Hi, Frani. The information you got about radiation poisoning was a scam. It’s one of the problems with information on the web: anyone can say anything and it gets broadcast, whether it is worthy of consideration or not. There have been long term studies of RAI patients where researchers have deliberately looked for any evidence that the RAI, in a treatment dose, hurts us, and they haven’t found any.
But you will have effects from the RAI, in the short term. Your throat might feel sore for a couple of weeks. I was told this, and looked for a sore throat, but in my case had I not been LOOKING for soreness, I would not have noticed it, it was so slight. But for others, there has been more soreness than I experienced. Also, one week after the RAI, you may feel the most hyper you have ever been. As the thyroid cells are damaged by the RAI, they release their stored supply of thyroid hormone into the body. So for a few days, we can feel very hyperthyroid. If your doctor hasn’t warned you about this, it may be because he/she doesn’t expect it to be too much of a problem for you. But if you DO have a problem, call your doctor, because there may be something that you can do to minimize the symptoms for those few days. And, obviously, the last effect of the RAI is that you should lose enough thyroid cells to not be hyperthyroid any more, and you may even go hypothyroid. So pay attention to how you are feeling, and let your doctor know if you start to experience symptoms of hypothyroid (constipation, feeling cold when it isn’t, wanting to sleep all the time, heavier than normal periods, etc.). Your doctor will check your blood levels for thyroid hormone at certain intervals, but we all respond uniquely to the treatment and some of us take longer or shorter than others for the treatment to “work”. You need to communicate with your doctor, if you start feeling hypo symptoms. Any of the books recommended by the NGDF on its web site will have information on hypo symptoms that you can research.
Wishing you good luck, and good health soon.
Bobbi — NGDF Asst.Online Facilitator