Iodine and Fibrocystic Breast Syndrome

Fibrocystic breast syndrome is so common in menstruating women that it is often not considered an illness at all, just a natural part of the female hormonal cycle. Typically becoming most acute just prior to menses, it can become an extremely distressing and debilitating condition.

Since hitting puberty I have had an ongoing problem with severe breast tenderness/pain. In my twenties, post-pregnancy, the condition only worsened. The breast tissue was almost permenantly inflamed with lumpy, fluid filled cystic lumps and so incredibly painful that any movement of the upper body was excruciating. I tried progesterone, evening primrose oil, safflower oil, B6 and many other supplements but none of these made the slightest impact and I was resigned to just having to put up with the condition.

Over the subsequent years I had several very worrying episodes with suspicious lumps that had to be investigated by specialists at my local breast clinic. All the lumps so far, luckily, have been benign cysts that had to be manually drained. One cyst was apparently one of the largest the particular specialist I had seen had ever treated, with approximately 250ml of fluid removed, leaving me with a breast that resembled a deflated balloon!

On each occasion I asked if there was anything I could do to try and prevent the lumps from returning, but was told that fibrocystic tissue was ‘normal’. This is the current medical consensus, but I found it very hard to understand how being in constant pain and discomfort could be considered normal. But in western society this condition is extremely prevalent, as well as many other hormonal/ PMT symptoms that don’t seem to be a problem in other parts of the world.

I continued researching and found research linking fibrocystic breast lumps to iodine deficiency, apparently breast tissue stores the second largest concentration of iodine in the body after the thyroid, as it is an essential ingredient in breast milk needed for brain development in babies. Iodine is concentrated in the thyroid first and after that if there is an insufficiency, the breast tissue reacts by producing cystic lumps.

Lugol’s iodine solution was mentioned as the remedy, and I ordered this immediately; it is very cheap and widely available on the Internet. The solution can be ingested – just a couple of drops in water or applied topically to the breasts. Initially skeptical, I went for the topical application and the results were dramatic. Within a couple of weeks all the lumpy tissue had disappeared, my breasts shrank by half a cup size and as the next period approached there was no breast pain whatsoever. I have remained pain and lump free ever since; the change has been a relief and miraculous in its simplicity. I don’t understand why breast specialists don’t seem to be aware of this and until this point had not seen it mentioned in any documentation regarding fibrocystic syndrome. Obviously any unusual breast lumps should be investigated via your GP but iodine solution is well worth a try for breast pain/tenderness.

 

Originally posted 2014-02-10 14:17:50.