to compensate for
> the exhausted adrenals and the thyroid
> frequently loses its ability to function
> normally. I have four psychotherapists in my
> center who work on this issue using very
> sophisticated autonomic nervous system
> rebalancing that incorporates multiple forms
> of muscle testing."

>
> http://www.mercola.com/1999/archive/iodine_deficiency.htm