Re: IODINE IS VITAL FOR GOOD HEALTH
Does anyone know of a way to purchase 5% Lugols or Aqueous Iodine in the US. I was told that Canada can no longer ship it here because people use it to make meth; is that true. I find it impossible to believe. Just another health necessity that we cannot use because the gov is going to mandate down to when we can urinate. You can order !%, but the costs of using enough to ever help a thyroid problem is nearly impossible given the expense of paying shipping for each bottle and having to use so much to do any good.
PS apparently meth makers aren't interested in the 1% (they are probably concerned about product quality and wouldn't even consider a lower strength).
I purchase my 5% solution at www.jcrows.com. They're in New Hampshire, I believe. They sell the one ounce bottles of 5% for $20. Limit one per transaction, because yes they can use it to make meth. 
The meth makers actually extract the iodine and use that in some form. That's why they don't mess with the lower strength; it's just not worth the effort.
They also sell a 2% solution which is still the potassium iodide and iodine combo, but at a lesser strength. Actually I just ordered more Lugol's last night and purchased a 16 oz bottle of the 2% stuff to use for painting, in addition to another 1 oz bottle of 5%. I am severely deficient, so I am going to start painting it on my skin as well as taking the 5% internally. Also, just to have around the house. For the most part though, I'm doing the higher strength to get my blood levels of iodine up to par. There is no limit on how much 2% solution you can purchase at one time.
To tell you how deficient I am, one day I accidentally got some all over my fingers. I picked up the bottle when the lid wasn't on all the way. I thought it would still be there the next day, and remember thinking how embarrassing. Well, that was at 6:30 pm. By 9:00 it was gone!! You couldn't even tell that it was ever there. So again my thanks to Barefoot Doc and Mystical Girl for posting about this very important subject. 
Dunkelheit---BF doc is right. Stick with the Lugol's. The stuff in the store is not for internal use, but you could paint it on your skin if you're low on money. It would be better than no iodine. The Lugol's is special because of the proportions of iodide and iodine. Both are needed for optimal health.
I did find an off-brand of lugol's at amazon. It was only 2% I believe, though. It was $20 for a 2 oz bottle. The same stuff at jcrows is less expensive. Not an extremely high tech website. Just the bare bones; but I've ordered twice from them now and have not had any problems. They're just a small company, not fancy. But tons of info on their website! I will order it there from now on because it's hard to find. You can also sometimes find it at the pharmacy behind the counter. Another alternative is a product called Iodoral. I found this at my health food store, but they don't mix up the liquid Lugol's. Iodoral is the same proportion of iodine/iodide, but in a tablet form. I believe it's more expensive than Lugol's, dose per dose, but I'm not positive on that.
The one thing I want to mention is that if you're extremely deficient in iodine to the point of having thyroid problems, you should be really careful when supplementing it. As stated on the website that doc referred us to for the painting test, this is very touchy. Like life or death. Once you start doing the supplementation, you have to stick with it. Your thyroid is very important, and you can really hurt yourself if you're not doing it right. They suggest being under the care of a health care person so that your levels can be monitored. I rely on my sway testing, which is just a form of kinesiology, to tell me how much I need. I'm also seeing a new naturopath, but blood work is expensive, so for the most part I will listen to my muscle testing and let that be my guide. But I can't recommend that to anyone else, unless they have experience in doing that testing. To err on the safe side, see a doc to check your blood levels and go from there; unless of course you do muscle testing on a regular basis and are sure of the results.