All of this is done, though, to be helpful. That’s because if you didn’t slow things down, there would be harm from all that excess that comes out.
This process can come about fairly quickly, and once it’s going on it may last from days to weeks. And, in fact, it may never stop. A common timeframe is about 2-3 weeks for it to come on, but it doesn’t always end2.
We call this the escape phenomena, but some don’t have that happen. We also know that it is not all or nothing — you can have this dramatically shut down your thyroid, or partially slow down your thyroid for longer periods of time.
Breaking Down The Evidence
So, what is the evidence we have for this happening? There was one study done in which it showed that even small amounts of this can be impactful and can be quite harmful3.
In this study, a supplement containing 250 micrograms (mcg) of iodine was given daily to those who had positive thyroid antibodies (but there thyroid function was overall stable) (Read More: How much iodine do you really need?). This meant that they had evidence of Hashimoto’s, but they were not yet in a hypothyroid state.
When this group was given a small amount of iodine, they had nine times the people develop thyroid disease as those did who were not given supplemental iodine. Roughly half of them who developed abnormal thyroid function did not return to normal after stopping iodine supplements.
We know that this works because this is what’s done when someone has too much thyroid hormone being made. There is a condition known as “hyperthyroid storm” which is one of the most dangerous things in all of thyroid disease.
It is a combination of Graves’ disease (Read More: What you need to know about Grave’s disease), where too much thyroid hormone causes the thyroid to make too much hormone. This cycle gets so severe that it can be fatal. People can go into septic shock from having it.
In the moment, the most effective way to stop someone from it is to give them a huge dose of iodine. This thereby forces the Wolff-Chaikoff effect to take place.