Anonymous
There are a couple of different approaches that doctors take to RAI that may explain the variation in times between bloodwork. Some endos give a dose of RAI that they hope will make you euthyroid: i.e., they don’t try to destroy the entire thyroid, leaving you some natural thyroid hormone production. Others, like mine, do not want to risk the return of hyperthyroid, and repeat RAI, and give a dose more designed to eliminate the thyroid completely. I’m in an HMO, but my endo told me to come in one month after RAI for blood work. I suspect that’s because I got a hefty dose of RAI and she expects hypo symptoms fairly soon. I have had email from a lady, however, who two years after RAI is still not clinically hypo. So, before you get upset that other people are getting bloodwork more frequently than you are, you might double check with your specific doctor to find out what, exactly, (s)he was trying to achieve with RAI.